GO 



The excreta from soil pipes in connection witli water-closets 

 should be delivered bj easy bends into the house drains leading 

 to this disconnecting chamber. The top part of these pipes 

 should be carried up to the highest point of roofs for additional 

 ventilation, each watercloset basin having its own trap, which 

 ought in all cases to be provided with an air pipe to prevent 

 syphonage. Then there would be no danger of undue pressure, 

 as the means of its escape is already otherwise provided for in 

 the main ventilator. 



The waste-pipes from baths, lavatories, sinks, &c., should be 

 delivered on to a small syphon or other approved trap — the 

 outlets being free to the air above the surface of ground. No 

 sewer gas can then penetrate in their direction. All traps 

 should be of the simplest character, and on no account should 

 one be used which is not self-cleansing with a good flush of 

 water. All house drains should be brought to the disconnecting 

 chamber, and the soil pipes kept distinct from slop-water pipes 

 up to this point. 



I would point out that however good the general sewerage 

 may be, unless the drainage proper of the houses and their 

 connections with the sewers are carefully planned, well 

 executed, and maintained in proper order, there is danger of 

 typhoid fever and other diseases. No trade is so important to 

 the public health as that of the plumber. The more thoroughly 

 householders will study and look into the sanitary arrange- 

 ments of their houses the more obligation will be laid upon 

 architects to see that sanitary work is well provided for in the 

 buildings they design, and display as much care in seeing to 

 the drains as to the more ornate parts of the structure. Badly 

 constructed houses will be a burden to their owners, and as the 

 house is an important factor in the longevity of its inhabitants, 

 it becomes a matter of the utmost consideration to every one 

 what sort of a house they live m. Therefore, no time or ex- 

 pense is wasted that is fairly expended in examining into 

 every minute detail connected with its sanitary condition. 

 People do not realise, even if they have read or have been told, 

 that the laws which bring sewer gas into houses when certain 

 physical conditions are fulfilled are inevitable, unless such 

 precautions are adopted to secure immunity from their presence. 

 The public do not yet realise that the presence of sewer gas 

 in the air they breathe, especially in that of summer nights, 

 when the powers of the body to resist noxious influences are 

 at a low ebb, is certain to produce illness. In other countries 

 this subject is receiving all the attention the most scientific 

 minds can give to it, with a view of arriving at the most 

 perfect system, and I do not see why South Australia may not 

 take its place in the van of progress. 



