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8
which may properly come under the designation of
improvement works. These deal with nuisances perhaps of
the most injurious order. There is no nuisance so great as the
contamination of the air of the living room and the sleeping
room with sewer gas. There is nothing so destructive of
energy, so dangerous to health or even to life, nor in the
whole range of sanitary work is there anything more
complete, more lasting, or more satisfactory than the
remedy. When the drains arc laid in concrete and trapped
with stoneware gullies, when the yards arc paved with stone
or a thick layer of concrete upon a firm foundation, when
the materials are of a good quality, and when during the
progress of the work there is efficient superintendence as far
as drainage and paving are concerned, the house will remain
in a sanitary condition as long as the bricks and mortar of
the walls hold together.
The two classes of work differ essentially from each other
upon this one important point, the effect of the one is
temporary, the other permanent. That the sanitary condition
of the parish be maintained by the removal of offensive
accumulation, the cleansing of houses, and the disinfection
of premises, is proper and necessary. But the work is not of
that kind requiring the technical skill essential in the other.
It is of a lower order, and, unlike the structural work, does
not result in a lasting improvement.
Yet notwithstanding the advantage, sanitary and economical,
resulting from the employment of the time of the
Inspector in the superintendence of structural work ; when
the Department is undermanned the structural work is that
which of necessity must be neglected. There are matters
engaging the Inspector's attention in which procrastination
ol neglect would be immediately followed by a sufficiently
apparent result. The daily batch of complaints must be