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117
placed myself in communication with the engineer to the Board,
who took steps in one instance to secure the removal of the
cause for complaint. In 1874 specific instances of dangerous
nuisances were dealt with, in connection with complaints from
Elsham-road (specially reported upon) and Notting (now
Campden)-hill square. The remedies proposed, viz., abolition
of "blind ends," by connecting adjacent sewers, and improved
ventilation of the system near the new junction, were in the
latter case adopted, the object aimed at being to secure free
circulation of air in the sewers in a locality where numerous
cases of fever had occurred. The desired result was attained,
with manifest advantage to the neighbourhood. In this report,
I drew attention to a plan that had been proposed for "the
extraction of foul air from the sewers by the action of fans
placed in suitable localities, the present ventilators being retained
in the capacity of inlets for pure air, instead of as outlets
for foul air; acting, in fact, as the down-draught in a mine."
In the annual report for 1875 (page 31), the subject was referred
to for the last time for many years." The whole
question of sewer ventilation," it was said, "a most difficult
one, has recently been dealt with in an interesting historical
report by the Clerk to the Metropolitan Board of Works," which
was at the time placed in possession of every member of the
Vestry; and the melancholy conclusion drawn from the state
ments in the said report was, that "the labours of many years
have only enabled the Engineer to the Board to demonstrate
the uselessness of most of the remedies recommended for the
purpose: certainly no plan generally applicable has been discovered."
My own observation in connection with this report
was, that "copious flushing of offensive sewers, to get rid of
putrescent matter before gases are evolved, promises better
results than any of the ventilation schemes hitherto propounded";
and it was suggested' as an additional reason for
avoiding dribbling waste from countless cisterns, that a vast
amount of water might thus be saved and utilised in cleansing
sewers."