COPY.
ENCLOSURE 7,
486 27236
Site.
the village.
Houses.
Log Houses.
in dens.
lio Baths.
Ventilation of
Houses.
Drainage of Houses,
houses.
Report of a Sanitary Inspection of the village of
Hunghom made on 30th May, 1901.
The village is situated on the shore of the Harbour near the Kowloon Docks. In front, the foreshore is covered with a number of matsheds massed together without definite order. These are for the most part workshops and dwellings of the workers combined. Behind the village there are low hills. The site has been in part prepared by cutting back the hills and in part by reclamation. The soil is decomposed granite.
The site in itself is fairly good, but the matsheds massed in confusion on the foreshore without drainage make sanitary cleanliness impossible. The hills at the rear of the village are in places not sufficiently cut back. The removal in time of the hill will be of benefit to the ventilation of the site.
The village comprises 297 houses in well-laid-out streets which are of good width, with unpaved roadway and concreted footpaths.
The inhabitants are for the most part workers in the Dockyard, and the usual shopkeepers and lodging house proprietors who provide for the workers. The people are as a body well-to-do.
The houses are some of 2 and some of 3 stories. Some have, but many have not, a small yard in the rear. The basement is on practically the same level as the road. It was tiled in those houses which I visited. The houses are in good order structurally.
These are licensed and under supervision. The regulation space per head being 30 Sq. ft. is but moderate. Overcrowding should conveniently be strictly guarded against.
Overcrowding by day (evening time) appears to occur. The one which I visited was ventilated in such a way that the closing of a window at the back would practically stop all ventilation. These resorts are a source of danger of the spread of infection. It would be well for the Sanitary Inspector to insist on the window in the rear being always kept open during the day, the time during which overcrowding occurs.
Public Baths have been recently opened near the landing stage. They are, I was told, much used.
The ventilation of the houses has been sufficiently provided for in the structure of the houses but its efficiency is considerably lessened by the habits of the people themselves who do much to obstruct it by screens, partitions, and curtains.
Drains are provided for carrying off the dirty water from house use. These are efficient, but in one instance which I saw, the pipe from the upper storey discharged over a grating placed in front of the cooking place in the basement.
Refuse from food with the dust and rubbish of the houses is collected in baskets which are each morning emptied into dust carts.
Generally