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of traps, and the best systems of arranging underground
drains, were not fully understood, and even if understood,
would have been difficult or impossible to enforce. But of
late years scientific and practical knowledge with respect to
these matters has made rapid advances, and public opinion
has grown; so that now, not only are the correct principles
and the practical details of house drainage well-understood,
but also the public generally are alive to the need of having
their house-drainage in perfect order. For several years
past, we have been enforcing the ventilation of soil-pipes,
the disconnecting of sink-, waste-water-, and rain-pipes, from
sewers, the provision of efficient traps in place of such as
are effete and useless, and of efficient water-closet pans and
traps, and water-supply apparatus, in place of such as
experience has shown to be defective or dangerous.
"But this has not been sufficient. It has long been
known to the Sanitary Committee that, however well
everything connected with the Parish drainage has been
carried out, there has never been any efficient supervision of
the drainage and other sanitary arrangements of houses in
course of construction. It has been no part of the duty of
the Sanitary Inspectors to perform such functions; and
there have been no officers on the Surveyor's Staff to whom
the duty has been, or could have been properly, entrusted.
It is true that every builder has been required, before constructing
his private drains, and connecting them with the
public sewer, to send in a plan of his proposed drainage for
the sanction of the Surveyor. But there has been no
machinery by which builders could be compelled to carry
out their works in accordance with the plans submitted, or
to ensure that the details of their works had been carried
out in a workmanlike or efficient manner. The Sanitary