"Forty-one bakers carry on their business in underground cellars; but there is nothing in the "Buildings or Factory Acts to forbid underground “premises being utilized for this purpose.1

"The walls and roofs required lime-washing in "59 bakehouses, and the troughs and utensils were "unclean in 23.

1 An attempt was made in the Bill for the Factory and Workshop Act, 1883, to prohibit the occupation of underground premises in connexion with new bakehouses. The clause in question made it an offence to occupy as a bakehouse any cellar, room, or place which might be "less than one-half of its height above the level of the street, footway, or ground adjoining,” unless it had been so occupied before the 1st of June last. This clause, however, was somewhat severely criticised during the passage of the Bill through the House of Lords, and was struck out by the House of Commons. No doubt, if bakehouses could be provided as cheaply above as underground, they would, as a general rule, be more easily kept clean and properly ventilated in that position; but as a matter of fact a large proportion of the bakehouses in towns are underground, in consequence of the difficulty of sparing the necessary amount of space above ground-i.e., for the same reason that the kitchens in town houses are usually placed underground. The proposed prohibition might, therefore, have involved a serious restriction on the baking trade; and the only argument on which it could have been defended would have been that it was absolutely necessary from a sanitary point of view. It seems clear from the reports of the Factory Inspectors and Medical Officers of Health, which are quoted in this work, that many underground bakehouses are very dirty places; but it is difficult to believe that it can be impossible to keep a bakehouse clean and properly ventilated merely because it is underground, or rather, in the words of the clause referred to, because it is "less than one-half of its height above the level of the street, footway, or ground adjoining.' If a retail bakehouse is not

only underground, but also in such a position underground as to render it impossible to ventilate it properly, or to keep it dry and clean, and otherwise fit for occupation as a bakehouse, proceedings may now be taken against the occupier under section 16 of the new Act, for allowing it to be "on sanitary grounds, unfit for use or occupation as a bakehouse" (see above, pages 30 to 32). The House of Commons seem, therefore, to have exercised a wise discretion, in expunging the proposed clause, which, in addition to the above objections to it, would have exercised a deterrent effect on the construction of new bakehouses, which, under the new Act, are subject to more stringent regulations than are applicable to existing bakehouses.

"In 58 instances I found refuse flour swept under "the troughs, which are invariably constructed so "as to allow this. In almost every instance this "refuse was dry; still I quite agree with Mr. Lake"man that it is a most objectionable practice, and "that it should be prohibited. It is usually collected, "when a sufficient quantity has accumulated, and "sold for the purpose of feeding pigs; but as only "about three shillings per sack is obtained for it, it "would be a very small hardship to compel the "bakers to burn it, instead of allowing it to accumulate.

"Thirty-five of the bakehouses were badly ventilated, and 41 were badly lighted; but this is not to be wondered at, when we take into consideration "the large number that are situated underground. "In one instance I found a part of a bakehouse divided off by a slight wooden partition, and used as a sleeping room. The place is not sufficiently “ventilated as required by the Act, neither is it properly separated from the bakehouse.

"In 14 instances the sink traps in the bakehouses were defective; but in this number I include all cases where bell traps were found, as I consider "this particular trap to be little better than none "at all. I found the traps in the yards adjoining "the bakehouses to be similarly defective in 32 “instances; in 12 the waterclosets were badly placed; but in only one (a pastry-cook's) was the closet actually within the bakehouse, though in "another case it was in the flour loft. The closets "were either foul, dilapidated, or badly ventilated "in 61 instances."

For further information on the same subject the reader may be referred to the quotations from the Reports of the Metropolitan Medical Officers of Health, given above, in Chapter I. See especially pages 17 and 18.

Deductions to

The above evidence will probably be sufficient be drawn from to convince the reader that whatever may be their these Reports. condition in rural districts, retail bakehouses are likely, in large towns, to get into an abominable condition, unless they are subjected to systematic control on the part of the local authorities. Judging from the state into which the bakehouses in the metropolis seem to have lapsed, after they had ceased for a year or two to be inspected by the Medical Officers of Health, what may we fairly conjecture to be the condition of similar places in large manufacturing towns, in which (and it is to be feared that there are only too many such towns) they have never hitherto been inspected or regulated at all either by the local authority or the Inspector of Factories? "It is a monstrous fact," says Dr. Dudfield, in his report to which we have already referred, "that an average bakehouse in the East "End of London, if the Inspector's report may be "relied on, is infinitely less fit, in point of construction, position, and condition for carrying on the "manufacture of the staff of life, than many a "slaughter-house." How readily, and with what which defects little friction, many of the sanitary defects in those establishments can be removed under a judicious and systematic course of inspection may be inferred from the following quotation from the Annual Report of Dr. Collier, the Medical Officer of Health for the Fulham District, for the year 1881 :—“ The "whole of the bakehouses in the district were in'spected. In a great many cases they were not "found to be kept in a proper sanitary condition, "and it was necessary to require the bakers, under legal notice, to remedy the defect. In no case was "it necessary to do more than serve a notice under the Nuisances Removal Acts, for in each instance the “notice was at once complied with."

Ease with

can be remedied

under judicious system

of inspection.

APPENDIX.

(1.) Parts of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1878, relating to retail Bakehouses, with notes.

(2.) Parts of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1883, relating to retail Bakehouses, with notes.

THE FACTORY AND WORKSHOP ACT, 1878.

[41 VICT., C. 16].

An Act to consolidate and amend the Law relating to Factories and Workshops.

Preliminary.

[27th May, 1878.]

1. This Act may be cited as the Factory and Short title. Workshop Act, 1878.

Sanitary1 conlition of factory and workshop.

PART I.

GENERAL LAW RELATING TO FACTORIES AND
WORKSHOPS.

(1.) Sanitary Provisions.

3. A factory2 and a workshop shall be kept in a cleanly state and free from effluvia arising from any drain, privy, or other nuisance.

A factory or workshop shall not be so overcrowded while work is carried on therein as to be injurious to the health of the persons employed 3 therein, and shall be ventilated in such a manner as to render harmless, as far as practicable, all the gases, vapours, dust, or other impurities generated in the course of the manufacturing process or handicraft carried on therein that may be injurious to health.

A factory or workshop in which there is a contravention of this section shall be deemed not to be kept in conformity with this Act.

1 So far as retail bakehouses, within the definition contained in section 18 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1883, are concerned, the duty of enforcing the provisions of this section, which are taken from section 4 of the Bakehouse Regulation Act, 1863, and section 91 (6) of the Public Health Act, 1875, has been transferred from the Factory Inspectors to the local authority. See section 17 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1883.

2 In order to ascertain what is a factory or workshop within the meaning of the Act, it is necessary to refer to section 93, from which it will be found in what cases a bakehouse is a factory, and in what cases it is a workshop, and what premises are included in the expression "factory or workshop.' Having regard to the terms of section 93, the majority of retail bakehouses will probably be workshops and not factories.

3 As to what constitutes employment in a factory or workshop, see sections 92 and 94.

4 See section 81 as to the fine to which the occupier of any factory or workshop, not kept in conformity with the Act, will be liable, and as to the power of the Court to require means to be taken for bringing any factory or workshop into conformity with the

Act.