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when Inspecting dwelling houses, that they were to test the
drain with water or smoke, and to see that it was trapped
from the sewer. In several thousands of cases this had been
done, and, without appreciable difficulty, the drains had been
trapped to the advantage of owners and occupiers alike. But,at
the beginning of 1895, certain members of the Sanitary Committee
raised objections to the continuance of the practice,alleging
that a drain in untrapped connection with the sewer could
not, ipso facto, be regarded as " a drain in such a state as to be
a nuisance, or injurious or dangerous to health," so as to constitute
" a nuisance liable to be dealt with summarily under the
Act." * The objections were allowed to prevail, with the
result that during the latter half of the year the Committee
declined to issue notices requiring drains to be trapped, excepting
in cases of proved nuisance, or after the occurrence of
infectious disease in the house. The Inspectors, however,
continued to call the attention of owners to the absence of a
trap, viz., by serving written intimations, with the result that
between July and December, out of 287 of such cases all but 31
of the drains were trapped. The question of the powers of the
Sanitary Committee in these matters was, at the Committee's
request, submitted to Counsel, who, after long delay, submitted
an elaborate " opinion " on a somewhat complicated " case."
Amongst other things, Counsel stated that " the Public Health
Act applies only when a drain is a nuisance " [or dangerous]
" or injurious to healthadding that " it will be a question of
fact, in every case, whether, under the circumstances, a drain
is a nuisance," &c. Counsel, moreover, whilst holding that "a
drain which is not trapped or ventilated, may, undoubtedly, be
within the Act," was of opinion that " the nuisance or danger
[or injury] to health must be proved as a fact." I may mention
that the words in brackets, not being in the original
opinion, were added by Counsel upon my calling attention to
their omission, in a letter I addressed (November Ist) to the
Law and Parliamentary Committee, wherein I expressed the
* Public Health (Loudon) Act, 1891. Section 2 (1) (b).