be recorded that this spirit of obstruction is less evident today as a result of education, and of the example set by some of the better class of realty companies whose blocks of tenement houses compare not unfavourably in essential respects with modern European practice.
4. The housing of the Colony is all privately owned, and control is maintained by the operation of the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance, the provisions of which also mould the character of the housing. Generally the houses are built back to back in rows, separated by a scavenging lane six feet in width specified by the Ordinance. These houses vary in height from two to four storeys according to the width of the street on to which they front, whilst the average height per storey is twelve feet, a minimum being controlled by the Ordinance. The houses built prior to the 1903 Ordinance covering the greatest part of the native quarter are of depths varying from forty feet to eighty feet, with often less than 100 square feet of open space provided within the curtilage of the lot. After the passing of the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance No. 1 of 1903, the amount of open space per house to be allowed within the boundaries of each lot is governed, and falls under two main heads, viz:—(a) houses built on land bought prior to the passing of the Ordinance in 1903, where the open space must not be less than one-fourth of the area of the site and (b) houses built on land bought subsequently where the minimum is raised to one-third of the area. On plan the usual frontage of each house is fifteen feet (a dimension owing its origin more to early structural limitation than to economics) and a depth of about thirty-five feet, whilst each storey consists of one large "room" 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.
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be recorded that this spirit of obstruction is less evident today as a result of education, and of the example set by some of the better class of realty companies whose blocks of tenement houses compare not unfavourably in essential respects with modern European practice.
4. The housing of the Colony is all privately owned, and control is maintained by the operation of the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance, the provisions of which also mould the character of the housing. Generally the houses are built back to back in rows, separated by a scavenging lane six feet in width specified by the Ordinance. These houses vary in height from two to four storeys according to the width of the street cn to which they front, whilst the average height per storey is twelve feet, a minimum being controlled by the Ordinance. The houses built prior to the 1903 Ordinance covering the greatest part of the native quarter are of depths varying from forty feet to eighty feet, with often less than 100 square feet of open space provided within the curtilage of the lot. After the passing of the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance No. 1 of 1903, the amount of open space per house to be allowed within the boundaries of each lot is governed, and falls under two main heads, viz:--(a) houses built on land bought prior to the passing of the Ordin- ance in 1903, where the open space must not be less than one-fourth of the area of the site and (b) houses built on land bought subsequently where the minimum is raised to one- third of the area. On plan the usual frontage of each house is fifteen feet (a dimension owing its origin more to early structural limitation than to economics) and a depth of about thirty-five feet, whilst each storey consists of one large "room' 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.
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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.
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