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of the dirty state and defective paving of the premises. The
work required was done and the license renewed after six
weeks' adjournment.
Nuisances.
8. Complaints.—623 complaints of sanitary defects were
received and attended to (see Table 8, which gives particulars
of the work of the Department).
Sewers.—It was found that some houses in Harden's Manorway
frequently had their drains stopped, and that the sewage
could not get away because of the defective state of the sewer
into which they were drained. The drain of one house had
been stopped for twelve months. Forty houses in all were
affected, some of which were on a branch of the main sewer
concerned. The ground in the neighbourhood is very low lying,
and at times the sewer is liable to heading back from the main
outfall sewer when the later is surcharged with rain.
The difficulty of effectually draining the area appeared so
great that the desirability of condemning all the houses in it
was represented to me. The Chief Inspector, however, found
that the actual cause of stoppage in the sewer was an irregularity
of level. It was finally decided that the sewer and its
branch should be relaid for a length of 1,050 feet. In consequence
of alteration of levels, it was necessary to relay all the
house drains connected to it, so that 40 houses were redrained.
An automatic flushing tank was constructed at the head of the
sewer. There has been no further complaint of the drains
being blocked.
9. Drains.—The drains in Woolwich parish have been found
generally in a very defective state, and have required a large
amount of attention. 52 defective combined drains affecting
358 houses have been investigated and reported on, the majority
being in Woolwich parish. Most of these have now been
relaid.