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24
MISCELLANEOUS.
Return of the Metropolitan Asylums Board.—During
the past year 4,458 cases were admitted into this Hospital situated
at Winchmore Hill; of these 3,737 were Scarlet Fever, and 721
Diphtheria.
There were 10 deaths:—6 from Scarlet Fever, and 4 from
Diphtheria.
Sewerage and Sewage Disposal.—The District is drained
by the dual system. The surface-water sewers discharge at convenient
points into the nearest watercourses, and as the fields
adjoining the smaller courses become converted into building
land, suitable sewers and culverts are provided. Where possible
and necessary the surface-water sewers are laid at such depths
as will enable the subsoil under cellars and basements to be
drained and connected thereto, thus ensuring dry dwellings and
avoiding any accumulations of stagnant water inside any dwelling
house.
The main foul sewers traverse as much as possible the
natural valleys, and run from the higher lands on the east towards
the west, where they join up to the sewers of the Edmonton
District at three points along the boundary between the Southgate
and Edmonton Districts. At each of these points is a specially
designed chamber, entirely constructed underground, for gauging
the quantity of sewage that passes through. By the Edmonton
Local Board Separation Act, 1881, by which Southgate became
a separate District, the Edmonton District is required to
receive, convey, and dispose of the sewage of Southgate, payment
being made according to the quantity ascertained by a monthly
system of gauging. After the separation from Edmonton it was
found that the main sewers were in a very bad condition, and
these have since been reconstructed upon the most approved
principles. Only one length of sewer, apart from culverts, is now
constructed of brickwork, that one being the southern main joining
the Edmonton sewers.
The sewers are laid principally in open trenches, but as
their depth is in some cases as much as 25 feet below the
surface, the driving of short tunnels as headings is occasionally
resorted to. Pymnies Brook is crossed in several places by
means of inverted syphons. These have been constructed with