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52
Shops
There are 2,365 shops on the register, an increase of eight on the
previous year.
During the year 1,390 visits were made for the purpose of administering
the Shops Act. The following is a summary of the contraventions
noted:—
Heating, insufficient or absence 27
Water closet, accommodation insufficient 1
Assistants employed on weekly half-holiday 6
Young person employed after the specified hours 3
Shops open on half-holiday without displaying prescribed
notices 18
Shops open on half-holiday selling non-exempted articles 10
Sundays. Shops open for selling non-exempted articles 3
„ Failing to keep record of assistants employment
„ Failing to allow compensatory holiday for Sunday
employment or working excessive number of
Sundays 6
„ Keeping shop open without prescribed notices 10
Shops failing to close at Closing Hour 1
396 warnings were sent in respect of these items.
During normal inspections of shops the following defects were
noted: washbasins defective 4; water heaters defective 9; redecoration
necessary 26; W.C. compartments needing ledecoration 35; yards
untidy 11.
Two traders were prosecuted during the year—one for serving
customers after closing hours was fined 20/- and 36/- costs, the other
for selling cigarettes after closing time was fined 20/- and 21/- costs.
Proceedings were authorised in a third case where a youth of under
sixteen years of age was employed in a cafe up to 11 p.m. three nights a
week.
There were only two infringements of the Regulations made in 1953
under the Heating Appliances (Fireguards) Act, 1952, although many
visits were paid especially to secondhand shops. The one was the display
of a new electric fire without a guard, the other an old fashioned gas fire.
In each case the retailer was warned.
Places of Entertainment.
At the end of the year there were 78 premises in the district licensed
for public entertainment. These include 10 cinemas; 15 public houses,
16 church halls; 4 local authority assembly halls; 22 schools and 11
dance and other assembly halls, clubs, etc. To these 86 visits of inspection
were made. The premises on the whole were found to be kept in a clean
condition, but in five redecoration was necessary; on approach being made
to the owners the work was put in hand.