HEALTH NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19957, 26 November 1926, Page 3

HEALTH NOTES.

HOUSING. THE VALUE OF AIR SPACE.’ CONDITIONS TO BE AVOIDED. Health. That crowding is the preatoSt of nil sanitarV sins will he admitted by everyone wlio lias had to deal with problems in sanitation. It .applies equally to crowding of houses on land or the crowding of persons in a building. In this article wc will consider only the first of these two evils. A person living alone in a tent in the midst of a desert may neglect all the laws of hygiene or personal cleanliness, and still lie will not be a danger to his fellow-men. It is only when he lives in proximity to others that his method of life becomes of public interest, and the greater the proximity the more likely is it that his lapses from the rules of hygiene may become a public danger. NECESSITY OF FORESIGHT. In a rapidly-growing country such as wc live in, how frequently do the sanitary authorities find that, owing to the absence of control when a township begins to develop. they have inherited a number ot sanitary problems, the solution of which is beyond their limited financial powers. Had the buildings been properly spaced the difficulties would never have ‘] nse "; Often a township begins as n clustea ot shanties round a mine, a sawmill, or some other industrial centre. As tunc ? ocs ™ the owners of these shanties ncqnue the small plot of ground on which they stand, they put up larger premises, and with the growth of the township we find at its centre crowded buildings and all the elements necessary for the development of a slum. building area standards. It becomes advisable, therefore, to lay down some sort of standard—a hunt ot building area—the observance of winch may be enforced Reasonably even when the conditions are wholly n.ra and he township has not yet come 11 • j oucc In this we must look ahead an t base our standard on the pos.t.on Ft expensive foi the < lVio t • k this of sections. Each dwelling should have attached to it exclusively sufficient land for tie St. dSS»i oi -if?” charged from such dwelling. 1 he ai . naturally vanes somewhat with Uhe con i.osition of the subsoil and the natmai era client of its surface, but experience Dejfar* ment ° Health” this area is recommended as the minimum on which 1.1 an misecvered area a persop P bo«M’be permitted to erect a dwelling. It woiua of advantage to the welfare of the Dominion if such a minimum were made compulsory. dangers from overcrowding. Let us suppose now that a progressive crowing town has obtained a water supply and provided sewerage and refuse removal in its most popular areas, and lie disposal of waste matters being no longer oui necessary basis or Ration to what sanitary needs «l- -e look fo, guidance in fixing our nc*t s™" *'. ;r s ll’e at Fce S ?° f of a V^.nlig!it' n< to them and £ •j&jsr-ir. ■rasas. over-empliasise the value to the com munitv of fresh air and. sunlight round’our dwellings, more particularly to the growing child. Recent scientific investigation has shown the curatnc value of" certain rays of sunlight, and has finther shown that some of the most useful of these do not penetrate glass, mnee also has proved that rickets in clnldien is not a nuestion of diet alone, for nisuftieienev of light aggravates greatly the tendency to this disease. Wc have in this Dominion a well-earned reputation foi onr low infant mortality, lo those who have had the opportunity toeomparctlie physical development of the New Zealandbred children and youths with those pf more crowded communities the superior nourishment of the majority of our young people is most, striking. We have certain advantages which affect this superiority. Our organisation tor child welfare is copied by other countries, our food supply is plentiful and pure, and is produced under natural conditions. But the greatest factor of all is the absence ot overcrowding. One-half of onr population is s til I—let1—let iis remember with gratification living under rural conditions, and even in onr largest towns there are few p aces in which there is crowding in the least comparable with that to be found in older communities. Our towns —thank goodness are still extending laterally and not vertically. WHAT CHILDREN NEED. Bv far the majority of our houses arc small cottages each situated in its own plot of ground. Let us think what this means lo the children. If the writer wore asked to single out the greatest factor of all in onr national health he would select the space in the garden, or even backyard, where the baby can lie m its perambulator and breathe fresh air and absorb the sun’s life-giving rays and where the young children can spend the best part of their earliest years. liven the verandah, ugly as it so often is. has its value as an open-air nursery. Compare these conditions with those in crowded manufacturing towns where 1 the infant lives in a stuffy room and the only playground the children have is the glciomv. smoke-canopied street, and let us resolve to avoid those excrescences on civilisation. the tenement house and the ‘’skyscraper.’ Let us also be thankful that ours is a climate which lends itself to the open-air life. Even in winter the children can be out of doors to a great extent, and we are not induced to keep them when indoors in a steam-heated hothouse atmosphere such as vve find in American dwellings. The nearer to Nature the better for the organism whether it be food, temperature, air, or habits of life. LIGHT AND AIR. We must consider then the practical methods for securing in aggregations of population a sufficiency of light and air round our dwellings. There is, of course, a great step from the quarter-acre sections of nnsewered areas to the minimum building site which will secure to each householder a reasonable share of these necessities. In this we have to be guided to a largo extent by economic considerations. It is little use providing sanitary surroundings for our population if the cost thereof is such that the people cannot afford to live in them. Wo should, however decide on the absolute minimum of area on which a dwelling may he erected without dangerously reducing Iho light and ventilation. In England the Ministry of Health its manual ‘or the guidance of local authorities in formulating State-aided housing schemes suggested that for the type of two-storied dwelling they were advocating the minimum should be onc-twolftli of an acre. Given a 40ft fiontagc such a section would bo about 90|ft in depth. This would certainly leave liltle open space after the erection of a five-roomed one-storied house of tlio usual type in use in this country, but where building space is limited and cost of laud is high it might be advisable to accept so meagre a standard, and this the Department of Health does in its pampnlet on Model Building By-laws. Each community must decide for itself, after duo consideration of the economic position, how closely it will approach this absolute minimum, hut those engaged in the planning of a town will be wise to adopt this only under pressure of circumstance, and will appoint zones wherein better standards are fixed. Another factor in securing due air spare is the proximity of one house to the next, and hero we have also to take cognisance of the danger of fire STREET FRONTAGE. The minimum frontage to the street has therefore to be considered, but limitation

