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9
classes have been established, in some of the schools in the
neighbourhood, the Day Nursery still works to capacity, and there
is always a waiting list. Although the Day Nursery was established
by a voluntary body, it was looked upon with sympathy, and supported
by the Council's Health Committee, because it was believed
that the conditions under which the babies were being minded, contributed
to the high infantile mortality of the South-West Ward in
those days.
The necessity for married women labour tends to stabilize
the industry in a neighbourhood where such labour is available, but
it has its disadvantages ; disadvantages which are inseparable from
a factory established in a residential neighbourhood.
In North Acton, on the Chase Estate, complaints about the
factories are infrequent. This is partly due to the fact that the
tmildings are new and built for the purpose for which they are used.
Klectric power has been installed in most of these new factories;
where steam power is utilized, the newest type of boiler has been
installed. They are well ventilated and well lighted. In addition,
the factories are situated away from dwelling houses. Although
many of the factory laundries are equipped with the latest types of
machinery some have been adapted from other buildings and extended,
and complaints of smoke nuisances, noise of machinery and
other unpleasant conditions are frequent. There are of course,
grounds for these complaints, but it is probable that if these conditions
were present in factories in North Acton, they would either
be unnoticed or at any rate they would not give rise to complaints.
The laundry industry may be said to have been self-contained:
the laundries were almost all situated in the south-west part of the
district. There used to be a large laundry in the centre of the town,
but the buildings are now used for other purposes.
The only other self-contained community were the railway
employees who lived at the other extreme end of the district near
Willesden Junction. They were connected with the old London
and North Western Railway, now merged in the London, Midland
and Scottish. (It must not be inferred that these are the only, or
even that they form the majority of the railway workers in the district:
simply that they were self-contained in a particular area.
There are many employees of the London Passenger Transport Board
testing throughout the district, and especially in the South-West
Ward. Great Western Railway employees are especially numerous
in what is called the Great Western Estate around Noel Road).