10
Hotel. In these buildings every sanitary prin- ciple recognised and enforced at home was con- spicuous by its absence. These dwellings when they became inhabited by a teeming population of Chinese, as no doubt they would as soon as they were finished, would be but very little better than the houses which stood in the very same area of Taipingshan and which were demolished on account of their insanitary condition at an enormous cost to the rate-
payers of the colony. Any man who knew anything who went down and simply looked through that block of buildings must, if he had the interests of the city at heart at all, go back a very sad man. He trusted that the erection of such buildings as those would soon be rendered absolutely impossible.
The motion was carried.
EXEMPTION,
An application for exemption from concret. ing certain premises at 18, Gage street, and 33, 35, 37, and 39, Holywood road was granted,
THE BURCNIC PLAGUE AT BOMBAY,
A statement was submitted showing plague cases and deaths in the city of Bombay from 19th May to 6th June, 1898. The plague was shown to be diminishing, only eight cases being reported on June 6th and four deaths.
· THE PLAGUE AT MACAO.
A return from Macao showed that for the week ended June 19th there were seven deaths from plague.
HONGKONG MORTALITY STATISTICS. The mortality statistics for Hongkong showed the death rate per 1,000 per annum for the week ended 18th June to be 180, against 39-2 for the preceding week and 23-2 for the corresponding week last year. The rate for the week ended June 25 was 147 against 18.9.
NEW MARKET FOR KOWLOON. A plan of a proposed new market at Taikok- sui was submitted and approved.
The proceedings then terminated.
THE SANITARY BOARD AND THE
INSANITARY PROPERTIES
COMMISSION.
At the meeting offthe Sanitary Board on the
30th June there were laid on the table "remarks and suggestions," signed by the members of the Board, on the report of the Insanitary Pro- perties Commission, which report had been con- sidered by the Board in private,
The Board says:—
"The recommendations of the majority of the Commissioners taken as a whole appear
to us to fall short of what the evidence
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
both oral and documentary, which they had before them, would have justified them in making, and to be inadequate to meet the need for immediate sanitary improvement, and for such further legislation as will prevent the erection in the future of insanitary dwellings." The recommendations of the Commissiou and of the Board with respect to certain matters are printed in parallel columns for comparison. The following the
or exit to the public street, such houses should be resumed by the Government.
"All such lanes must be concreted, channelled, drained, lit, and maintained in a sanitary coa. dition by the owners.
"The Sanitary Board should have power in special cases to modify the provisions of the foregoing regulations, when such modification may appear necessary.
+
For the purposes of these rules the forma tion of one or more openings through the wall which under ordinary circumstances would form the party wall between two adjacent houses, shall not entitle such houses to be considered as one house.
"Note.In all cases in which a continuous lane is thus provided, we consider that the Government might resume the land, after it has been surfaced and channelled by the owners to the satisfaction of the Director of Public Works, should the owners agree to apply for such resumption.
"In no case should any obstruction whatever be permitted to be erected in these open spaces or lanes and the Police Magistrate should have full power to order the immediate removal of all such obstructions, including articles of merchandise, furniture, &c., stored in the lane." After referring to the evidence given before the Commission on the points dealt with in the above, and quoting the following passage from Mr. Chadwick's report of the 19th July, 1882: "The absence of any lane or alley giving access to the backs of the houses, a defect but too common in Victoria, is a great impediment Jn framing to improvement in sanitation. back alleys should be insisted upon where regulations as to open spaces, continuous practicable, and in case of existing buildings every effort should be made to introduce means of access to the back parts of them,"--the Board goes on to say :-
"In spite of this weighty pronouncement by such an eminent sanitary authority as Mr. Chadwick, made with special reference to Hong- kong after a close study of its sanitary condition, the Commissioners' recommendations would permit of an existing house of twice or three times 26 feet in depth to be no better provided in the matter of an open space at the rear than a house that was just over 26 feet in depth.
"Our recommendations are based, firstly, on the evidence of the majority of the witnesses examined by the Commission that all houses should have light and ventilation at the rear.
area
|
[July 2, 1898. case, be permitted to exceed 8 feet in height. No cocklofts or cubicles whatever should be permitted in houses within the European District Reservation Area (Ordinance 16 of 1888), nor should any such be permitted to be erected in any kitchen.
"That where one cubicle only exists in any room of a domestic building, the present height of eight feet be retained; that where two cubicles only exist, the height of each should not be permitted to exceed seven feet, and that where more than two cubicles exist, the height of each should not be permitted to exceed six feet.
"That there should be a space of at least four inches between the lower edge of the partition walls and the floor, in all cubicles, and that no structure should be permitted to be erected with-- in a cubicle which shall be of a greater height than the partition walls, as provided for in the foregoing paragraph, or which shall provide a cover or roof to the cubicle; and also that no cubicle should be permitted to be erected nearer thau six feet to any window the area of which is included in calenlating the required window area of one-tenth the floor area.
