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JULY 31ST, 1884.

A LECTURE ON HEALTH IN THE

WORKSHOP.

By J. B. LAKEMAN,

H. M. Senior Metropolitan Inspector of Factories.

IT will be admitted that there can be no more interesting subject for consideration, than the well-being of the toiling masses of this kingdom who are daily administering to our wants, to our comforts, and to our luxuries.

Evidences of sympathy have been abundantly given whenever a calamity has overtaken our operatives, and even solicitude and tenderness have been extended to them from the Queen of England down to the lowest of Her Majesty's subjects.

The variety of their industries, the severity of their toil, the dangers incident thereto, combine to evoke our keenest interest, and to elicit our regard for their welfare.

It seems to me that the subject of "Health in the Workshop" is equally important, and deserves the consideration of every employer of labour, so that the law which enforces sanitation in our factories and workshops may be generally accepted as salutary and economic.

The Conferences and lectures which have been held and delivered here by eminent men, the exhibits which are displayed throughout this building, even the very intentions of the promoters of this grand scheme, have had each and

all for their bases, the word "Health." Health for the dweller in his domicile, health for the eater and drinker in that which he consumes, health for the pleasure seeker in what he requires, health and ease for the invalid in whatever adds to his comforts or would conduce to his convalescence; everything around us here, and all that has been said, mean progress towards so great an end, and suggest to the multitudes who visit here, that if they chose, they can see what has been set before them, whereby the blessings of health may be enjoyed as far as human skill and knowledge can be exercised therefor.

But seeing that such great things have been set before us, one might ask to whom have they been addressed, or to what end have they been collected?

Do such magnificent appliances and able lectures influence the rich and poor alike, or are these displays accepted only by those who can afford to indulge in the luxuries of life, and to whom, to will is to accomplish, or to desire, is to satisfy; in other words, is this Exhibition to be a universal school whose teachings will have a general application, whose aspirers after knowledge to be gained here, will put into practice in their several engagements of life, the lessons taught, so that those who hold the responsible position of employers of labour, may enhance the well-being and comfort of their helpers in toil by taking heed to the many sanitary improvements exhibited here, so that when the closing time will have come, it shall not be said that this undertaking was only intended to be an agreeable place of resort, where the senses and tastes were roused to a plethora of gratification, but rather that no efforts have been wanting to secure permanent results for good as the outcome of the Exhibition of 1884.

I hope truly that for the sake of eleven millions of workers in this kingdom, who are or ought to be protected as to their lives and health in their several occupations, that many employers of labour have closely studied whatever there is here calculated to do their people good,

and have taken advantage of the valuable lectures given, and the novel designs exhibited, so that in the future, labour in factories and workshops shall be conducted only under conditions favourable to “Health."

It has fallen to my lot, as a layman, and as a complement to the Handbook I have had the honour to write, to address you on the subject of " Health in the Workshop," which I shall strive to do, plainly and truthfully, by citing only what I know from experience; I shall not attempt to advance a scientific opinion of my own, nor pretend to deliver a scientific lecture, but I shall endeavour by the aid of a long official life to show you what has been done, what is being done, and what remains to be done before health in the workshop can be said to be fairly established.

Permit me to observe that an employer of labour is a person of greater importance than I fear is generally considered. He employs (1) for his own ends, purely and directly; (2) for the increase of a production for general good, indirectly, for if he gets paid for what he produces, he cares not where his goods go; (3) he should so employ for the benefit of his hands whose well-being is involved in the due consideration of the close relationship that ought to exist between them. There is Health in the workshop in this-and in proportion to his uprightness in mode of manufacturing, in his calling things by their right names, and in his employing under principles of equity, so will he exert a very great influence by such morality on economic success. Here also is Health in the workshop-And to myself, who have seen so many phases of the labour question and the uprisings of discontent amongst workers, it is a matter of great sorrow that our characteristic energy, enterprise, and independence of spirit, which are so essential to productive industry, should lose aught of their full development by a break in the chain of co-operation between master and servant of absolute fairness and conscientiousness, and with that impression I proceed to my subject by asking you, if it be either fair or conscientious to employ persons for the employer's direct benefit under conditions

that tend to debilitate and ultimately to undermine the health, for I am persuaded that no more weighty cause, whether social or economic can be found, than are the moral conditions between masters and men, and which either elevate or degrade the spirit and the heart; and herein too lies a secret of Health in the workshop, for unless virtue in its strictest and true meaning, be practised by employers and employed, decline and failure on one side or the other, or perhaps on both, will be the certain consequences of indirectness.

I could not refrain from making these remarks, being so devoted to the principle of fairness in all things.

I propose now to deal with the question how factories and workshops can be made more healthy, what dangers workers are exposed to, and how little regard is paid to sanitation or ventilation.

I will trespass on your time by referring to domestic workshops and their affinity to dwellings which are so neglected, I shall also refer to the Law as now existing and to the advantages, if any, which would accrue from more definite enactments. I shall also by the aid of diagrams specially prepared show you how ventilation may be cheaply secured—(a) in a factory using motive power, where conditions as to structure are favourable; (b) where three sides of the factory are shut in, as is the case with most occupations in London; (c) in workshops, where no motive power is used, and wherein passive appliances only can be set up.

VENTILATION.

It has been said, that however productive of greatness the industry of a nation may be, such greatness, if it be at the cost of the lives of its producers, is not real, or worthy of admiration, but quite the reverse, and should provoke shame.

This is a bold assertion, and perhaps it might be sustained if, from a total disregard of Nature's Laws, the lives of our operatives were placed in peril.

It cannot however be denied that as a nation we are very

backward by comparison, in sanitative education, and that the laws of ventilation are sadly neglected by our employers of labour-indeed such knowledge has not formed part and parcel of our schools' programmes to prosecute, and on that account I think much of what is complained of can be accounted for. It is true that in many large factories a great improvement in sanitation has been seen, and if we trace out who and what the occupiers thereof were or are, we should find that they have had the control of very extensive works, and were endowed with the philanthropic spirit of desiring to do as they would be done by, and moreover these men have found that by the application of sanitative law, their work has been better done, a larger quantity has been turned off by more uniform attendance, and the quality of work very superior.

It is to be noticed that although our factory laws date back to 1802, we knew not what sanitative restriction meant until 1864, when six certain trades which were said to be injurious to health were included in the factory code, and again in 1867, when another wide extension of the law was made, the same clauses were inserted, but it was not until 1878, that textile factories, although subject to the law since 1802, were brought under these said clauses-we cannot therefore be very much surprised that in this respect the value of Factory legislation has not been as fully appreciated as have been other portions of the Act, and which plainly set forth things required and forbidden.

To enumerate the various trades which are injurious to health when unaided by proper ventilation would include metallic dust-producing occupations, mineral dust, vegetable dust, and animal dust.

In the first, needle-makers, file-makers, grinders and moulders suffer in lung diseases to the extent of 50 per cent.; in the second, flint cutters rank highest, even up to 80 per cent., grindstone makers 40 per cent. The third shows that cigar makers suffer to the extent of 36 per cent., although in this trade I know full well that there is a great variety of occupations from the cleanest to the most

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