View report page

Ashen Grove Estate, 9in. and 12in. pipes being substituted by
a 2ft. 3in. by 1ft. Gin. brick sewer, discharging into a trunk
main sewer before reaching the Pumping Station.
Camp Road Sewer.— This sewer, which was constantly
blocked on account of insufficient fall, was relaid from
Caesar's Camp House to opposite the National Rifle Association's
old store-house, near the Central Girls' School at the
corner of the Common.
The Church of England Surface Water Sewer, from
Herbert Road, down Hartfield Road and Kingston Road to a
point near the Salvation Army Barracks, was relaid at a lower
level with increased gradient, and enlarged from 9in. and
12in. to 18in. and 24in. pipes, and old brick barrel sewer to
24in. and 27in. concrete tubes. The outlet of this sewer,
which now discharges into the old course of the River Wandle
at the back of Miller's Mead Cottages, will be diverted so as
to pass down Wandle Bank Road, across the Mill Pond, to a
point lower down the course of the river, where a better outfall
at a lower level will be obtained, this being part of the
scheme prepared in 1903 by the Borough Surveyor (Mr.
Cooper) for the prevention of flooding.
Nuisance from Flies.— For many years past it has been
thought that the common house-fly is a carrier of infection,
and although a number of Medical Officers of Health and
others have been somewhat sceptical on this point, it has been
proved by investigations carried out by such eminent men as
Sir James Crichton-Browne, Professors Nuttall and Delepine,
Dr. Jackson of New York, the Medical Officers of Health of
Manchester and Liverpool and others, who have devoted their
lives to solving problems pertaining to public health, that this
is only too true. Botanists of repute also confirm this theory,
and there is no doubt that this is the explanation of a certain
proportion of the summer incidence of zymotic diarrhoea.
It is common knowledge that the fly-nuisance is promoted
to a great degree where manure heaps, stables, cowsheds and
offensive trade premises exist, especially accumulations of
horse manure, and houses in the immediate neighbourhood of
these are almost invariably affected in the summer by swarms
of these apparently harmless— and yet insidious— insects.
It is clear, therefore, that in the interests of public health
that, where flies do congregate, practical steps must be taken,
and bearing this in mind, the Officers of your Sanitary
Department have paid no less than 771 regular visits to places
where horses are kept, and have insisted upon the provision of
suitable receptacles for stable manure and the periodical
removal of their contents. It may here be mentioned that the
26