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Shops.
There are 317 shops in the district, a number of
them being family businesses in which no assistants are
employed. The whole of the Shops Act 1950 is
administered by the Council, including such matters as
closing hours, early closing day, Sunday trading,
and the comfort and welfare of shop assistants.
Two hundred and eighty-three visits were made
to shops in connection with these various matters.
A number"of minor infringements were found and
remedied, and it was not necessary to take any
legal proceedings under the Act.
HEATING APPLIANCES(FIREGUARDS) ACT 1952.
The purpose of this Act is to prevent risk
of injury by burning. Gas fires, electric fires
and oil heaters, sold for use in residential premises
are now required to be fitted with adequate guards,
the standards for which are laid down in regulations
made under the Act.
Inspections were made of the various shop
premises to see that no unsatisfactory appliances
were being offered for sale. In two instances
second-hand dealers were found to be offering for
sale electric fires which did not have the standard
guards. The offenders were warned and the fires
were withdrawn from sale.
The requirements as to guards do not apply to
fires sold before the Act came into operation and we
therefore took the opportunity of calling the attention
of the public to the risks of injury from inadequately
protected fires in a display in the Town Hall Kiosk
in conjunction with general publicity on Safety
in the Home.
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