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enter the shop. These unpleasant circumstances lead him to
examine his drain, which he finds to be old and dilapidated,
so as in fact to be not a drain at all, but a receptacle for the
sewage of his own house, and of his neighbours': for the
next house, 223, Regent Street, 2, Maddox Street, and probably
also 20, Hanover Street, discharge their sewage into
his drain.
This case was investigated with a great deal of trouble,
and each of the parties concerned, except one, agreed to execute
new and separate works for himself. The Committee
therefore gave instructions and authority for an application
to the Magistrate (if necessary) to examine the drains, and
to require the respective premises to be properly drained.
Union Street, Berkeley Square, No. 3. This was another
case of the same sort. This house was damp and offensive:
its basement was taken up, when it was found that the soil
underneath was a putrid swamp: the drains were entirely
decayed: No. 4, next door, drained into No. 3; and No. 3
drained into No. 2, the outlet of which last-named house
into Red Lion Yard adjoining was choked up. Thus, for an
indefinite period, the drains of these houses have been mere
cesspools, from which the liquid sewage has been absorbed by
the earth, whilst the solid matter has remained. This case
gave a very great deal of trouble: first, in finding out the
real facts; and, secondly, in inducing the different parties
interested to arrange on a common plan for their united
drainage.
George Street, Hanover Square, No. 3. A first-class
house, most respectably occupied, in which the Inspector
found a cesspool, 10 feet deep in the back area; from which
a drain, thoroughly dilapidated and broken down, ran
through the house. There was a grating in the course of
this drain which prevented the passage of anything but