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literal enforcement of this bye-law would raise serious
difficulties in other cases where new buildings had to be
erected upon valuable sites in St. James's, such sites often
having been long entirely covered by their old buildings.
A few weeks, after the decision in the Carlton Hotelcase,
this bye-law was abrogated—chiefly in consequence of
representations which came from St. James's The proviso,
" whenever practicable," as to placing the soil-pipes outside,
will, in future, apply to all buildings, whether old or
new. This abrogation of the bye-law vindicates the
practical wisdom of the Public Health Committee in
making the recommendation which it did.
It should here be pointed out that the sloping arms, which
run more or less horizontally from the closet-pan to the
vertical soil-pipe, were not regarded under this old byelaw
as " soil-pipes," and that, practically, these arms could
not be so regarded. To include these arms as " soil-pipes,"
under this bye-law, would involve putting the water-closets
also outside the building. This, while the most excellent
way for the perfect elimination of the risk of smell in
the interior of a house, would be absurd. It is clear that
the chill and discomfort involved in leaving the house night
and day when the closet is required would cause more
serious risk to health than the having a well-constructed
water-closet inside the house.
It is well known to working sanitarians that the two
weakest parts of the soil-pipe channel are the water-seal
in the trap of the closet and the upper segment of the
sloping arm of the soil-pipe, and that, if these parts can be
kept sound, the vertical pipe will be injured only by the
strain of diurnal alternations of temperature. In fact, a
socketed drawn or cast-lead rain-water pipe put together
without solder is practically imperishable, and, unless
mechanically injured by battering, it will outlast any ordinary
building. In this construction the top of each length
of pipe is enlarged in its diameter a quarter of an inch
for some four inches distance, in order to receive the
lower end of the next length of pipe above. The pipe