51 



to the existence or non-existence of a river passing through 

 the town. Good sewers should be constructed so as to 

 require no artificial supply of water to flush them. They 

 should be self-cleansing. It is almost needless to say that 

 our sewers here in Manchester and Salford do not comply 

 with these conditions. I lay a report of the Salford Sur- 

 veyor (J. Bowden, C.E.) before you. From it will be seen 

 the condition of old Salford sewers. We are trying to 

 remedy these. The sewers in many streets in Manchester 

 are in like condition. I state this from personal observa- 

 tion. With these defective sewers our houses are directly 

 connected by means of drains which are if possible in a 

 worse condition. House drainage is the work of unskilled 

 private individuals; it is done by contract. The work is 

 generally scamped, and there is no guarantee that either the 

 fall is sufficient or the jointing effective. In some districts 

 unsocketed pipes are used — the authorities unwisely com- 

 pelling their use. An unsocketed pipe drain must become 

 defective. Even in clay soil they are unadvisable. In put- 

 ting in drains, instead of what is technically termed " bone- 

 ing," the workmen usually use a straight-edge and level, 

 and allow each pipe J or J inch fall. This leads to an irre- 

 gular and inconstant fall. These defective drains become 

 attenuated cesspools, and belch forth their disease-dealing 

 fumes into our cellars, our bathrooms, our lavatories, our 

 closets, and our sculleries. The street grids are generally 

 trapped artificially by dirt, and the only free openings 

 into the sewers are in private houses. As a consequence, our 

 heated rooms are constantly sucking in gas from the sewers. 

 Where a rain spout does communicate with a drain it does 

 not act as a ventilator, but rather as a down shaft. 



For valuable experiments as to the futility of many 

 accepted modes of ventilation I must refer you to Dr. San- 

 derson and Parke's report. 



Very few scullery pipes are trapped ; the same may be 



