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95
“ The ventilation of the wash-houses would be much
improved if hoods for carrying off the steam from the coppers
were provided.
" There appears to be no provision in the Factory and Workshop
Act dealing with the drying of clothes in hand laundries.
The general practice is to utilize the heat of the ironing rooms
by drying the clothes overhead. This, if not strictly injurious,
must cause great discomfort to the workers.
" Another point difficult to deal with in connection with hand
laundries is the screening of stoves. There is no obligation to
provide screens for the stoves used for heating irons. In the
majority of cases the stoves are situated in the ironing rooms
without screens to protect the workers from the direct heat. In
a few instances screens have recently been provided, but as a rule
clothes are dried round the stoves, or they are left quite
unscreened.
" Workshops.—The workshops which I have visited,principally
dressmakers and milliners, are generally satisfactory. Very few
defects were found. The methods of ventilation are as a rule
good, but there is the usual difficulty in getting the workers to
use the means at their command.
“Very few outworkers are employed in connection with the
workshops situated in Willesden.
“ Outworkers. -The outworkers residing in "Willesden appear
to work under particularly good conditions. Only one sanitary
defect has been discovered during the year.
“ The workrooms are as a rule well ventilated and very clean.
In only eight instances were people found to be using the workrooms
for sleeping purposes.
“ The children of outworkers are usually clean and well cared
for, and the families generally live under much better conditions