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148
Hampstead, as in all other districts in London, that the present problem
is due.
County Council Sewers. The views of the Borough Engineer (page
8 of his report) as to the condition of the London County Council
sewers have obviously an important bearing on the question at issue. It
is the opinion of your Committee that the matter should be brought to
the notice of the London County Council, and later in this report they
submit a recommendation to this effect.
Faushing Tanks. With the satisfactory velocity of sewage, sewers
may be regarded as self-cleansing, and hence the need for flushing tanks
occurs chiefly at the summits of the sewers.
In Hampstead the tanks are 40 in direct connection with the
water mains, and 45 others supplied by hose from the mains, and in
one case from the White Stone Pond.
In the opinion of the Committee this number is sufficient, and
they therefore do not recommend any increase.
Ventilating Shafts. Both in London and the provinces efforts have
been made to effect ventilation by means of shafts. It is clear that to
maintain an adequate circulation of fresh air it would be necessary, if
the grids are to be closed, to provide at least twice as many shafts as
there are grids at present in existence. With few exceptions the shafts
would have to be carried up the front of houses, and hence the air
channel must necessarily be bent at a right angle. Such shafts
frequently do not serve the purpose in the slightest degree; the shaft
will not, in most cases, ventilate itself; often the air is only oscillating
in the shaft.
Added to the more than questionable efficiency of such shafts
there is the considerable expense involved, together with the great
difficulty of obtaining permission from owners to affix them to houses.
It may be useful to instance here the proposal, approved by the
Council, to erect a shaft at Upper Terrace. When the work was put in
hand the surrounding householders protested so strongly that the Works
Committee decided not to proceed with the erection.
Furthermore, as pointed out by the Town Clerk, such permission
may be at any time withdrawn, and necessitate the removal of the