View report page

14
3,000 yard gullies substituted for bell.traps. There were also
1,665 sink and bath wastes out off from direct communication
with the house drains, generally by carrying them over a yard.
gully, or when this could not be done, by placing a P or S trap
between the sink and the drain. In addition to these, 364
choked drains were released, repaired, or relaid; 267 choked
water.closets released; 181 yards were provided with improved
means of drainage; and in 496 houses the stack. (rain.water)
pipes were cut off from the drains, making a total of 5,625
improvements effected in the means of house.drainage in this
District.
I append a few cases in which the drainage arrangements
were improved. In one house, nearly every one who slept in
the first.floor back room suffered at intervals from sore throat,
malaise, headaches, or other slight ailments. On examination,
the hopper.head of a stack.pipe was found within 3 inches of
the window.sill, and the stack.pipe was connected with the
shoulder of the soil.pipe from a water.closet, so that when the
window was open the stack.pipe ventilated into the bed.room.
The stack.pipe was ordered to be carried above the roof, so as
to ventilate the soil.pipe and drains. Another pipe was provided
to carry off the rain.water, and the sink.waste disconnected
from the drain. Instances such as these, but not always so
flagrant, are rather frequently met with in the older houses of
this District. A complaint was received from the owner of a
large house, that although he had had the drains examined, and
where necessary reconstructed, the bad smells which he had
noticed in the house still continued. On making a careful
examination, a rat's run was discovered passing under the
foundations from the next house. On opening there it was
found that a water.closet had been removed from the interior
to the exterior of the house, and that the drain had not been
removed or properly stopped up, so that the rats got out of the
old drain, and made their way into the pantry next door.
Somewhat similar cases of neglect were met with in the Lordship