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33
Since these proceedings a Reeling's sewer gas destructor, an
arrangement of a lamp column with a 6-inch connexion from the
sewer for passing sewer air through an atmospheric gas-burner fixed in
the base of the column, the outlet being about ten feet above the
ground. A consumption of about eight feet of gas per hour is said to be
required to keep it burning, which produces a heat of about 600° F. at
the burner and about 100° F. at the outlet, where the velocity is about
200 feet per minute, or equal to about 40 cubic feet per minute of air
extracted. This apparatus seemed to act satisfactorily, and while it
was in use there were no complaints of offensive smells. But it appears
that there is danger attending the use of gas in these destructors as
explosions are liable to occur, and in consequence of this the Directors
of the Gas Light and Coke Company decided to discontinue the supply
of gas to these apparatus wherever fixed in the Company's district, so
that the " destructor " is now not used.
WATER SUPPLY.
All the houses in the district supplied by the Chelsea Water
Company, embracing all that portion of the parish lying to the south
of the Lillie Road, have now a constant service, and in the remainder
of the parish which is supplied by the West Middlesex Company 5,406
houses have a constant service and 660 an intermittent service, but the
Company expect that within a few months all the houses in the district
supplied by them will have a constant service.
On the 19th and 20th of August that portion of the parish served by
the Chelsea Water Company was practically without water and the
inhabitants had to be supplied by the Vestry's water carts, which
obtained a supply from the West Middlesex stand-pipes. The
Company's excuse was that the failure was due to a serious accident
of an unavoidable nature to one of the large pumping mains, and they
also stated that householders in this parish had suffered more than
those in other parts of the Company's district owing to the inadequate
size of the cisterns, especially in those parts under constant supply.
The Vestry considered the explanation unsatisfactory, as the parish
ought not to be dependent on the entirety of one pumping main, and
as one of the advantages of a constant supply is that large cisterns
with their attendant evils can be dispensed with the relevancy of the
latter excuse was not evident. A copy of the correspondence on the
matter was forwarded to the London County Council.