Healthy Homes.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1991, 11 April 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

Healthy Homes.

Tur sub-soil beneath a house should be naturally dry, or it should be made dry by land draining. The ground floor of a house Bhould not be below the level of the land, street, or road outside. A site excavated on the bide of a hill, or steep bank, is liable to be dangerous, as external ventilation may be defective, and the sub-soil water from above may Boak toward and beneath such houses. Middens, cesspools and ash pits, if at the back, must also taint such basements. The subsoil within every basement Bhould have a layer of concrete over it, and there should be full ventilation. Cesspools, oesspits, sinkholes, drains, etc., should not be formed nor be retained within house basements. The grounds round dwelling-houses should be paved, flagged, asphalted, oovered with concrete, or be graveled. Outside channels hhould be in good order, and be regularly cleansed. House eaves should be guttered and spouted. Swill tubs should not be near doors or windows. Pigstyes should ever be at a distance, and, where pigs are kept, there should be rigid cleanliness. Improperly keeping pigs has caused more human siokness and destroyed more human life than all the battles the country has ever been engaged in. Garden plants should, of course, be in order, and properly cultivated. Many houses, from the mansion to the cottage, are unwholesome for some of the above reasons.