"It is usual” writes Dr Pearse "te speak of the Chinese houses as being of one or
br
mera starego, but as each sterey was gmorally separately and as the sccupiera •† 02 each storey used it as they would have used their single stergy house in their native village in China, in effect these Chinese houses in Visteria were piled one en anetho?
thres,four and five high!
"Another facter has contributed curiously to produce the ill-designed Chinose beuse of Hongkong. The floors of these houses are supported by China fir peles. A pole of mere than fifteen feet long of sufficient strength for a floor joist is not resilly
procurable. This has limited the width of sterays to fifteen feat.
"In order to provide as much accommodation per floor as possible,i.c.t· make build- ing pay, the area of a fisor has been obtained by increasing its depth out of all
proportion to its width,
"Hence a Chinese house in Hongkong has been a veritable tamnal fifteen foot wide and
forty, fifty and even sixhy feet deep.
"Excepting comer houses only, windows to light and ventilate these turmela were possible only at the front and in front of these were verandahs,
"Windows at the rear of houses were not at first oenaidorod necessary and many
houses were built back to back with na yari er ventilating shaft between them. On sach floor the rear portion was cut off by a partition wall to frez a kitchen. Such kitshms were small,generally under 150 square feet in area,vory daric and often with ne moans of ventilatien ether than the deer osmmunicating with the main portion
waste of the fleer. These kitchens were drained by vertical earthenware pipun pipes which in the case of back to baak houses were carried dem through the building to dis-
charge ever a gully trap in the kitchen on the ground flser,"
From time to time laws have been passed to improve the heusing oenditions by pre- viding open spaces of a defined minimum area at the rear for ventilation, Later, all new houses were required to have larger back yards and also son:enging lanes. Pur- ther,regular systematis oleansing of the Chinese houses ma instituted ( in 1903) and sertain repairs affected. These measures were really directed towards the arad- isation or limitation of plague and were aised at affording protestien from infesta-
4:on with rata,
The method of sleansing the houses is carried out in the following manner four times a year: the furniture is turned out, the bed-beards and sushlike are dipped in 1% kerosene in water in order to get rid of vering the fleerı also are sprayed with the same liquid. All rubbish and dirt generally are removed and an inspector