STABLE FLOORS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3339, 4 October 1911, Page 5

STABLE FLOORS.

HEALTH DEPARTMENT’S REQUIREMENTS. MUST BE CONCRETE OR BRICK. Some little time ago the Borough Sanitary Inspector reported adversely on some of the livery stables of the town, and among the improvements insisted upon was that concrete floors should be put down. This demand met with a protest from the stablekeepers, not on the score of expense, but because the hard floors would prove injurious to the horses. This protest was forwarded by the Borough Council to the Health Department, and at last night’s meeting of the Councila reply was received from the Health Department. Dr. H. Chesson, Acting District Health Officer, stated that he thought the effect of concrete on the horses’ legs was considerably exaggerated. If there were any ill-effects from standing on bare concrete this could always be obviated by laying down a certain amount of bedding for horses to stand on. The practice in Wellington, which was found to be quite satisfactory, was that all stables were provided with .floors of concrete or bricks, set in concrete on cement on a concrete foundation. Either of these methods formed a surface which was easily kept clean, and could he thoroughly flushed. However, to meet the views of those interested in this matter, and the difficulty in obtaining the proper kind of bricks, he would be agreeable to the floors being of concrete, having in the centre portion planks of heart of totara running lengthways to the stall and let in to the concrete, so that the top was on the same level as the 1 concrete in' the rest of the stall. The ends of the planks should project slightly over the drain running down the front of the stalls. These planks would have to be efficiently tarred on the under surface, and a margin of -at least one foot of concrete left between the boarded por-, tion, the sides of the stall and the ’end thereof. The concrete foundations in this case would require to be six inches thick. i In the event of this arrangement not being satisfactory, it might still be necessary to require the original suggestion to be carried out. He was certainly of opinion that the bricks or the cement flooring would be more satisfactory. On the motion of Cr. Collins it was decided to hand the letter on to the building inspector. - . Cr. Bright said that apparently the Health Department did not insist upon concrete, but would permit floors to he constructed of something more expensive than concrete. All they could do was to hand on the letter to tho building inspector, who could inform the livery stable keepers of its purport.