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middle of the roadways, except in the cases of narrow streets
or courts, would in my opinion, greatly tend to minimise the
nuisance which occasionally is complained of in the Borough.
The erection of upcast ventilating shafts cannot, in my opinion,
take the place of the surface grid for ventilating purposes. The
former may form a useful combination with the latter, but of
themselves upcast shafts, owing to friction due to bends in the
pipes, &c., are of necessity incapable of fulfilling the object
intended.
The danger to health from open surface ventilating grids,
especially in wide thoroughfares, is not, I think, a matter for
serious consideration. The occasional nuisance which
undoubtedly does arise from their presence is compensated for
by the knowledge that sewer emanations must necessarily be
less harmful in the open air, where they rapidly become diluted
and innocuous, than when accumulating in the sewers. Under
such circumstances the gases may become at times, especially
in foul and badly ventilated sewers, sufficiently concentrated
to force the intercepting traps of the house drains. Just as
pollution of the room air is prevented by efficient ventilation,
so will sewers be prevented from becoming a nuisance or a
danger to health when they are provided with an adequate
supply of air inlets and outlets, to ensure a free flow of fresh
air through them. Putrefaction of their contents is in this
way prevented, and while at times, owing to the operation of
well known physical laws, fresh air inlets may become outlets,
less nuisance is likely to arise, and certainly little or no risk
to health.
hygienic Street Paving.
A good deal of attention has been given by the Council
to the subject of the impervious paving of the side streets of
the Borough. On the recommendation of the Health Committee,
the Highways Committee, in 1904, decided to make a
beginning, and 14 streets, for the most part in the more
crowded and insanitary parts of the Borough, were paved with