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under the powers which enable them to enforce cleanliness, in
the highly improbable event of the proprietor delaying to make
such needful reparations on request. But the fact is, factory
inspectors naturally think most of their duties in regard to the
''labour of young persons and children," which they have
power to restrict, and the Chief Inspector appears to be conscious
of their unfitness for the performance of merely sanitary
duties, for he says: —
"Upon a review of the condition of bakehouses, and the very slender
chance of any real and effectual amelioration taking place in the
making and baking of bread, without the interposition of authority, I
would desire to see legislative enactments laying down some broad
rules, placing the control over the construction of bakehouses, and the
maintenance of them in a healthy condition, in the hands of the local
authority." (The italics are mine.)
He mentions ''the main points" which such "regulations"
should embrace, and to which cordial assent may be given. It
is satisfactory to note, moreover, that in his judgment
" The authority having control over the construction of bakehouses, and
power to frame bye-laws . . . should be the various local
authorities having supervision over the sanitary condition of their
districts."
But, strangely enough, whilst he thinks sanitary authorities in
urban and rural sanitary districts, competent for the discharge
of these duties, he would hand over the bakehouses in London
—like cowsheds, dairies,slaughter-houses, and offensive trades—
to the Metropolitan Board of "Works, which is not a sanitary
authority, and has no medical adviser, and no sanitary staff
properly so called.
Having regard to the desirability of uniformity in bye-laws, I
should be content to see the power of framing such as are
necessary for regulating the construction and sanitary supervision
of bakehouses in the Metropolis, vested in the Metropolitan Board
of Works, provided bye-laws so framed were submitted to the
Local Government Board for confirmation, so as to ensure the
revision of them by competent legal and medical experts; but