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is then highly charged with saline products of the decomposition
of human remains, which give it these physical properties.
The public wells in this parish have been closed by your Vestry,
and I would urge the owners of private wells to follow so good
an example. There is such a well in Edwardes Square, the
water of which was lately examined at my request by the public
analyst, who pronounced it " very bad," and unfit for any drinking
purpose. It contains three times the amount of solid impurities
found in Thames water as supplied by the companies, in addition
to those dangerous organic impurities derived from sewage and
animal decomposition. I have communicated with the Garden
Committee of the Square, by which the water is used for garden
purposes, with a view to the closure of the well which is under the
public roadway, the pump being at the rear of the lodge. So far,
however, certain not very effectual steps have been taken to prevent
the public from using the water, steps that require a constant
and therefore unhoped-for vigilance to be successful.
Formerly there were shallow wells in some of the licensed cowsheds,
a source of great danger to the public health; but with one
exception they have been closed. The exceptional case will, I
trust, be successfully dealt with this year, the Sanitary Committee
having had demonstrative evidence of the impurity of this water,
on the occasion of a recent inspection of the premises.
SEWER VENTILATION.
Several complaints have been received with respect to offensive
gullies, ventilating shafts, &c., and have been dealt with in the most
satisfactory manner that could be devised in each case. The whole
question of sewer ventilation is a most difficult one, and has recently
been dealt with in an interesting historical report, by the Clerk to
the Metropolitan Board of Works, which is in the possession of each
member of your Vestry, It is hardly too much to say that the
labours of many years have only enabled the engineer of the Board
to demonstrate the uselessness of most of the remedies recommended
for the purpose. Certainly, no plan generally
applicable has been discovered. Copious flushing of offensive
sewers to get rid of putrescent matters before gases are evolved,
promises better results than any of the ventilation schemes hitherto
propounded, and I submit as an additional reason for avoiding dribbling
waste from countless cisterns, that a vast amount of water
might thus be saved aud utilised in cleansing sewers.
Several new sewers have Deen constructed during the year,
the particulars of which will be found in the Surveyor's report.
Many new and re-constructed drains also have been laid under
notices from my department.
DRAINAGE MAP WANTED.
It not unfrequently happens when questions of drainage are
under consideration, that the want of a good map of the parish
showing the sewers, is much felt, and I submit that it would be a