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71
Schools, Upper Kennington Lane.
(Special Report presented to the Public Health Committee on
October 19th, 1903.)
I have to report that I have made an inspection and examination
of the sanitary arrangements in connection with the Licensed
Victuallers Schools, Upper Kennington Lane. The premises are
old, and the planning of the sanitary arrangements correspondingly,
old-fashioned, and not up to modern sanitary ideas. From time
to time the sanitary arrangements have been altered and attempts
made to modernise them, with the result that, whilst improvements
have been effected, the schools, as a whole, are not in a
satisfactory sanitary condition such as is expected to-day of
schools wherein a large number of boys and girls are not only
educated, but also boarded. As a result of the inspection, the
following defrcts have been found to exist:—
A. Boys' Side:—
(1) Large dormitory—Foul and offensive urinal, badly supplied
with water for flushing, and totally unnecessary in the
position in which it is placed, causing offensive smells to
ventilate continuously into the dormitory, which is,
judging by the number of beds, overcrowded.
(2) New dormitory—'w.c. (provided with foul wash-out pan
closet) directly approached from the dormitory, and
inefficiently and insufficiently ventilated.
(3) Lavatory—A room provided with lavatory basins, properly
undertrapped, and connected with waste pipes, apparently
satisfactory from a plumbing point of view (all such
plumbing work being exposed to sight and readily accessible),
but used in a most extraordinary double manner,
viz., as a bath-room once a week for the boys, in addition
to its use as a lavatory during the whole week. Hot
water is admitted into the lower part of the room, which
is, for that purpose, watertight, and in this hot water a
large number of boys wash and bathe. The waste water,
mixed with dirt and scales from the bodies of the boys,
together with the soap that has been used in washing, &c.,
is allowed to run away by means of a waste pipe situated
at the lower end of the room, with the result that there
is a copious deposit of offensive matters left on the outsides
of all the different pipes and other fittings connected
with the lavatary basins, and which are, as already stated,