1 845. J 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL 



253 



tematic works, would have no jurisdiction or control over the natural out- 

 falls ; and, in consequence of this original want of jurisdiction and care, 

 rights have apparently been acquired, which can now only be fairly redeemed, 

 for the relief of the town, by purchase. It may be observed, however, as a 

 favourable circumstance, that at the present time the increasing cheapness 

 and convenience of substituting steam power would in many localities, greatly 

 facilitate the resumption of important public rights, and the extension of 

 proper drainage jurisdictions over natural outfalls. 



At Lancaster the upper portion of the drainage area, was found to be 

 under the control of the authorities who have charge of the Castle, and who 

 were endeavouring to improve its salubrity by a better drainage. In this 

 they were obstructed by the otficers having charge of the lower portion of 

 the area, who refused to permit the authorities, having charge of the upper 

 portion, to use the sewers forming the proper outfalls. 



The artificial drainage area under the care of the authorities having charge 

 of the drainage of the town of Kottinijham, comprehends only a portion of 

 the natural and proper area. One part of that area is above the site of the 

 houses of the town, within the municipal jurisdiction, and another part com. 

 prehending the outfalls of the drainage of the uplands, and of the town it- 

 self, is beneath it, and partly without the municipal jurisdiction. This sub- 

 division of the natural area is found to be attended, as it has been almost 

 everywhere, by the creation of rival and clashing interests, and with mutual 

 and general injury to the inhabitants, and to the houses and land within the 

 natural area, or contiguous to it. 



At Noncich a part only of the natural drainage area is held by the com- 

 niissiouers having charge of the drainage of the town. In the upper portions 

 of the town there are stagnant pools of water, for which relief by the natural 

 outfall, through the mumcii>al jurisdiction, was refused by the city commis- 

 sioners, the sewers for that portion of the area being ill constructed, on rude 

 conceptions of what was deemed sufficient for that portion only of the dis- 

 trict. It was considered by the commissioners that these sewers were in- 

 suAicient for the reception of the additional upland drainage ; and yet no 

 alterations were proposed for the relief of the inhabitants of the upper por- 

 tion of the area, it not being understood, or apparently not considered, that 

 a lower district benefits by the increased rapidity in the force of the flush, 

 for cleaning purposes, by all ordinary additions of upland water. 



At Leicester the natural water-conrse of llie town is obstructed, dammed 

 up, and converted into a sluggish receptacle of a large proportion of the 

 sewage from the town, and in a great measure formed into a barrier to the 

 etfectual drainage of the low and flat site on which the chief part of the 

 town is built. 



At Coventry the drainage of the natural area is similarly obstructed by 

 mill dams within the city, and the eftiuvia from them have formed the sub- 

 ject of loud and just complaint for many years past, but no proper authority 

 or available remedy is apparently provided. 



As a remedy for these evils and to render unnecessary the frequent appli- 

 cations to Parliament for additional powers, and extension of jurisdiction, 

 we recommend that the Crown be empowered to define and to enlarge from 

 time to time the area for drainage included within the jurisdiction of the 

 local administrative body. 



State of crowded suburbs of Towns. 



The evidence that we have received, and the reports of the commissioners, 

 who have visited the several towns, are uniform in their representations of 

 the lamentable condition, in which the suburban districts, and sometimes 

 even the more crowded parts of large towns are generally found from the 

 presence of open pools, and ditches of stagnant water. Patches of land, 

 which the gradual encroachments of buildings have rendered useless for the 

 purposes of cultivation, frequently lie unoccupied, and become receptacles 

 for refuse of the most ofl'ensive description. If the soil be of a retentive na- 

 ture, the evil is increased by the formation of stagnant pools, which con- 

 stantly load the air with an excess of moisture, rendered most noxious to 

 health by the etSutia arising from the decomposing animal and vegetable 

 matter thrown into them. The extent of these evils at Liverpool is described 

 by Mr. Holme. 



The account of the condition of a part of the township of Pendleton, a 

 suburb of Salford, affords an example of the facility, by no means unfrequent, 

 with which such evils may be remedied by a better division of jurisdiction. 

 The replies to the questions on this subject are almost, without exception, of 

 the same character ; sometimes the pools are described as merely stagnant 

 water, not receiving any drainage into them ; but more frequently they as- 

 sume the form of open ditches, and receive the contents of the sewers and 

 drains of the surrounding houses. Evils of this kind are as frequent in the 

 vicinity of the metropolis as in any other part of the country. 



We cannot but view the operation of the clauses, limiting the powers nn- 

 derJocal .Acts to streets where less than one-half of the buildings are com- 

 plete, as offering a serious impediment to the due extension of drains. By 

 excluding the authority of the commissioners until half of a street is com- 

 pleted, houses may be standing for several years without any communication 

 with a public sewer, and in tlie mean time the occupiers are compelled to 

 have recourse to very objectionable modes of drainage. Under such a pro- 

 vision, the drainage cannot be made to precede the buildings, which a due 

 attention to economy, as well as to health requires. When at last the sewer 

 is made, and the drains laid in at a subsequent period, the work is executed 



at a considerable increase of expense, and always to the inconvenience and 

 discomfort of the inhabitants as well as interruption to the traffic of the 

 streets. 



