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26
Now all these eating house keepers retail "Confectionery" in the
shape of fruit tarts (which contain sugar, and are therefore confectionery).
One eating-house keeper fought this point before the
Magistrate at Worship Street, and contended that he was not subject
to the operation of the Acts. The Magistrate, Mr. Hannay, after
careful consideration hold that the definition quoted above did apply
to such places, and fined the occupier for keeping his bakehouse in
a dirty condition.
After my report to the Sanitary Committee, ordinary sanitary
notices wore served upon the occupiers to do cortain works and to
make certain improvements. A reasonable time having elapsed, each
Inspector again visited the bakehouses in his district, and reported
those who had failed to comply with the terms of the notice. These
I again examined, and finding them practically in tho same condition
as when I last saw them, I felt it my duty to advise tho Sanitary
Committee to take legal proceedings against the occupiers, and a
number of summonses were takon out under the 34th section of tho
Act of 1878.
At the hearing of the first batch of cases before Mr. Ilannay, a point
of some importance was raised. A Baker was summoned for having
his bakehouse in a dirty condition at a certain date, his answer to the
summons was that he had ceased to use the place, and that he did all
his baking at another shop. Now, although we had seen the manufacture
of bread in process upon these premises on previous occasions,
yet as we could not prove that baking was actually going on upon the
day tho man was charged with having his bakehouse dirty, the
Magistrate hold that the summons must bo dismissed, as our proceedings
wore takon, not under a Sanitary Act, but under a Workshop
Act, which was for the protection of the work-people employed; and
that if there were none of these at work there could be no offence
committed against the Act. In the other cases small fines of from ten
to twenty shillings were inflicted. Amongst the next lot of summonses
several wero takon out under the 16th section of the Act of 1883 for
using bakehouses unfit for use on sanitary grounds. Now this section
is sufficiently vague, and I have no doubt that different magistrates
will take very different views as to what conditions would bring the
premises into "Such a state as to be on Sanitary Grounds unfit for use
or occupation as a bakehouse." In each summons therefore I carefully