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21
SHOPS ACTS, 1912-1936.
At the end of the year the total number of shops on the
register was 2,119.
2,056 visits were paid to shops under the above Acts and
72 evening observations made.
68 contraventions were recorded, these being classified as:—
Serving customers after closing hours, 28; intervals for meals not
given to assistants, 4; assistants not having a half-holiday, 3;
young persons employed in excess of 48 hours per week, 13;
assistants employed after 1.30 p.m. on early closing day, 13.
232 letters were sent to traders regarding the absence of
appropriate notices, in 7 instances the traders receiving a final
warning. In two cases it was necessary to take legal proceedings,
fines amounting in total to £2 being inflicted.
The following contraventions of the provisions of Section 10
of the Shops Act, 1934, were noted:—Absence of suitable and
sufficient sanitary and washing accommodation, 11; insufficient
sanitary accommodation, 8; absence of or insufficient means of
heating, 35; and absence of suitable and sufficient facilities for
taking meals, 1. Defects of sanitation noted included :—Dirty
or defective water-closet accommodation, 35; absence of properly
constructed intervening ventilated lobbies between water-closets
and shop, 2; walls of shops dirty, 8 ; and water-closets choked, 1.
Six certificates of exemption from the provisions requiring
sanitary accommodation were granted and two refused.
During the year 78 contraventions of the provisions of the
Shops (Sunday Trading Restriction) Act, 1936, were noted, these
being classified as:— Serving customers with non-exempted goods,
4; assistants not receiving compensatory holiday, 4; records of
compensatory holidays not kept, 35; notices not exhibited, 32;
assistants employed on more Sundays in month than allowed, 3.
In each case a warning was given.
FACTORY ACT, 1937.
In this district there are 389 factories with mechanical power,
145 without mechanical power, and 140 workplaces, to which the
following numbers of visits were paid during the year:— Mechanical
factories, 571; non-mechanical factories, 236; and workplaces, 188.
Of the 72 public health nuisances detected, 15 were due to
want of cleanliness and 2 to absence of ventilation. There were
41 instances of unsatisfactory sanitary accommodation, these being
unsuitable or defective in 39 cases and insufficient in 2. 14 other
nuisances were detected.
59 notices from other Councils and 3 from employers were
received containing the addresses of 131 outworkers. 137 visits of
inspection were made to outworkers' premises, in none of which
were unwholesome conditions found to exist.