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13
a year or two previously. Two new sewers have
been constructed in the place of old and defective
ones, viz. in portions of Warwick and Beak Streets,
and Naylor's Yard, Silver Street. The actual
necessity for the performance of these works was of
course ascertained by the Works Committee before
they were commenced. Both are a great improvement
upon the old in every way, particularly as to
depth and fall, and sooner or later must have been
done.
The majority of our sewers works are of a
small but extremely troublesome nature, consisting
chiefly of cleansings and repairs, involving a large
amount of skill, anxiety, and care in their execution
—much more than would be supposed—as every
effort has to be made, and very properly, so that as
little annoyance as possible shall be given to the
persons whose premises we invade for the purpose,
for it must be remembered that these " tributary"
sewers are constructed almost entirely beneath the
vaults, areas, and in some places kitchens, of
private houses; they were the original drains continued
from house to house as the houses were
built, but only large houses had any such appliances
originally at all, the smaller ones only had a cesspool;
the consequence is that the various Sewers Commissions
constructed proper sewers where none whatever
existed, but left those streets untouched where there
actually was sewerage, however defective, to be dealt
with at some future time. The consequences of this