View report page

65
submitting the best plans and models, &c., of apparatus for thawing snow
with the aid of heat, but in spite of the ingenuity of the competitors no
effective machine was evolved, although the sum of fifty guineas was given in
premiums.
In 1870 the Commissioners installed Clark's apparatus for snow melting
by gas in Fore Street, and later on an additional apparatus of a similar
character was fitted up at Finsbury Circus.
In these, large gullies in direct communication with the sewer were lined
with coils of burning gas jets, through which the snow was cast.
Whatever the merits of these contrivances may have been, they were
evidently not of much use, as they have been long since removed.
Experiments were also made in January, 1871, in melting snow by means
of steam, but the cost was found to be excessive.
When snow possesses certain physical characteristics the reaction with salt
is modified. For instance, when snow is in a particular form of large crystals,
and not in the usual feathery flakes, salt has the effect of caking the mixture
into solid masses; also when a very low air temperature exists, the action of
salt in melting snow is retarded. This was the case after the great snow fall in
the City on the 18th January, 1881, and a similar difficulty was referred to by
the City Engineer in his report on the snowstorm of the 29th December, 1908.
The fact that the use of salt in snow removal is the general practice in the
Metropolis, and in most large towns in this country, bears testimony to its
utility.
It is the business of the Corporation, if possible, to keep the thoroughfares
open for traffic at all times, and snow must therefore be removed as speedily
as means permit.
No one would use salt for this purpose if any better or quicker method
could be devised, but snow cannot be got rid of in large quantities without
much expense and inconvenience.
The balance of evidence tends to show that the arguments against the use
of salt for facilitating the melting of snow are founded on insufficient
grounds.
The question having practically resolved itself into a choice of two evils,
I advised the Committee that, provided salt be used in proper proportions,
under suitable conditions, and the resultant slush washed away at once, this
treatment would be productive of less harm and injury to the public health,
than would be caused by allowing the snow to remain, or by attempting toremove
it without previous thawing.