13
with a native type kitchen in the rear. This room is then subdivided by thin partitions seven feet high into three cubicles each of which may accommodate a family. A latrine is built at ground floor level, one to each house irrespective of the number of occupants, and is common to all.
5. Structurally the earlier houses are of blue bricks (of native manufacture having a very low structural value) and timber, (usually China fir which is extremely susceptible to the ravages of white ants). Lately, however, reinforced concrete and better quality bricks have been used.
6. In the City of Victoria the major defect of housing is due to lack of town planning, but since a large proportion of the City was erected in the early days of the Colony, when town planning was little practised even in Europe, the conditions to-day are a heritage, the elimination of which involves immense sums of money,
and probably considerable opposition if attempted on a large scale.
7. Generally many of the old houses suffer from defects which are attributable to the Ordinance of that time. Passed in 1903 the measure was framed to meet existing conditions, both structurally and hygienically as they were then understood and practised. But, viewed in the light of modern practice and knowledge, many of its provisions are found to be lax and the following are the main resultant defects:-
Note:
(a) The open space is insufficient, especially with regard to earlier houses, i.e. those built on land purchased prior to 1903.
(b) Latrine accommodation is insufficient.
(c) Staircases are too narrow and steep, and often unlighted.
(d) Means of escape in case of fire insufficient.
(b) In the case of new buildings where owners are able to provide by means of a well or otherwise an adequate water supply, flush sanitation is now usually provided on each floor. This is one of the most important steps forward in sanitation that has been achieved.
(c) and (d) have been provided for by recent amendments of the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance, which call for any new staircases in tenement houses to be of fire-proof construction, with alternative means of egress from all floors more than twenty-three feet above the footpath. The remarks above apply more particularly to the housing of the wage-earning Asiatics. The housing for the wealthier classes is provided for by modern flats three or four storeys high, and in the suburban areas by detached or semi-detached houses usually two storeys high which may be occupied separately or as flats.
Page 15
Page 16