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6
introduction of machinery some of the factors operating half-acentury
ago, have now become non-operative. Various theories
have been advanced to account for the migration of the laundry
industry from North Kensington, Kensal Rise and other districts
to Acton, such as greater softness of the water, and that the Grand
Junction Water Works Company offered special terms, &c. As
far as can be ascertained these theories have no foundation on fact.
The true cause probably was a far simpler one. Even now,
the natural trend of traffic in London is from the east to west
and west to east, and formerly the facilities for transport in these
directions were greater than they were to the north and south of
the central areas. From the west end of London the natural
exit would be further westwards, and if conditions favourable
to the washing and drying of clothes existed, the laundry industry
would be established on the western outskirts. Before the introduction
of machinery, the absence of factories and the existence
of a comparatively open country would be necessary. The absence
of factories would operate in two ways, the smoke nuisance would
be less and female labour would be more plentiful. When the
laundries were established along the western fringes—Kensal
Rise, North Kensington, Hammersmith and Fulham—the two
essential conditions would probably be fulfilled. As these areas
were developed and factories established, the laundry industry
moved further westward and Acton as the nearest suburb where
the essential conditions existed was chosen.
With the introduction of machinery, an open space is not
necessary ; the drying is now entirely done indoors, and the presence
of factory chimneys in the immediate vicinity is not detrimental
to the laundry industry.
Until the next Census figures are published, it is not possible
to state exactly what is the number of employees in laundries
at the present time, nor the number of married women who are
employed.
It was the number of married women employed in the
laundries which affected our mortality returns, and in the main
it was the infantile mortality that was effected. In former reports
this question has been fully discussed, and the manner in which the
infantile mortality figures were affected, was indicated. The
district has always compared favourably in the respect of deaths
attributed to ante-natal causes, but the deaths from Diarrhoeal