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9
delicate persons, and when it is remembered that
many poor people eke out a livelihood by washing
for other persons, the importance of providing a
suitable place where this work can be carried out
under hygienic conditions hardly needs to be insisted
on. The recent Factory Act has placed laundries
where steam power is employed under its provisions,
and places that have in consequence been brought
under notice show that much requires to be done to
bring such workshops under proper hygienic
conditions. Such being the case in the larger
establishments, it may be surmised that in smaller
workshops there is room for improvement, and for
these latter I know, from experience elsewhere, that
when there is a Public Laundry in a convenient
position washerwomen reside in the neighbourhood,
and no washing is done in the houses of the poor
people. In connection with Laundry Sanitation
I may mention that one disadvantage under which
the Sanitary Officials suffer is the want of a right
of entry. Under the Public Health Act, 1875,
this is only given where there is reason to suspect
a nuisance, but if an Inspector were appointed under
the Shop Hours Act this right of entry would be
given to the official so acting.
In connection with Public Laundries the provision
of a small playroom, or crèche, for the accommodation
of small children, enables mothers who
would otherwise be unable to leave home to make
use of these places. In Edinburgh a room heated
with steam is provided with cells supplied with hot
and cold water, where the washerwoman can wash
herself without extra charge beyond that for the use
of the laundry.
The provision of hot baths at a small fee, say
id., would be very advantageous to the many poor
persons living in Canbury Passage, Canbury Park