THE SANITARY REGULATION OF BAKEHOUSES BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE LOCAL LOANS OF ENGLAND AND WALES." London: KNIGHT & COMPANY, 90 FLEET STREET, 1884, PREFACE. THE Factory and Workshop Act of the last Session having taken the duty of enforcing the sanitary regulation of retail bakehouses from the Inspectors of Factories, and having in other respects amended the law relating to these establishments, it is manifestly desirable that the members and officers of the local authorities, who, for the future, will have to carry out so much of the new Act, and of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1878, as relates to this subject, should make themselves acquainted with the nature of the obligation, which is thus imposed on them, and the powers which they possess in connexion with it. Without the aid of an explanatory manual, this will not be altogether an easy task, in consequence of the statutory provisions relating to bakehouses being hidden away in a mass of legislation with which no one, who is not himself practically interested in factories or workshops can be expected to be familiar. The main object of the present work has been to assist local authorities in this respect, by presenting to them the law relating to bakehouses, disentangled as far as possible from the law relating to other factories and workshops. At the same time, an attempt has been made by means of copious quotations from the reports of the Royal Commission on Factories and Workshops, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Factories, and several distinguished Metropolitan Medical Officers of Health, to show the necessity from a sanitary point of view of the systematic inspection of retail bakehouses, and the advantages which may be expected to result from the action of the present Government in transferring the duty of such inspection from the central to the local authorities. It is hoped that the work may be especially useful to Medical Officers of Health, on whom some very novel powers and duties have been assigned by the new statute, e.g. in relation to the taking of legal proceedings against offenders, and the giving of notices to the Inspectors of Factories of the employment of women and children in bakehouses. CONTENTS. Past Legislation as to Bakehouses. No special legislation before 1863-Bakehouse Regulation Act, houses--Result of not keeping the two objects of the Act distinct-Public Health Acts, 1872 and 1875-Local autho- rities for enforcing the Act in the Metropolis-Report of the Royal Commission on Factories and Workshops in 1876- Allegation as to failure of the local authorities in enforcing the Bakehouse Regulation Act-Transfer of inspection of bakehouses from local authorities to the Inspectors of Fac- tories, made contrary to the recommendation of the Royal Commission-Opinion of the Chief Inspector of Factories against the transfer as regards retail bakehouses-Result of the transfer-Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for 1882-Whether the inspection can be better done by the central or the local authority-Opinions of Medical Officers |