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indicated were all visited and inspected by the officers of the Borough Council; the
necessary steps were taken to deal with the insanitary conditions, and the factory
inspector was duly informed of the same in accordance with the statutory requirements.
In addition to those brought under the notice of the Sanitary Authority by the
factory inspector, numbers of other workshops, factories, and workplaces received
attention at the hands of the officers of the Council during the course of the year.
The law relating to factories, workshops, and workplaces has been consolidated
and amended by the
which considerably alters and adds to the duties which have hitherto been carried out
under the supervision of the Borough Council in relation to factories, workshops, and
workplaces. The Act incorporates new provisions which provide as follows :—(a) In
the case of workshops, every room must have sufficient ventilation ; a standard of
ventilation may be prescribed by the Secretary of State for any class of workshops,
and where prescribed, this standard must be maintained ; also where dust or gases are
generated, if required by the factory inspector, fans must be provided, (b) A general
power is given to the Borough Council to deal with bakehouses which on sanitary
grounds are unfit for use as such ; there is a prohibition of the use of underground
bakehouses, unless they were in use on August 17th, 1901 ; and after January 1st,
1904, the use of underground bakehouses will become unlawful unless the bakehouses
are certified by the Borough Council as suitable places for baking in. An underground
bakehouse is defined in the Act as being a bakehouse in which any room used for
baking, or for any process incidental thereto, is so situate that the floor thereof is more
than 3 feet below the surface of the footway of the adjoining street, or of the ground
adjoining or nearest to the room. (c) With respect to home work, lists of outworkers
are to be kept in certain trades ; home work may be prohibited in unwholesome
dwellings, and in dwellings where there is infectious disease. (d) The Borough
Council is required to keep a register of all workshops situate within the Borough.
(e) The medical officer of health is required to report specifically on the administration
of the Act, especially dealing with the provisions as to sanitation, bakehouses,
and homework, and a copy of his report on the subject is to be sent to the Secretary
of State.

FACTORY AND WORKSHOP ACT, 1901,