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15
???e back-yard of tbe other, No. G, York-street, a cesspool was
???erflowing from a house in Swan-lane—steps were immediately
taken to remedy the evil.
Yours respectfully,
October, 1858. W. MURDOCH.
THIRTY-FOURTH REPORT.
Gentlmen,
Several air-shafts have been opened into the sewer in Paralise-row
and the Deptford-road. At their upper extremity is an
open grating generally placed in the middle of the road. That
these shafts let air into the sewer and ventilate it, there can
???e no doubt, but unfortunately, they also let out large quantities
of sewer gas into the atmosphere, and at certain times the stench
arising therefrom is nauseating in the extreme, and becomes a
horrible nuisance to the inmates of the houses near which the
gratings are placed.
While this Vestry is forcing individuals to trap drains and
abolish cesspools, while they themselves are continually expending
sums of money in trapping street gulleys, with the idea,
that the gases arising from them are subtile poisons and deleterious
to health, it does seem a strange contradiction that numerous
exits of these gases should be made in the principal thoroughfare
of this parish.
No. 9, Yeoman-terrace, is situated within a few feet of the
Black-ditch, the garden fence is upon the bank of the sewer.
Two children of the family residing in the house died last month,
within a few days of each other, of dysentery, and a third of
malignant sore-throat at the beginning of the year. A medical
gentleman dwelling close by states, that all disease puts on a
more malignant form in the neighbourhood of this stream of
pollution. Now, if such a predisposition be due to the gases
arising from the open sewer, is it unreasonable to suppose that
the same gases let loose in Paradise-row and the Deptford-road,
may have the same effect upon the health of the inhabitants of
these localities ?
At the request of the Burial trust, I drew up a special report
on the state of the places in Rotlierhithe still used for the interment
of the dead. The Report was read and approved of on the
25th of October. The substance of it may be condensed as
follows:—
"That at the burial-ground of Trinity Church, Lower Rotherhithe,
there are three-quarters of an acre of unbroken surface,
and at All Saints' nearly one-third of the ground originally