[Report 1925] / Medical Officer of Health, Leeds City.

  • Leeds (England). City Council.
Date:
1925
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1925] / Medical Officer of Health, Leeds City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    56/192 (page 52)
    Offensive Trades.—The City of Leeds (Offensive Trades) Confirmation Order, 1925, which came into force on the 27th of July augmented the list of offensive trades by the addition of nine trades not hitherto in the Schedule. The trade of fish frier, which is included in the new Schedule, has a wide popularity, there being few districts in the City where one or more shops do not exist. The frying of fish can, under suitable conditions, be conducted in a manner which gives rise to no offence. The use of water-cooled condensers fitted to modern ranges eliminates all smell. In the past fish frying has been carried on in all sorts of premises, some structurally defective, others so badly ventilated that nuisance was bound to arise. Now that the Health Committee have power to refuse applications for the establishment of new shops they are in the position of being able to dictate their require¬ ments and it may be assumed that these will be such as to secure a high standard of cleanliness and efficiency without being harsh or unreasonable. The use of coal for heating will be discouraged and gas-fired ranges will be recommended wherever possible. The number of applications to establish the trade of fish frier dealt with from July to December was twelve, and of these two were refused. The number of firms carrying on offensive trades (other than fish frying) was 82, and the number of fried-fish shops 479, making a total of 561 offensive trades of all kinds in the City. The total number of visits of inspection made to offensive trades during the year was 903. The provisions laid down in Section 63 of the Leeds Corporation Act, 1924 with regard to the separation of non-edible from edible fats have been carried out by the majority of the firms engaged in fat refining or fat melting. Factories and Workshops.—In pages 54 and 55 will be found a complete summary of the work done under the Factory and Work¬ shop Act, 1901, and in a separate table a report on the inspection of bakehouses. In connection with premises where food for human consumption is prepared, manufactured, stored or sold, powers of a fairly compre¬ hensive character are conferred on local authorities by Section 72 of the Public Health Act, 1925. The object of these is to secure the cleanliness of all articles of food as well as of the utensils in which they are stored or worked. The section supplies a long felt want in our sanitary legislation.