View report page

7
circumstances will enable them to pay for The evil of over-crowding is, however, so great,
that unless it be checked by the interference of the authorities, it will probably increase to
such an extent, as to be most dangerous to the public health, as well as to individual and
public virtue.
During the last three months I have visited several public schools in the district, and
I found them, generally speaking, to be over-crowded For instance, in one of the schoolrooms,
a cubic space of seventy-two feet was allotted to each scholar ; in another, the cubic
space was sixty-five feet, in another, eighty-five feet, whilst in another, the cubic space for each
child was only forty-six feet The ventilation in all these over-crowded schools was very defective,
and in more than one instance, the smell of the room was most offensive In an atmosphere rendered
impure by the exhalations from the lungs and skin of many persons congregated in a
confined space, the nervous system becomes so depressed, that, from the inability of fixing the
attention, scholars cannot learn, and teachers cannot teach; and if the breathing of such an
impure atmosphere be long continued, the health of both scholars and teachers will
become impaired The evils resulting from an over-crowded and ill-ventilated school
room might be much diminished, by keeping the children for a shorter time in school,
or by adopting what is called "the half-time system," which will reduce the evil to
at least one-half, and during the interval of school instruction, permitting the children
to engage in out door amusement; and during the absence of the children, opening
all the windows and doors It is to me a matter of regret that a model school, on
sanitary principles, has not been, as yet, recommended by the educational department
of the Privy Council The recommendations, hitherto put forth by that body for the
construction of a school, are faulty in the extreme In the minutes of the Council of Education,
1B51-52, relating to the organization of schools, it is recommended that, "in planning a
school-room, if it be not more than eighteen feet in width, then about eight or nine square feet
will be sufficient for each child in actual attendance; if the width be greater, there must be a
proportionate increase of area allotted to each child" Here, the height of the ceiling is not
mentioned, the omission of which, renders the recommendation of but little practical utility
Again, if the school-room be lighted from above, which the Committee say "is the best
possible mode, care should be taken to prevent the skylight from leaking,' &c "It
is very important," say this Committee, "that the dimensions of a school-room should be
graduated to suit the sizes of the elder and younger children" The recommendation of
regulating the area of a school to the size of a child, is at variance with the laws of physiology,
which demand the same space for a child as for an adult, in consequence of the greater rapidity
of its respiration A child is more susceptible to the bad effects of an impure air than is an
adult; and more air is required for the proper nourishment of its body during its growth,
than is required for it in after life It is of the utmost importance that the school-room
should be of a genial temperature, but this cannot be sustained if there be a glass roof, even
if care be taken " to prevent it from leaking," because, during the winter the warm air of the
room rapidly escapes through the glass roof, and during the summer, the heat of the sun
passing through and reflected from the glass, makes the room so hot that it is almost insupportable
The usual plan of building an infant gallery is also bad as regards the health of
those children who occupy the upper form; for they inhale the air which has been vitiated by
those on the lower forms, and the nearer the upper form is to the ceiling, the worse is the
arrangement.
On referring to the first table in the Appendix, it will be seen, that the total number
of nuisances removed during the quarter, were 1,987, that three summonses have been taken
out for defective drainage, and ten for other nuisances, and that eighty-two cesspools have
been abolished or emptied
This is the 26th recommendation, and the italics are in the original In the preliminary observations,
page 78, it is stated " that the main end to be attained in planning schools, is the concentration of the attention
of the teacher upon his own separate class, and of the class upon its teacher " The only sanitary provision in
these recommendations is contained in the 24th rule, which says great care should be taken that the valves
which admit the fresh air into tho school-room should be placed so as not to create a draft where the teachers
and children sit.