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Preston Guardian
Saturday 18 August 1866
Breach of Factory Act
At the court-house, on Monday, Mr. G. Slater, cotton spinner and manufacturer, was summoned by Mr. Bailey, the inspector of factories, for not having the hoist sufficiently fenced off. -Mr. Bailey stated that on the 26th July last a boy, named Joshua Dean, aged 16 years, fell from a hoist, whereby he was severely injured. He inspected the place, and found a hoist outside the factory. There was a cage, which slid up and down on guide ropes made of iron wire. It appeared unsafe. The guide ropes were felxible, and therefore pressure would force away the cage from the wall of the factory as it ascended, so that any person might fall between the cage and the wall, especially if the cage happened to be stopped above the sill of the door. -Mr. Dwyer appeared for the defendant, and contended that the hoist not being within the factory, but outside, it did not come within the meaning of the act, and therefore the bench had no jurisdiction. -The Bench held Mr. Slater liable, and fined him £2 and costs. -Mr. Bailey recommended iron rods for the guide ropes, which, it was stated, had been procured, and were about to be put up. -A man, named Thomas Thistlethwaite, a self-acting mule minder, was summoned for allowing a creeler, named Thomas Stevenson, aged nine years, to be in a situation while at work on Orchard Mill, Padiham, where he was injured on the head between the fixed and travelling parts of the mule, on the 22nd of July. -The Bench held the defendant was not the responsible party, and dismissed the case, observing that it was improper to employ a boy nine years of age at such dangerous work; no person, however careful, could prevent a child of that age from getting into danger.
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Mel
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