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192
I made on the subject (No. 11, Nov. 3, page 126) I stated that
some of the writers charged the local nuisance to refuse destructors
which had no existence, whilst others attributed the stinks to
the burning of refuse heaps, or of "soft core," of the occurrence
of which we were unable to discover any evidence. Sewer gullies
and sewer ventilators were blamed, and it was admitted that the
gullies are often in fault, as in numerous cases I had reported to
the Works and Sanitary Committee. Ventilators being in the
centre of streets are less open to suspicion or objection. Effluvia
from these sources, however, as I pointed out, are noxious in the
immediate locality only : it is not possible to appreciate them at any
distance. Some persons attributed the evil to the ventilating-pipes
of house drains; but in cases where there is an intercepting
chamber, or a syphon, between the house and the sewer, with a
fresh-air inlet, no sewer gas can escape by the pipe which ventilates
the house drain only; and which, if the arrangements are proper,
should not be a cause of annoyance. Where there is no chamber
or syphon, the pipe ventilates the sewer also; and it is the opinion
of the Surveyor, endorsed by your Vestry, that such ventilation
should be effected: not occasionally, or as it were by accident, but
systematically, by arrangements specially designed for the purpose.
But were this condition more general than it is, or is likely to be
for many years, it may be doubted whether stinks, such as those
complained of, would result, gases becoming quickly diffused in
circumambient air, and so thoroughly diluted as to be imperceptible
at any considerable distance. Ventilating-pipes, moreover, are, or
should be, placed well above the roof of the house, and away from
window or chimney openings. The dust-bin was about the only
other alleged source of the nuisance; but stinking as this is often
found to be, as a result of improper use, it is a local annoyance,
and does not account for the complaints. Indeed, I felt confident
that all of the above-recited causes combined, were inadequate to
produce the stinks complained of. Moreover, they are constantly
in operation, but practically, complaints are confined to a particular
season—that, namely, when brick-burning is going on, a process
which, I believe, is the all-sufficient cause of the annoyance, which