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108
they have had to superintend and carry to a successful issue,
naturally pointed to them as being the best fitted of all
members of the staff of the Vestry to be entrusted with the
important duty, not only of superintending the reconstruction
of the drainage in houses already built, yet suffering
from defective drainage, but also of supervising and advising
with respect to the sanitary arrangements of houses in course
of construction.
After fully considering the very great sanitary importance
of the matter, and the feasability of the plan, the
Surveyor and myself proposed to the Sanitary Committee
that the above duty should be devolved on the Inspectors;
and with their assistance we prepared a scheme and a series
of requirements with respect to the drainage of new houses,
embodying as far as possible all the more recent real improvements.
After due deliberation our scheme was approved
of by the Committee, and has since been adopted by the
Vestry.
It is impossible to tell at present how far this plan will
prove a success; but undoubtedly it has the elements of
success within it. The work is as yet only in its early
infancy, and we cannot clearly foresee how large a staff' will
be needed to carry it out effectually. The actual Sanitary
Inspectors are now five in number, a number by no means
too large to do all the ordinary duties required of them by
Act of Parliament, apart from the special additional duties
which henceforth they will have to discharge. The former
duties cannot properly be neglected; the latter duties will
probably demand a very large amount of time and thought;
and if they grow, as doubtless they will, they will absorb so
much of the Inspectors' time, that in some form or other