In Manc?ie3ter there are no less than 450 streets in which repairs have not 

 yet been commenced by the authority appointed for such duties, and those 

 being, for the most part, small back streets, require the greatest attention to 

 their cleansing and drainage. 



Liverpool — state of courts and alleys. 



Deplorable as the neglect has been with regard to streets, it sinks into in- 

 significance, when compared with the state, in which we have generally found 

 the courts, and those places not commonly considered thoroughfares. In 

 the number and the undrained condition of cowrls, Liverpool appears to have 

 an unhappy pre-eminence, and to surpass all other towns, bad as many of 

 them are in this respect. Mr. Holme states " there are thousands of houses 

 and hundreds of courts in this town without a single drain of any descrip- 

 tion." 



The return made in the year 1841 to the Town Council of Liverpool, by 

 their surveyors, shows that at that time there were 2398 courts, containing 

 a population of 68,;!45 persons. In these courts, 1272 cellars were occupied 

 by 02',H) persons, and of the number of cellars occupied in streets, 2848 were 

 described as damp, and 140 as wet. As these places were subject to no 

 local regulations whatever, until the year 1842, their present condition can- 

 not be a matter of surprise. We may also refer to the report of Dr. Duncan, 

 who traces a large amount of the mortality in Liverpool to the state of these 

 undrained courts. Although it has been stated to us that considerable pro- 

 gress has been made of late years in Liverpool in the extent of main sewers 

 laid down (more than 21 miles having been constructed since 1830, and 

 about the same length being now projected), some time must elapse before 

 the great arrear of works can be recovered, and the proper means afl'orded 

 for the drainage of these courts. 



Leeds, Manchester and Southampton. 



The legislative provisions, that have been specially extended to courts at 

 Liverpool, are now found in several late Acts for other towns. At Leeds, 

 Rochdale, Southampton, and Manchester, the courts are placed upon the 

 same footing in all matters of sewering, paving, and cleansing, and are now 

 entitled to the same care and protection, as the more public and frequented 

 portions of the town. Greater faciUties are also afforded in all the later 

 Acts, for making the newly laid out streets public highways, and for bringing 

 them under the jurisdiction of the local authorities. In the great majority 

 of towns, however, the law still requires alteration. 



The universal deficiency of main drains and sewers has hitherto rendered 

 it impossible, to carry out an extensive system of minor drains for the proper 

 conveyance of refuse from the houses, lint a more frequent introduction of 

 a system of main drains, and an improvement in the supplies of water have 

 facilitated the use of the minor branches, as the cheapest and most effectual 

 mode of removing all oflFensive matter from the interior of dwellings. The 

 legislature has lately granted powers to local authorities to compel them to 

 be made. The earliest local Act brought under our notice that contains pro- 

 visions for this purpose is that for the town of Leeds, passed in the year 

 1S42. The Acts for Rochdale and Southampton contain the same power, 

 and they all forbid the building of any houses, until a proper drain is pro- 

 vided, to the satisfaction of the authority, from the intended site to the sewer, 

 if there is one within ten yards, but if not, to some cesspool not more than 

 that distance. 



We turn from these satisfactory proofs of improvement in the principles of 

 legislation on the subject of the public health, to notice a most objectionable 

 clause in an Act relating to Liverpool, passed in the year 1842, the same 

 year, that the Act for Leeds, above-mentioned, containing a provision of ex- 

 actly the opposite tendency, received the sanction of the legislature. The 

 clause in question renders the owner of any house liable to a penalty of 10/. 

 for permitting offensive matter to flow from a privy or water-closet into any 

 sewers, under the jurisdiction of the commissioners. 



M'e therefore recommend that the construction of sewers, branch sewers, 

 and house drains, be entrusted to the local administrative body. 



Paving. 



The good arrangement of the surfaces of streets, and their proper inclina- 

 tions for the speedy discharge of the surface water, is a subject of consider- 

 able importance, as affecting the health and condition of the inhabitants of 

 towns, and deserving much more attention than has hitherto been paid to it. 

 We have already adverted to the neglected condition of many of the streets, 

 inhabited by the labouring classes iu all large towns from want of under- 

 ground drainage. These evils are most seriously aggravated by the condi- 

 tion of the surface; this is frequently left without any pavement or harder 

 substance for its protection that what the natural soil affords. In this con- 

 dition it remains, the inequalities of the surface gradually increasing, and 

 forming larger basins for the reception not only of the rain and refuse water, 

 but of much of the refuse of the adjoining houses ; and although the inhabi- 

 tants are liable to pay rates, no local commissioners are bound to repair the 

 street, until it has been once put into good condition by the owner, and has 

 been accepted by them as a public highway. 



The town of Wolverhampton has been under a local Act since the year 

 1814, by which the owners of property in new streets are required to pave 

 them, as soon as three-fourths of the bouses are completed, " in such manner 



