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111
stench from gullies proceeds from the contents of the cesspits—a
view which is shared by the chief engineer to the
County Council—I would further recommend that the said
cess-pits be cleansed, flushed, and disinfected more frequently
than hitherto. ...
" Reference having been made to the liability of pan-gullies
to become stopped, and to the difficulty of freeing them, I
may, perhaps, without presumption, mention that pan-gullies
are now constructed with facilities for removing obstructions,
which would seem to obviate the objection raised to their
general use. In any case, however, I cannot admit that the
alleged risk of the unsealing of the trap, by evaporation of
the water during hot weather, constitutes an insuperable
objection to the use of this form of street gully in any position.
" Incidentally, the question of the trapping of house-drains
is raised in the Surveyor's report, it being stated that more or
less of the stench proceeding from surface sewer ventilating
openings is due to the discharges from house-drains which,
when the drains are trapped, do not contribute to the ventilation
of the sewers.
" I do not consider it necessary to go into this matter,
which, indeed, is hardly within the reference, having regard to
the fact that the Vestry, upon the advice of your Committee,
have framed regulations requiring new house-drains to be
trapped ; that the draft bye-laws prepared by the County
Council also require new house-drains to be trapped ; that the
trapping of such drains is enforceable under existing law, and
that it is, in the opinion of the great body of sanitary experts
and medical authorities, necessary in the interests of public
health.
" As being related to the subject of the reference, I may
perhaps be allowed to mention a further recommendation
made by me in a former report, and referred, viz.:—