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20
It must be borne in mind that districts cannot be
isolated, that one sewer has to help another, perhaps
miles away, so that beyond taking care that each individual
sewer is equal to its work, there can be very little control
as to what work has to be done.
This care becomes divided, as each district has not
only to look after itself, but also that which is transferred
from somewhere else.
This is again complicated in St. James's from the
number of old drains, wells, and abandoned cesspools,
the existence of which is rarely revealed, unless by
accident—the utter want of system upon which these
things were formerly done, baffling all speculation.
Whether any actual scheme of practically ventilating
the Metropolitan Sewers can be carried out is, in my
opinion, doubtful. So far as we have gone, if it is not
an improper expression, we try to bottle it up, so that
there shall be no escape. But this attempt, as common
sense will show, must defeat itself, as the thousands
of miles of sewers will only transfer the evil from
one locality to another. If the question were asked,
Is there no remedy? however distant that remedy may
be, it appears to me that there is. Not by removing
effluvia from sewers, but by hindering its being there at
all to be removed. By an improved system of gullies we
can check this from surface impurities.
Then as to House Drainage. This is a question of
great delicacy. The solution will be found, sooner or