BATH IN EVERY HOUSE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3861, 13 March 1928, Page 68

BATH IN EVERY HOUSE.

NEW REGULATIONS IN SYDNEY. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, February 23. Sydney will shortly be launching out on one of the biggest clean-up campaigns in its history. It is already making aggressive u.nd ruthless war on rats n what is known as the nlasrue, or danger, zone. There are fewer rats in Sydney to-day than there-have been for the past 30 years, but the health inspectors, with the co-operation of the Harbour Trust Commissioners, the Railway Commissioners, and the Water and Sewerage Board, are not going to be lulled into any false sense of security because if that fact. The war on rats is only a preliminary’, for there will shortly become operative drastic by-laws and regulations which will have a bomb-like effect among at least some property owneis. The owner of every house, residential and flat, in Sydney will be given six months in which to provide, according to the needs of each building, bathroom and laundry accommodation where it s now lacking. Where there is not room for a bath, the civic authorities will be satisfied if a shower is installed. They will not, however, be satisfied with one b'afhroom for both the male and female occupants of residentials, for example, which house a large number of people. There are hundreds of places in Sydney, according to the authorities, without bathrooms, and with only improvised apparatus for washing day. Just as one can take a horse to the trough but cannot make him drink, so it is almost impossible to make some people observe the golden rule of cleanliness, but the Health Department is determined, even at the risk oT incurring the dislike of property owners who—will have to make big structural alterations, to give the people "t least the opportunity of having a bath or a shower where it is now lacking.