HEALTH FIRST

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 41, 18 February 1930, Page 12

HEALTH FIRST

SUNLIGHT AND AIR

MORE THAN MONEY

BUILDING FOR FUTURE

In the course of a strong indictment of the health conditions esist- . ing in some Wellington offices and business premises,' the Director- s General of Town Planning (Mr. J. W. Mawson) at the Ro+ary Club to-day said that the ideadl in planning, the maximum of sunlight and ventilation for such premises, ! would not arrive until the co-ordi-nation of State, local bodiC3, and the efforts of private citizens had reached the stage when compensation would no longer bo paid to offenders against the laws of nature and their duty to 'their fellows, when it became necessary, in an enlightened public opinion, to reconstruct. "Housing conditions," said Mr. Mawson, "rcac,h a -reasonably high standard in this country. Tor this ye have to thank the system ,of State aid in the building of workers' dwellings. Criticism, has been levelled against this policy from time to time by' so-called economists; —a name used, I think, to cloak certain vested interests—as it has beeu against the housing policy of successive British Governments, but invariably the most important item in the balance-sheet has been ignored, namely, the cost to the State of the preventable disease duo to bad housing conditions, which would otherwise have had to be faced. It is surely, better that the, State should lose £60 or £70 per year on a Government mortgage than maintain hospital accommodation at £170 per bed. UNDESIRABLE CONDITIONS. "There arc bad housing conditions in New Zealand, particularly in the cities. There is serious overcrowding in many otherwise healthy buildings used as boarding-houses —a symptom of poverty which the present unemployment problem will probably accentuate whole families sometimes living in one or two rooms. Any medical man will tell you that the problem of. mass infection due to such conditions, in conjunction, with the lowered vitality associated with poverty, is the most difficult of all to dealwith. If one takes a broad view the recent substantial reductions in house rents is not the unmixed evil which sonic people would have us believe, for it will again bring healthy 'housing conditions within the reach of many who would otherwise be condemned to the evil conditions of overcrowding. There are many particularly bad examples' to be found here in Wellington. I -could show you innumerable instances of houses in which sleeping or living rooms are in a perpetual state of semi-darkness, and inadequately ventilated owing to the position of the windows in relation to adioining buildings, or which are lighted and ventilated from narrow areas between the outer walls and deep cuttings excavated out of the damp ground. Such roouis are a happy hunting ground for the tubercle 'bug' and a constant menace to the health of tho occupants. THE YOUNG FAIRLY HEALTHY. ' Taking New Zealand as ; a wholo, the housing conditions arc reasonably cbod. The proof of this is the extremely Tow incidenco of tuberculosis ■in children under 15 years o± age. It is a fact worth noting that only 30 of those who died from this disease last year were under 20 years of age, while 315 deaths occurred between tho ages .of 20' and. 40. As young, ' men and women leave school and. have to take up the work of hie, they are comparatively immune froni-tub-erculosis, and the fault, must bo in the environment under which they have to work in office, shop, or factory, or the conditions under, which many of them have to live in board-ing-houses and hotels after.they leave their homes. In other words, this environment, through bad lighting, ' faulty ventilation or overcrowding, is definitely injurious to health. "You cannot imagine a young^ fellow or girl just starting out on a busi-1 ness career, "going to his or her, employer and saying, 'I am sorry I cannot stay with you unless you can find me a room with better lighting. and ventilation to work in.' No amount of outdoor exposure—certainly not tne amount available to most people living under urban conditions—will sufiice to make sunlight in buildings unimportant. •OFFICE LIGHT AND AIR. I must confine myself to lighting and ventilation only. Speaking _ot buildings . other than single lanuly dwelling houses, I am on solid ground, for, generally speaking, the light and air conditions surrounding 'these buildings are indisputably bad and a. serious reflection on buiWing owners, architects, and local authorities alike, i Things are being done in New Zea : land to-day which would not be tolerated in most of the countries of the world. "I speak, subject to correction, liut I beliove that with the exception ot dwelling houses, there is not a bylaw or regulation in force in this country defining the minimum standards of light and air space around, buildings. It is a matter which is left entirely to the discretion of the local authorities themselves. Take the Wellington City bylaws, for instance: there is not a word about the dimensions of internal lighting areas. It is apparently assumed that all rooms are lighted from the streets, which is far from being the case. There is a provision that every habitable room shall have a window or skylight, equal to one-tenth of the area of the floor of such room, communicating directly with the external air, and that one-half of such window or skylight shall open. But what is the use of a'window, either for lighting or ventilation purposes, if it is situatod at the bottom of a well 80 or 100 ft in depth, and with horizontal dimensions of a few feet only1? - THE CORPORATION'S PAKT. "It is true that there is another provision requiring that in every public building and workroom there shall be adequate means of ventilation to tho satisfaction of the City Engineer, but, however much confidence wo may have in the integrity and judgment of the City Engineer or his staff, we know perfectly well that his recommendations are subject to review by tho City Council, and that in the absence of definite minimum standards, there is always a temptation to be guided by political expediency rather than public welfare, in granting building permits. The results of this system speak for themselves. How many buildings within your own knowledge* have had their windows c.mpletely or -partly blocked by tho walla of buildings erected on adjoining sections at a later date —or to put it in another way —how many buildings have been erected in which the owners have been permitted to utiliso light and air space which did not belong to them? How many habitable rooms are there in Wellington lighted and ventilated by windows opeuiug off narrow1 passageways or wells which do not receive a single beam of sunlight during any day in the year? How; many; rooms are

there in which the occupants are obliged to work almost continuously in artificial light? RECONSTRUCTION IDEALS. "I am an apostle of sunlight in buildings. I have nothing whatever against tall buildings or large buildings as such. The whole of the commercial activities of Wellington could conceivably be housed in a single building under much healthier conditions of light and air than obtain at present. I am not suggesting that we should define minimum standards of light and air space about buildings, and immediately require the reconstruction or alteration of all existing buildings in accordance with these standards. What I am suggesting is that as and when new buildings are erected, or existing buildings reconstructed, altered, or substantially repaired, they should be so isigned and located on the site as to secure the penetration to each habitable room, office, or workshop of a reasonable minimum amount of direct sunlight, or its equivalent in skylight, during every day in the year. In order to do this, it is necessary that each owner should provide adequate lighting areas or courts within the precincts of his own property, and not rely upon neighbouring land remaining vacant. COMPENSATION INEQUITABLE. We must face the facts, however.. These standards must be imposed without compensation. Powerful vested interests—in this case antisocial interests—and a complicated financial structure, have been built np as a result of our policy of "laissez faire" in land utilisation, and any proposal which would tend to restrict the area of a site which could be built over, below that now permitted, would give1 rise to ; a storm of protest from the propertj' owners affected. These protests -rust be met and overcome, and this can only ,bo done by the moral pressure of public opinion. ' "We must not rest until we have reached a point where the same social stigma will attach to tho man, and for that matter to, his architect, who, for personal gain, ignores the elementary principles of health ■in housing hisfamily, tenants, or employees, as to the man who deliberately robs his neighbour, for he is in fact robbing these people of something of infinitely greater value than worldly goods; he is robbing them of their health, possibly of life itself, and all the wealth in the world cannot compensate a man for this." . .' '■