56 REPORT — 1870. 



B. 



The district of Bury, with the township of Elton, in the county of Lan- 

 caster, is governed by a local Act, dated 27 July, 1846, 9 and 10 Victoria, 

 Cap. CCXCIII., and embraces an area of 2692 acres, the number of inhabi- 

 tants being about 40,000, and the annual rateable value of the district 



£123,467. 



The town has a general system of scavenging for the removal of solid 

 excreta, solid house-refuse, and street-sweepings, and a system of under- 

 ground sewerage for the removal of liquid house-refuse and surface-water. 

 There are 6500 houses in the district, 3859 privies, 1922 ash-pits, and only 

 153 water-closets. 



The provisions for the collection and disposal of the solid excreta and 

 house-refuse are evidently deficient. In the better class of houses each 

 house has at least one privy ; but the lower classes are very badly provided 

 with them, and in one instance no more than 2 privies had been provided 

 for the use of 20 cottages, a state of things worthy of the attention of the 

 local Inspector of Nuisances. 



No special treatment is practised previous to the removal of the contents 

 of the privies, beyond the addition of ashes. This accession of ashes, 

 together with the necessity of conducting its removal at night, materially 

 reduces the value of such mixture as a manure, and the whole quantity only 

 yields an annual return to the Commissioners of £100. 



From the' inconvenient positions of many of the ash-pits, together with 

 their defective construction, the removal of the night-soil is rendered some- 

 what difficult and expensive. The ashes when not used for privies are 

 generally sifted and employed in filling and levelling in the formation of new 

 streets and footpaths ; and it is even alleged that they are also so used in 

 many cases after mixture with night-soil, which, no doubt, from a contrac- 

 tor's point of view, is good binding stufi". 



The street-sweepings are also removed by scavenging, and cost the Com- 

 missioners not less than £629 lis. Scl, while, from the want of some yard 

 or other storage ground, they have to be disposed of to farmers at their own 

 price, and only yield the insignificant return of £25 to £30 per annum. 



The sewers are all of ample capacity to provide both for the usual daily 

 flow of sewage and for surface-water due to the average rate of rainfall, 

 which is 40 inches ; and further, for the exceptional contingencies of storms, 

 which produce as much as 1 inch per hour. 



The sewers are built in hydraulic hme, and the pipe-drains laid with 

 puddled joints, so as to prevent percolation of subsoil-wat€r into the sewage, 

 or leakage of sewage into the soil. No instance of deposit has taken place 

 in any of the sewers, and flushing for the removal of deposit is consequently 

 unnecessary. 



The water-supply is constant, and is derived from catch-water reservoirs 

 of the Bury and B.adcUfi'e Waterworks Company, situated at Holden Wood, 

 about eight miles above Bury. The Water Company supplies by meter to the 

 Railway Company and to general^ trade consumers about a quarter of a million 

 gallons per diem, and the same quantity to the town for domestic consump- 

 tion. It is in both cases supplied unfiltered, and is at times perceptibly dis- 

 coloured and disagreeable to the palate. 



I 



