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64
(8) Proper provision must be made for the storage of flour
elsewhere than in the bakehouse.
(9) The bakehouse must be adequately lighted.
(10) Ventilation must be adequate.
In the early part of the year the bakers in the district were desirous
to anticipate any steps which the Council might propose to take with
reference to the construction or regulation of their premises ; being
uncertain to what extent the New Act gave new powers over above.
ground and underground premises. I accordingly availed myself of
this feeling, as your representative, at the earliest moment, and before
the Council had dealt with the question of the underground premises,
by making an effort to obtain from those whose premises were entirely
above.ground some desirable improvements in their construction and
arrangement. A number of them were not constructed so as to prevent
dust falling from the floor above ; in some the space between the top of the
oven and the floor above was open, but not of sufficient depth to be
properly cleansed, and became often a deposit for rubbish; one or two
needed some improvement in ventilation or lighting, and in methods of
coal storage. I therefore pressed upon the various occupiers the need
for these improvements, and after much correspondence and many
interviews, and with modifications rendered desirable by individual
circumstances, I obtained what I asked for, even in some matters more
than was subsequently insisted upon by the Council in the underground
bakehouses.
In 17 instances a ceiling of plaster or of matched boards was
provided.
In 4 cases the space over oven was closed.
In 16 cases improved arrangements were made for coal storage.
In 21 cases special cleansing was carried out.
In 3 cases improvements were made in ventilation or lighting, or
both.
It is noticeable, however, that the good to be derived from these
improvements is much minimized by the indifference of occupiers. In
few instances is there evinced the least desire to do more than can be
enforced by law, which of course is a minimum. It is difficult to get
them to recognize that a place for the preparation of food is not a
proper place for storing old boots or working clothes, or accumulation
of rubbish. It is discouraging when walls are lined with glazed bricks
or tiles to find no care taken to clean more frequently than the law
requires, which seems to be thought more than enough. In fact, some
of the best constructed places are the worst kept.