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55
Report is now before the Houses of Parliament. This Bill and the accompanying
Report and recommendations were the result of long and serious consideration at
many meetings of the Conference and of the Committee of the Conference, all
which were attended by your Medical Officer of Health.
Draining and Paving of Stableh.—Until quite recent years there was no theught
of using anything but straw as bedding for horses. For transport and commercial
purposes horses are now worked continuously, and no provision is made for them
to lie down during their working years. This change in treatment of horses in
large cities has led also to a change in nomenclature, the word bedding has almost
disappeared, and in its place we find the word litter.
As stable litter the following substances are used—straw, peat, wood-shavings,
sawdust, sand, mould. Since the diminution in the use of straw, and the use of
other materials, the idea of the requisite qualities required of stable litter appears
to have changed also. Formerly, straw was regarded as an ideal litter, because it
formed a soft elastic bed of hollow tubes which drained away the liquids wtheut
interruption and witheut staining a recumbent animal. Now litter appears to be
most esteemed for its absorbent property, since horses no longer require to lie down.
The effect of the use of absorbent friable materials as litter is that they
gain access to the gullies or horsepots, usually placed either in the centre, or at
the tail end of the stalls in stables, and very soon block them and the drains
leading from them. The result has been that some of the large companies carrying
goods and passengers by road have abolished gullies and horse-pots inside
their stables. This has led some to express the opinion that stables do not require
paving and draining. If by this, is meant laying underground drains, then so
much of the proposition may be conceded, but, nevertheless, stables require to be
paved and drained. It cannot be admitted that an absorbent litter is capable of
so completely absorbing liquid matters as to altogether prevent pollution of the
soil beneath, at any rate, in a place permanently occupied as a stable, whatever
latitude may be allowed for temporary usage, as at agricultural shows. That being
so, the earth should not be allowed to remain the floor of a stable, but should
be covered with hard, durable, impervious material. Neither can it be granted
that all liquids can and will be completely absorbed by the absorbent litter, nor
that stables can altogether dispense with periodical cleansing and flushing. That
being so, and it being granted that drain openings are undesirable inside a stable,
more especially if there is a dwelling over, it follows that the impervious surface of
a stable must be so evenly levelled and so sloped as to completely drain away any
liquid matter that may fall upon the surface to an opening situated outside the
stable, and this is the methed now adopted by all the large railway companies,
carriers, and commercial firms.
Sewer Ventilation.—Mr. W. N. Blair. M.I.C.E., your Engineer, has
kindly supplied me with a copy of the Report by Sir Alexander Binnie, Chief
Engineer of the London County Council, as to the results of a Conference of the
Surveyors of the various Vestries and District Boards of the Metropolis upon