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Last year I referred to a block of houses between Peckham
Park Road and Levant Street where the conditions are practically
those of back-to-back houses, but where certain improvements have
been made in the way of air shafts to the basement. Nothing
further has been done, but the occupiers tell me that the basement
rooms are not so stuffy as they were.
A block of cottages in Ormside Street was brought up as one in
which proceedings might be taken under this Act, on account of the
damp and generally insanitary condition of houses. They were
accordingly surveyed by the Committee, who decided that the
owners should be pressed to deal with the matter, but no closing
order was made. Notices of as comprehensive a nature as possible
under the Public Health Act were served in February, and the work
was subsequently carried out.
Complaints were received as to the nuisance caused by ashes
and smoke discharged from railway engines, which were said to
have blocked up some gullies. It was resolved to write to the
railway company on the subject. As no further complaints have
been received, the nuisance has probably abated.
The report of the Departmental Committee on the use of
interceptors will be very gratifying to a Council like Camberwell,
which has always discountenanced insistence on their routine
provision.
In the beginning of 1898 when the Sewers and Sanitary
Committee of the Vestry had the proposed drainage by-laws under
consideration, Mr. Brown (your then Surveyor) and I both desired a
provision to be incorporated in the draft which would allow us to
dispense with the interceptor where such a course was desirable.
The Committee, however, decided to make no recommendation to the
Council.
In my report for that year are pointed out some of the
disadvantages of the interceptor, which have been suggested by
experience, and the objections to its use. The Committee at that
time made no stand against the prevailing idea of its advantages,
and left it to Willesden, who, at the instigation of their Medical
Officer, brought things to a climax in later years and were instrumental
in the appointment of the Departmental Committee. With
the coming into existence of this Council, steps were taken in the
right direction by the non-insistence of the disconnection of rainwater
pipes in all cases.
The Borough Council of Lewisham, in 1905, sent out a circular
letter which was reported on by your Engineer and myself. We
stated that " as regards the non-insistence on the provision of interceptors
we are both agreed that it is a wise step to take, not only on
account of the better ventilation of sewers, but also, as we have
often before insisted, on other grounds. Indeed, we have previously
advised that rain-water pipes going direct to the drain and not
opening near a window should be left connected direct with the
sewer, even in houses where no interceptor is provided, and the step
proposed by Lewisham is only a little in advance of this." Among