70
Department. The first and second floors were inspected. The house is three storeys high. The measurements of the first floor is as follows:
Length... Width
Height ...
...31 feet 9 inches;
...13
10
"}
...13
3
>>
thus making 5,818 cubic feet or 5,295 net cubic feet allowing for a stairway. The total. window area equalled 518 square feet; one of the windows opens into a narrow street, the other into a chimney-like areaway.
The windows and door were bolted. I was informed that this is a usual practice to avoid thievery or intrusion. The air was quite foul.
Not only was there no ventilation on this floor but a third factor of the overcrowding was in evidence here. This factor is the crowding of too many inmates occupying one floor.
This floor was subdivided into four cubicles, each cubicle containing the following number of persons: No. 1, six persons; No. 2, three persons; No. 3, two persons; No. 4, two persons. In a narrow hall-way were boards and trestles which were occupied by seven persons, making the total number of inmates twenty. floor measured 7 feet in width, about 8 feet in length and 6 feet in height. Thus six persons in cubicle No. 1 existed in 336 cubic feet of air space--the air therein being unventilated.
The usual cubicle on this
The second floor contained seventeen persons, but the measurements and cubicles were the same in extent and arrangements. The doors and windows were likewise bolted.
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Inspections were made at the following houses which yielded cases of epidemic meningitis:-
House No.
1, Wo On Lane,
No. of cubicles on the floor.
7
No. of No. of inmates. cases.
14
48, Stanley Street,... 3 (and several bunks.)
1, Jubilee Street,..
13
20
In all these houses, the legal restrictions insist on seven to nine persons to the floor; the actual number was thirteen to twenty. The measurements and cubic contents are in the main as given above for the Chinese Street house. But, besides the actual over- crowding in this series of dwellings, there was, as well, no ventilation. The cubicles were heavily curtained admitting no air whatever.
Hence, there are too many houses over too small an area, there are no sanitary arrangements for light and air within the houses and there are too many persons living within the house. The relationship of these factors to the spread of the epidemic will be discussed later.
The tendency of the Chinese to overcrowd is noted throughout the community. The market is crowded daily and the streets surrounding the market are so filled with per- sons that at times it is impossible to thread one's way through. So the tram-cars, the lodging houses, schools, the matsheds, the streets and lanes, etc.
(i) The habits of the Chinese as they relate to the spread of the epidemic. Certain infringements of the rules of hygiene which have special relationship to the spread of the disease are continually practised by the Chinese of the Colony. The most flagrant are in connection with the street restaurants. The edibles are exposed to the open air and served in dishes which have not been cleansed between the servings, so that what is in one's mouth is directly conveyed to another's. This condition prevails to a lesser extent in the house restaurants. The other infringements consist in the use of common (roller) towels, and common drinking cups; the drying and sorting of food on the high- ways or streets covered with frequent expectoration which is generally practised there as well as in the home.