by this standard alone is not satisfactory since on the one hand it does not prevent buildings covering the whole width of the section, while on the other hand it may prevent building on a spacious back area which has but enough frontage to admit of a cart entrance. Exceptions therefore have to he provided for, and_ when that is done the minimum frontage ninst vary with tho sire of the section. The model by-laws suggest 40ft as the. absolute minimum apart from exceptional cases, since such a width while permitting semi-detached cottages of average structure, will permit of air space on three sides of each house and a space of sft clear of buildings on at least one side boundary. To prevent a dwelling occupying too much of the space on its own section the Municipal Corporations Act of 1020 very wisely requires an open space to he provided at the rear nr side of each building, and such space must vary in width according to the height of the house. The minimum size of this area is perhaps smaller than the enthusiastic sanatarian would select, but it is a measure in tho right direction, and is one which might well be made to apply to populous areas outside boroughs. ECONOMIC ASPECT. A marked feature in the suggestions for housing schemes issued by the English Ministry of Health is the recognition of the economic side. Thus, although 70ft is regarded as the correct minimum of distance between houses fronting each other across a roadway it is not suggested that the whole of this space should he devoted to roadway. The space is secured often by setting back the frontage line of the houses, while the roads are divided into many types ranging from 25ft upwards, according to the amount of traffic to bo expected on the road. This is a point which has been lost sight of by many of our local authorities. One sees sometimes short blind roads formed and footpathed for the whole 66ft in newly cut up blocks of land. Such unnecessary work adds to the cost of the land, and so hinders the spread outwards of our population. Finally, let ns not overlook the sanitary value of good transport. Anything which encourages the population to live outside the crowded centres must be regarded as having great hygienic significance. N,B.—A further article on this problem will deal with the construction of the house.