453
it could be and on referring to the Surveyor General's Department found that plans of the public drainage 20 existence and very little was known about them. House drainage in many parts of the town did not exist at all. In many cases whole streets had been built two or three hundred yards in length with solid brick houses on each side before any road had been laid down; these streets had no main drain, no side channels.
There were road ways 22.0 foot paths, but the remainder was in the rough just as the land had been found, except that grass grew upon it. There was no house drainage and garbage was thrown into the roadway; these streets are now being put in order.
In regards to the construction of the Chinese houses, they were, from a sanitary point of view, as bad as could be. The floor of the upper rooms could not be washed without drenching the people in the rooms below. The walls, which were of the flimsiest possible construction, had never been whitewashed inside or out since they were built, no matter how old they were.
The smoke of the kitchens permeated the whole building, there being no chimneys, only a hole in the floor and roof for it to escape by. In the kitchens, without any separation, were the latrines. Many families lived in each house, and pigs were kept under the beds on the ground, first, and second floors, and in the kitchens. In nearly all cases, the people had Government licenses for keeping them, and on the licenses, they were described as having a "fit and proper place." These licenses were often four and five years old.
In many cases, the pigs kept in a single house varied from scores to hundreds. In one house, with thirty people living in it, there were 272 pigs, all being licensed as being kept in "fit and proper places." These licenses were issued by the Market Inspector.