Sessional_Paper_1901 — Page 117

No. 6.

REPORT OF

OF PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE

at a Meeting held on the 26th September, 1901.

113

PRESENT:

The Honourable the Acting Director of Public Works (WILLIAM CHATHAM), Chairman.

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the Acting Colonial Treasurer (Charles McIlvaine Messer).

CATCHICK PAUL CHATER, C.M.G.

Dr. Ho KAI,

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JOHN THURBÜRN.

1. Provision of Skylights and Well-holes in Houses exceeding 40 feet

in depth. (C.S.O. #187).

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The Chairman mentioned that a recommendation had been made to Government by the Sanitary Board that, in the case of all houses exceeding 40 feet in depth not adequately lit by windows opening into a side street or other open space, skylights should be provided in the roofs and well- holes in all the upper floors, to the extent of th of the floor area.

The Committee were unanimously of opinion that the recommendation was open to grave object- ions on account of the interference with privacy which would be caused in the occupation of all except the top floor, the difficulty of making skylights watertight, the difficulty of preventing access by thieves from one floor to another and the waste of space.

On these grounds they were opposed to the recommendations of the Sanitary Board.

2. Prohibition of Ceilings and Lath and Plaster Walls in all Tenement Houses outside the European Reservation Area. (C.S.O. 7).

The Chairman explained that this was also a recommendation made to Government by the Sanitary Board, the object being to do away with places which were capable of harbouring rats.

Mr. CHATER stated that many of the lower-paid Europeans in the Colony were obliged to live in houses of the class covered by the proposal, and it would inflict a hardship on these people if it were made compulsory that no ceilings should be allowed in such houses. The ceilings gave the houses an appearance of greater comfort and rendered them more in accordance with European ideas and assisted in preventing the passage of sound.

The Committee were unanimously opposed to these recommendations also.

3. Restriction of Depth and Height of Houses. (C.S.O. 1881).

The Chairman mentioned that this question arose out of a letter addressed to Government by the Medical Officer of Health calling attention to the great depth of some houses, the plans for which had recently come under his notice.

The Committee agreed that it was advisable that adequate provision for the admission of light and air should be made in the case of all houses by introducing, or increasing the size of, back-yards, where houses are of excessive depth, but considered that, as Sanitary Experts were to visit the Colony at an early date, the question should be allowed to stand over in order to obtain their recom- mendations on the subject.

With regard to the restriction of the height of buildings, recommendations have already been submitted in the Report of the Committee's last meeting.

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4. Provision of Means of Escape from Houses in case of Fire. (C.S.O. iii). The Chairman read a letter from the Honourable Registrar General referring to some recom- mendations which had appeared in the "Chung Ngoi San Po" to the effect that means of escape in case of fire should be provided by leaving openings in the party walls of houses, which should be filled in with boarding or a thin division of brickwork, capable of being easily demolished. Minutes on the paper were also read stating that such an arrangement would facilitate the spread of fire, which the provisions of the present Building Ordinance were designed to prevent.