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HONGKONG SANITARY BOARD.
A meeting of the Fanitary Board was held on the 24th inst. in the Board Room. Present -Tr. J. M. Atkinson, Principal Civil Medical Officer (President); Mr. F. J. Badeley, Captain Superintendent of Police; Hou. Dr F. W. Clark, Medical Officer of Health, Mr C Mol. Messer, Acting Registrar-General; Lient-Colonel Hughes, RA.M.C.; Mr. E Osborne, Mr. Fung Wa Chun, Mr. Lau Chupak, and Mr. G. A. Woodecek (Ɛecretary).
LATEINE AT YAUMATL
Correspondence was laid on the table relative to the suggested erection of a temporary iron latrine at Mongkoktsui, Yaumati.
On the motion of Dr. CLA K, reconded by the'PRES) DENT, the erection of the latrine was *pproved.
PRA F. S'MPSON'S AND ME. CFDWICK'S REPORT.
The following is the report of the Committee of the Board relative to the joint report of Prof. Simpson and Mr. Chadwick on the housing of the population of Hongkong
Sanitary Board Office,
17th July, 1902. Sir,-We beg to submit the following remarks and suggestions relative to the report on the question of housing the population of Hongkong by Mr. Chadwick and Professor Simpson,
The report summarises many of the recommendations made by the Sanitary Boerd during the past eight years.
We are agreed that the present ius nita ry condition of Hongkong is due to surface crowding, sanitary defects in the design of dwelling houses, and by overcrowding of the inhabitants in these houses, and are cf opinion, after a careful consideration of the report, that the measures recommended are well calculated to improve the insanitary areas in Hongkong.
Our remarks therefore are mainly confined to the best method of carrying out the recem - mendations contained in the report.
In paragraph 11 of the Bill, provision is made in the constitution of the Sanitary Board for a Sanitary Commissioner, and we are of opinion by a majority that such an officer should be appointed, but doubt very much whether, if he is to fulfil the duties laid down in the report, he should necessarily be a medical men.
Professor Simpson states in paragraph 29 of his second memorandum that the Medical Officer of Health should be the director and
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
executive head of the staff engaged in connection with (a) plague work, (b) ordinary sanitary routine work.
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The duties of the Sanitary Commissior er would therefore be the carrying out of the larger sanitary questions, detailed in paragraph 31 f Professor Simpson's second memorandum, viz :
(1) The distribution of the water supply and its purity as apart from the constructive work. (2) The maintenance of the sewerage and its flushing arrangements.
(3) The laying ont of streets, public and pri- vate
(4) Projecting new streets and scavenging lanes.
(5) Improving the line of old streets. (6) The reservation of open spaces. (7) The construction of healthy houses. (8.) The space to be left between and about buildings to secure free circulation of air. (9.) The provision of public and private latrines and urinals, .
power of temporarily closing, buildings ar fit for human habitation.
It is therefore in accordance with this byelaw that permanent closing of basements should be carried out by the Bcard.
In connection with the byelaw for the pre- vention or mitigation of epidemic, endemic er contagious disease, we beg to record here that we see no sufficient reason for the proposed alterations of No. 1 of these byelaws.
The Board at present directs its officers to the district in which those visitations should be make house-to-house visitations, and defines
Commissioner shall have the power to direct any carried out, and it is proposed that the Sanitary officer to make visits in any district in which he may deem such visitations to be necessary.
It would le necessary under the proposed arrangement to inform the police of the fact that certain districts have been defined, to secure their co-operation, and therefore little sioner defining the districts and directing the time would be saved by the Sanitary Commis-
officers instead of the Board,
Moreover, before such measures are adopted, the whole Board, especially the Chinese mem. bers, should have an opportunity of expressing they are enforced. their views, and they should be published before
The proviso to Ecetion 48 should be rm-
ended by the addition of the words "other than servants' quarters "after the word "building," as the requirements of 50 square feet and 600 cubic feet for each adult would le sufficient in such buildings. With refence to Sections 109 and 123, the prohibition of lath nd plaster walls and ceilings has already been recom- mended by the Board, and we are of opinion that they should not be allowed in future out- side the European reso: vation with the approval of the Beard (or Building area unless
Authority).
With reference to Section 146, we
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strongly of opinion that at least half of window area required should be made to open.
Plate VIII in the r part illustrates the neces- sity for limiting the depth of a dwelling house, and it is to be hoped that dwellings having a not be allowed to be erected in future. depth of 90 feet without laterul windows will
In this connection we note with regret that the report does not contain a plan of an im- proved type of domestic building, although it shows clearly that the present desigus are defective in almost every particular.
The Board has already expressed its opinion mitted is that designed by the that the best type of Chinese house yet sub- Chatham, Director of Public Works.
Hon. W.
Paragraph 23 of the report states that this plan solves the cubicle question, but we are at a external sir contained in the last portion of loss to understand how it solves this question of
Section 149, as the open space into which the windows from the cubicles lead does not, except in the case of corner houses, extend "the whole length of the wall in which such windows have been made," and therefore the cubicle windows do not lead into external air as defined by the aforesaid Section.
