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under the Master's house to the sewer in Mintern Street. Into
No. 2 drain, in addition to closets and urinals, seventeen rain water
pipes and gullies in the playground, and the kitchen sink in the
Master's house were directly connected.
Some years afterwards, complaints having been made of bad
smells arising in the Master's house and several cases of fever
having occurred therein, it was then determined to construct another
pipe drain (No. 3) to be used exclusively for drainage of water
closets and urinals. Nos. 1 & 2 drains to be reserved for surface
drainage only.
On inspection, these three main drains, and a network of branch
drains spreading from them, under the playground, under floor of
school rooms, Master's house, and Chapel Yestry, were all found to
be in a most dangerously defective condition, of which the following
are instances:—
Six of the branch drains which extended from one side of the
schoolroom to the other were so carelessly jointed as to leave no
doubt of tho free escape of sewer gas. In the schoolrooms, and
attached to the back wall, were six rain pipes carried up from these
drains to the roof. Several of the joints of these rain pipes were
defective, and must also have allowed sewer gas to escape freely,
one especially, a new pipe, was fixed only a few weeks before
inspection was made—in the most careless manner. Where the
lower end of this pipe was fitted into a socket, no care had been
taken to seal the socket, so as to prevent sewer gas escaping. This
left a free opening of ^in. all around the pipe for the emission of
sewer gas,—and this was on a level with the heads of children in a
schoolroom.
The water closet in the Master's house, which was re-constructc-d
when the drain No. 3 was formed, was connected to drain as
follows: — The trap of the pan was not fitted into a drain
pipe, but merely into a rough cavity formed of pieces of brick
set in cement. This contrivance had naturally caused a stoppage.
The same person who created the cause was employed to remove
the effect; and this was done by simply knocking a hole in the
top of the trap. It was probably argued that the stoppage would