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In these mews there is an aggregate of about 751 drain
inlets, of which some 131 appear to be properly trapped by
stoneware street gullies.
The subject of sewer ventilation in mews is of considerable
importance, having regard to the narrowness of the roadway,
which is usually the playground of the children who inhabit
the rooms over the stables. In one mews in South Kensington,
where a number of cases of scarlet fever and diphtheria, t.wo of
which were fatal, occurred three years ago, I saw children
playing cricket, the stumps being wedged between the bars of
a stinking sewer grating. Your Vestry on my recommendation
had the sewer in this mews ventilated by means of shafts, the
surface gratings being abolished, and (whether propter hoc or
post hoc) no child in this mews has since suffered from either
of the diseases named. The recommendations I made in relation
to this matter were (1) that grvllies in mews be effectually
trapped ; (2) that surface sewer gratings be abolished ; (3) that
ventilating shafts be erected in suitable positions; and (4) that,
where practicable, sewers with dead ends be connected with
adjacent sewers so as to allow of free currents of air. I also