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115
were such as to make it necessary that this class of homework
should be subject to suitable inspection. It was found,
however, that the provisions of Section 107, Factory and
Workshops Act, did not apply to this class of work, although
employers employing outworkers to pick peas were required
to send lists to the Medical Officer of Health half-yearly.
As a result of your Medical Officer's representation the Council
were of opinion that it would be desirable that persons
engaged in the trade of sorting peppercorns should be included
in the scheduled trades as provided by Section 107,
and representations were made to the Secretary of State
accordingly. On 9th October, 1923, the Secretary of State
intimated that investigations had been made up and down
the country, and that this neighbourhood was apparentJy
the only one where this business was being carried out, and
that in these circumstances it was not considered necessary
to schedule this trade under the provisions of Section 107.
The employers in question undertook to submit voluntarily
a list of all persons employed in this trade.
Factories, Workshops and Workplaces. The Medical Officer
of Health is required under Section 132 of the Factory and
Workshops Act, 1901, to include in his Annual Report details
of the administration of this Act in his district. The total
number of factories, workshops, and workplaces on the
register at the end of the year was 325. This was an increase
of 97 over the previous year. The number of inspections of
these premises was 881 which compares with 512 for 1922.
Sanitary defects were found in 38 instances. The following
tables are in the form adopted by the Home Office in order
to ensure uniformity in the presentation of statistics:—
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