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Urinals. In some of the older schools, sparge pipes are still fixed;
but now, in all cases, flushing three or four times daily from a length of hose
is relied on to give the stalls, floors and channels a cleansing much more
thorough than can be obtained by a sparge pipe sprinkling down the front
of the stalls.
Watep Supply comes ill all cases from the Metropolitan Water
Board. In 1906 I advised the Education Committee that the drinking fountains
in all the schools should be taken directly off the main; but this has
only been done at Silver Street and St. James's Schools. Alongside each
drinking place has been placed a permanent notice : " Please U ash the
Cups Before Drinking." The caretakers have been instructed in times of
epidemic to detach the cups and submit them to disinfection with boiling
water every morning. This should be done regularly, whether epidemic
exists or not.
Lavatory and Cloak Room Aceommodation is provided
at all the schools. The washing basins are all on the intermittent - flow
principle, and the waste pipes in some cases discharge under the basins into
a half-channel pipe (which facilitates removal of blockage), and so over gully
outside. The hooks in the cloak-rooms are in two or three tiers, and
twelve inches apart; so that if the clothing does not touch at the sides yet
they overlap one another considerably. Fumigation, more or less often, of
the cloak-rooms, has been suggested, but scrubbing at least once a week with
hot water and soap is the proper treatment.
Warming" of the Schools is effected partly by a hot water circulation
and partly by Boyd's ventilating grates.
Lighting" is produced from an ordinary gas installation.
Ventilation is ill no case maintained by a mechanical or "plenum"
system, but on the " natural" plan, which is cheaper and more effective. I
have never yet seen a school, or other public institution, where the "plenum"
system is a success from a hygienic point of view. It is certainly expensive
to establish and a continuing heavy expense to maintain.
FIRK. The fire appliances at all the Schools are tested by drill in the
presence of Mr. Croasdell, the Superintendent of our Fire Brigade. These
drills serve the useful purpose of showing up the defects that require
remedy.