Before quitting this question of external air. we deem it advisable to draw attention to paragraph 18 of the report, which advises limitation of cubicles in corner houses to those which have lateral windows opening into side streets of not less than twenty feet in width. The width of street bitherto requined by the Board when granting exemption to corner (10.) The abolition of cubicles without win-houses from the provision of backyards bas dows, and the question of insanitary property..
been 15 feet. (11) Demolishing insanitary property, and reconstructing it on sanitary principles.
́ (12.) The prevention of the erection of in- sanitary areas.
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These duties, which include the approval of all plans, are more those of a civil engineer than a medical man.
The wording of Sub-section 4, Section 149, is somewhat vague. It may be intended to mean that two cubicles are allowed without windows, but it may also be taken to read that if more than two ubicles are erected, at the cubicles must be provided with windows. We agree by a majority to the amount of open 81 ace required by Sections 1:5 and 177, and to the limitation of the height of Luildings re-
We agree in advocating all the other new provisions in the Bill which have not been specially referred to above.
We are agreed that the Medical Officer of the Board should not have a seat on the Board.
We suggest that Sections 45 and 47quired by Section 185. should be amended by substituting the Board" for "the anitary Commissioner, as we are of opinion that questions deeling with the rights of ownership should be considered by the Board. This principle is maintained in Ne. 3 of the byelaws governing the prevention or mitigation of epidemic, endemic or contagious disease, as under this byelaw the Board has the
(Signed) J. M. ATKINSON,
F. J. BADELEY.
A minority report by Mr. Lan Chupak, who was also a member of the committee, was sub- mitted. It was as follows:-
[July 28, 1902,
Hongkong, 21st July, 1902; Sir, Having carefully considered the report by Mr. Chadwick and Professor Simpson en the housing of the population of Hongkong, I beg to submit that the measures recommended would only partially improve the sanitary condition of this Colony in the in mediate future. I find that, after reviewing our insanitary condition due to overcrowding and sanitary defects in the design of dwelling-houses, the experts recommend the resumption of a very of the slums situated in narrow lanes and streets limited number of these dwellings, whilst most
stances will perm't; with this end in their view, are left to be dealt with by measures as circom- Sections 147, 149, 175, 177, and 185 have been introduced in the Bill annexed to their report.
I submit that these measures are not only drustic and arbitrary, but they are contrary to the principle of British justice and fair play, and also contrary to the object of the petition of State for the Colonies. presented by the ratepayers to the Secretary
The object of the petition, I take it, is the desire to have this Colony put into В proper sanitary condition once for all, and freed from the runual recurrence of plague and other epidemic diseases.
The experts appear to be only dealing with a portion of the insanitary dwelling-houses, leaving a large number of such buildings, com monly called slums, to be dealt with in the future as circumstances will permit.
part of the Beusing of the Working Class Act, They have incorporated in the Bill only one 1890, leaving her equally important pro- visions contained in the other parts untouched.
I venture to say that the introduction of Sub-section B of Section 39 of the English cases, and that its omission would work Act would be fair and beneficial in many
hardship on the holders of small lots. This Sub-section reads: - "When it ap-
pears to the local authority that the closeness, narrowness, and bad arrangement or bad ccndi. tion of any buildings, or the want of light, air, ventilation, or proper conveniences, or any other sanitary defect in any buildings, is dangerous or prejudicial to the health of the inhabitants either of the said buildings or of the neighbour- ing buildings, and that the demolition or the reconstruction and rearrangement of the said buildings or of some of them is necessary to remedy the said evils. and that the area com- prising those luildings and the yards, out- houses, and appurtenances thereof, and the site thereof, is too small to be dealt with as an unhealthy area under Part I of this Act, the local authority shall pass a resolution to the abore effect and direct a scheme to be prepared for the improvement of the said aree.'
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Sub-section 4‹f the same Section empowers the local authority to purchase by agreement the area comprised in the scheme, and Section 41 deals with the question of compensation by arbitration, and so on.
With reference to the appointment of a Sani- tary Con missioner, I agree with Ir. Atkinson aud Mr. Badeley that should such an officer be deemed recessary, the incumbent should be a civil engineer for majority report. I agree also that the Medical reasons stated in their
Officer of Health, as chief executive officer of the Board, should not have a seat on the Board, as in the whole Public Health Acts of England the duties of the Medical Officer of Health are, I find, to carry out the orders of the local It is absurd, therefore, authority or board. that the Medical Officer of Health should vote at the meetings of the Sanitary Board and take orders from it at the same time. The same remarks may be applied to the Sanitary Commissioner, if one is to be appointed.
As regards the abolition of existing cubicles, scheme can be devised to remodel the existing it will be found to be impracticable unless a tenement houses, so as to bring it within the means of the poor to pay the rent and not to inflict heavy losses on the owners or infringe the rights of Crown lessees.
I strongly recommend that where a compul- the requirements of the new Bill, fair and sory sacrifice of land and space is made to meet
rascrable compensation should be given in Section 155 of the Public Health every case. authority shall pay or tender compensation to Act, 1875 reads, as follows:-"“The urban the owner or other person immediately interested
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