How to secure them. 125 



householder will throw anything down the drains. If he 

 has any rubbish this is the convenient place for it. In 

 reference to the idea of fitting water closets into small houses, 

 I quite admit that the old system is a defective system, but to 

 put water closets into every small house where they wonld be 

 damaged and choked up would be a great mistake. In 

 arranging accommodation for small house property you really 

 should get something that could neither be pawned, nor sold, 

 nor burnt. Mr. Gray referred to the ventilation of sewers : 

 that is a very peculiar subject If you ask the opinions of the 

 most prominent sanitarians in the large English towns they 

 will tell you that the open gratings are the best. I do not 

 agree with that, but still you find a preponderance of opinion 

 in favour of them. The Belfast Corporation are still pursuing 

 the policy that where any owner of property will give them 

 the use of a gable they will put up ventilator shafts. I am of 

 opinion that as far as possible the sewer atmosphere should be 

 carried up above the house levels, and I think in this matter 

 the Corporation are doing everything possible. On the whole, 

 I must congratulate Mr. Gray on his paper, and I think that 

 such discussions are beneficial, as the more the public know 

 of these matters the better. 



Mr. LocKWOOD — I fully agree with the majority of Mr. 

 Gray's statements. Sanitation in its main principles is very 

 simple. We should first of all get the waste products out of the 

 house as fast as possible, and keep them, or any part of them 

 from coming back again. Regarding the ventilation of the 

 street sewers, Mr. Scott has stated what I believe is the case 

 that a very large number of authorities in different parts of 

 England have agreed that the open street gratings are on the 

 whole the best thing. I think, notwithstanding, that we should 

 all be inclined to agree with Mr. Scott that it would be better 

 if we could get some simple and workable plan by which these 

 could be done away with, or simply allowed to remain as inlets 

 for fresh air. If we can do this we shall, I think, have made 

 ^n advance. There appeared recently a very interesting com- 



