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ANNUAL RETORT.
To the Board of Works for the Hackney District.
Gentlemen,
'THE last year has been, so far as this District is concerned, a
year of drainage, for the Surveyor, Mr. Lovegrove, informs me
that a very considerable length of Sewers has been constructed,
and Mr. Valentine's reports shew that the owners of 1518 houses
have emptied and filled up the cesspools existing on their premises,
and connected them with the sewers. In addition to these works,
138 Drains have been cleansed and repaired, making a total of
1656 houses which have been benefitted through the notices of this
Board. The total cost of these Works may be estimated at £
for the Sewers, and £7670 for the House Drains. Now, to obtain
the performance of so large an amount of work, it has been necessary
to summons only ten persons before the magistrates; but,
I have, after personally inspecting the premises, required eightysix
persons to attend before you preparatory to summonses being
issued, by which the work in seventy-six instances was done, a
great amount of time saved to your officers, and a large cost to the
owners of property.
But although much good has accrued to the District from
these extensive drainage works, yet the benefit has not been so
great as it otherwise would have been if an efficient plan of trapping
and ventilating the drains had been in use. At present there
are no efficient traps to be got, although those in use are of great
value. Thus, on several occasions after houses had been drained
into the sewers, the inhabitants complained of bad smells, and in
some instances of illness, both of which were much relieved by the
introduction of traps, which had been neglected when the drains
were made. There have also been several fatal cases of fever, and