"That no cubicle used for sleeping purposes should have a less floor area than 64 square feet, That the recommendation in Clause 12 of the Report be adopted and applied to every exist. ing domestic dwelling in which cubicles are erected." *
It is explained that the recommendation re- garding the prohibition of cubicles and cook- lofts in the European District Reservation Area is aimed at preventing the houses therein de- signed for European occupation being turned into tenement houses for Chinese by means of the objectionable system of sub-division by cubicles. In another paragraph the Board ob serves that cubicles are one of the most objec. tionable features of the dwelling-houses" of Chinese in this colony, and that they are not, as some seem to suppose, an adjunct of Chinese family life in China, but are essentially a con- trivance to which the Chinese in this colony have been driven by the excessive depth of the houses in Victoria and by the demand for house room. It is unfortunately impossible, the Board says, to prohibit cubicles altogether, but everything should be done to render them as little obnoxious to health as possible.
OVERCROWDING,
The Board recommends that in a room fitted with bunks or beds, sleeping accommodation shall not be provided for a greater number of persons than may occupy the room in accor- dance with section 9 of Ordinance 15 of 1894; also that restrictions should be placed on the erection of cocklofts and mezzanine floors even in rooms in which there are no cubicles.
PRIVATE STREETS AND LANES,
"Hence we have not eliminated houses that are less than 26 feet in depth. Secondly, we have adopted the common sense view that the of open spaces in rear of dwellings should have some proportion to the depth or height of such dwellings, in which view we are supported by what is required by the by. laws on the subject in the principal cities at home. Thirdly, we have adopted Mr. Chad- wick's recommendation that an endeavour should be made to insist on continuous back alleys wherever practicable, and to encourage the formation of them by allowing smaller spaces when in the form of a continuons lane than when in the form of a backyard. We concur in the opinion expressed by Mr. Leigh that existing houses above a certain depth can afford "Every house should have an open space in
to give up a space which would be sufficient to form such back alleys. the rear, of the area mentioned in the following
"There are no structural difficulties in carry-buildings abut." table, which area should extend for at least half the width of the house and from the backing out our recommendations; it is true that wall of such house to the line of division be- tween it and the adjoining house or property:- "Houses not exceeding 40 ft. in depth 50 sq.
exceeding 40ft. not exceeding 50 90 60 130 175
are
Board's recommendations with reference to the provision of open spaces at the rear of houses:-
35
11
OPEN SPACES.
29
,50 :60
19
ft.
""Provided always that when the owners of a block of buildings agree to form a lane opening at either end upon a public street, and free from obstruction throughout, the foregoing
rules should be modified as follows:
6 feet wide
Houses not exceeding 40 feet in
depth: a lane not less than Houses exceeding 40 but not ex-
ceeding 50 feet in depth... 8 fest wide Houses exceeding 50 but not ex-
ceeding 60 feet in depth... ...11 feet wide Houses exceeding 60 feet ...13 feet wide "Should the construction of any such lane involve the demolition of honses at one or both ends of such lane in order to form an entrance
fice dwelling space, but we submit that if such the owners in many instances will have to sacri.
entails loss (on them they are themselves to blame for overcrowding their property with buildings of an insanitary nature.
"L
In some cases it will be found that the backs
of houses in rear of which we recommend the
formation of laneways are not in alignment.
“In such cases we advise that the Government resume the property, and, after effecting the improvements recommended by us, sell it again."
CUBICLES.
The following are the recommendations of the Board with respect to cubicles :-
In houses fronting streets less than 15 feet in width no cubicles should be allowed except on the top floor of each house.
fronts should be allowed on the ground floors "No cubicles or partitions other than shop- of houses fronting streets of a greater width than 15 feet and such shop-fronts should, in no
The recommendation of the Commissioners under this heading is as follows:-" We recom- mend that owners of private streets and lanes be required at their own expense to surface, channel, and light such streets and lanes, and to maintain them in a sanitary condition." The Board concurs in this recommendation as far as it goes, but suggests the following amendment:- "All private streets and lanes must be surfaced, channelled, and lit to the satisfaction of the Director of Public Works, and no obstructions whatever should be permitted to be erected in private streets and lanes upon which domestic
LATRINE ACCOMMODATION AND REMOVAL OF NIGHT-SOIL FROM PRIVATE PREMISES.
On this subject the Board says:-" Although the absence of adequate latrine accommodation
•
throughout the colony and the irregular collec- tion of night-soil from the dwellings of the. poorer classes of the Chinese are matters which closely concern the sanitary condition of the dwel- lings,
we observe that the Commissioners have made no recommendations to the Govern- ment on this subject, and we desire to urge therefore upon the Government the necessity for the provision of additional public latrines throughout the colony at an early date, and we are also of the opinion that the Government
* Clause 12.-" We consider that no cubicles should in future be permitted on any floor in any dwelling that has not a window, or windows, total are a of not less than one tenth of the floor opening directly into the external air, of a
space."