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cated to the persons responsible, they immediately gave instructions
for the execution of the works detailed in the
specifications sent with the letters.
Altogether, the drains of 154 houses were entirely reconstructed
under the supervision of your Inspectors, and in
18 other cases the existing drains were properly repaired.
This work involved the laying of 4,110 yards of stoneware, and
364 yards of heavy cast iron drains; 384 stoneware gullies,
68 intercepting traps, 187 W.C. basins, and 150 soil pipes and
ventilating shafts were fixed, and 98 manholes were built, the
whole necessitating the application of 532 water tests and 195
smoke tests.
In order to ensure that the re-construction of the defective
drainage was properly carried out, frequent inspections of the
work were made while it was in progress. On these occasions,
owing chiefly to the employment of unskilled workmen, your
Inspectors in some cases found sanitary fittings of an objectionable
type being fixed, the drains being laid with an insufficient fall, traps
of various kinds being fixed without a proper seal, and that
the superfluous cement had not been removed from the insides
of the pipes after jointing. By making visits at short intervals,
errors of this kind are discovered before the work is far
advanced, and can consequently be rectified with a minimum
amount of trouble and expense.
The thorough cleansing of the interior of the pipes as the
drains are laid is particularly important, for, if this is not carefully
done, the cement which is forced inside the pipes in the
process of making joints, forms a series of ridges which obstruct
the free flow of the sewage, resulting ultimately in a complete
blockage. For the purpose of removing any cement which