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connected with the middle-level sewer, and sewers discharging
into that main drainage system. The smells were of a
pungent, penetrating character, and being suggestive of gas
refuse a careful inspection of the gas works at Kensal Green
was made, with the result that it became apparent that the
nuisance did not originate there. Yec, curiously enough, the
sewer in the vicinity of the gas works having been inspected
by the Surveyor's orders, the objectionable matter to which
the nuisance was due was detected thereabouts, but entering
the sewer from a nine-inch pipe which conveys the drainage
from the Great Western Railway Company's gas works at
Wood Lane, Hammersmith; where gas is manufactured,
from mineral oil, for use in railway carriages, &c.; presumably
of the same character as that formerly manufactured at
the Baker Street railway station, on the St. John's Wood
line, until a stop was put to the manufacture by an injunction.
The Surveyor in his report to the Works and Sanitary
Committee, referring to this nuisance at North Kensington,
observed that " so powerful is the vapour in the sewers, that
the flushers have to extinguish their lamps to avoid explosion,
and they cannot work in the upper part of the district
without first opening for a considerable time the side
entrances, and even with that ventilation they can only
remain in the sewers for a short period of time." Several
of the people who complained personally to me, stated that
they had been made ill, from nausea, headache, &c„ by
inhaling the pungent fumes, which, in my opinion, constituted
a nuisance dangerous to health. I wrote urgent letters on
the subject to the Chief Engineer to the London County
Council. I also communicated with the Medical Officer of
Health to the parish in which the nuisance originated; and
ultimately the railway company took effectual steps to abate,
and to prevent the recurrence of the nuisance. I may add
that one of my recommendations with respect to the legislation
which resulted in the passing of the Public Health (London)
Act, 1891, was, that it should be made a punishable offence to