THE MUNICIPAL&SANITARY ENGINEERS'HANDBOOK < REESE LIBRARY i in. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. -No. u u u i? THE MUNICIPAL AND SANITARY ENGINEERS' HANDBOOK THE MUNICIPAL AND SANITARY ENGINEERS' HANDBOOK BY H. PERCY BOULNOIS M. INST. C.E., FEL. SAN. INST. PAST PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF MUNICIPAL ENGINEERS; PAST PRESIDENT OF THE LIVERPOOL ENGINEERING SOCIETY, ETC. ETC. CITY SURVEYOR, EXETER, 1873-1883 ; BOROUGH ENGINEER, PORTSMOUTH, 1883-1890 ; CITY ENGINEER, LIVERPOOL, 1890-1898. AUTHOR OF 'ANNIHILATION OF SEWER GASES'; 'PRACTICAL HINTS ON TAKING A HOUSE'; 'THE HOUSING OF THE LABOURING CLASSES'; 'THE DISPOSAL OF TOWNS' REFUSE '; ETC. ETC. " Salus pofuli suprema lex ' THIRD EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED Hon&on: E. & F. N. SPON, LTD., 125 STRAND Jlefo gorfc: SPON & CHAMBERLAIN, 12 CORTLANDT STREET 1898 v\

ment Act, 1894, were under the authority of improvement commissioners or local boards ; * 2. Rural districts ; which are the areas of unions not included in urban districts, and are under the authority of rural district councils ; 3. Administrative counties under the control of the county councils established in 1889; and 4. Sixty-one large boroughs which were constituted county boroughs (51 & 52 Viet. c. 4i).f It is my intention to deal more particularly with the duties of a surveyor acting under an urban authority ; but the following section of the Public Health Act, 1875, relates apparently to the appointment of a surveyor to a rural authority, t although no mention is made in this or any other clause of the Act directly of such an officer by name, except that amongst the definitions of the Act the following appears : " ' Surveyor ' includes any person appointed by a rural authority to perform any of the duties of surveyor under this Act " (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 4). The clause I have above referred to is as follows : " Every rural authority shall from time to time appoint fit and proper persons to be medical officer or officers of health and inspector or inspectors of nuisances ; they shall also appoint such assistants and other officers and servants * By sec. 21 of the Local Government Act, 1894, urban sanitary authorities are to be called Urban District Councils, but this is not to alter the style or title of the corporation or council of a borough. t The following authorities are responsible for the repair and maintenance of roads and streets throughout the country : County Councils (formerly County Justices in Quarter Sessions) ; County Boroughs ; Boroughs ; District Councils, Urban and Rural ; single parishes without local boards ; grouped parishes formed into Highway Boards, Road Trustees (the two latter almost extinct) ; Imperial Government. J Surveyors of highways were appointed under sec. 25, 41 & 42 Viet. c. 77, which, however, has now become imperative by sec. 25 of the Local Government Act, 1894, by which the rural district councils are under the highway authorities in their districts. B 2 4 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. as may be necessary and proper for the efficient execution of this Act . . ." (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 190). The following clauses apply to officers of rural as well as urban authorities : " The same person may be both surveyor and inspector of nuisances . . ." (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 192). "Officers or servants appointed or employed under this Act by the local authority shall not in any wise be con- cerned or interested in any bargain or contract made with such authority for any of the purposes of this Act ..." (38 & 39 Vict - c - 55, s. 193). " Before any officer or servant of a local authority enters on any office or employment under this Act, by reason whereof he will or may be entrusted with the custody or control of money, the local authority by whom he is appointed shall take from him sufficient security for the faithful execution of such office or employment, and for duly accounting for all moneys which may be entrusted to him by reason thereof " (38 & 39 Vict. c. 55,3. 194). In addition to these clauses, there are several regulating the receipt of money by officers, but these should not affect the town surveyor. Although in many places he has the onerous duty of paying workmen, certifying tradesmen's accounts, and other financial transactions, he ought under no circumstances to have anything to do with the receipt of money. Unfortunately, in some of the smaller towns the surveyor is also employed as rate collector ; but as this is evidently a very improper proceeding, I shall not further allude to it in any manner, except to say that since the issue of the first edition of this book, in the year 1883, the practice has greatly diminished. It will be observed that in the foregoing clauses of the Public Health Act the word " surveyor " is always used, and thus this is the legal title of those holding such appointments, with the single exception of the City of Liverpool, where The Town Surveyor. 5 the council are legally empowered to appoint, subject " to approval of one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State," a person duly qualified as a civil engineer to act as Local Surveyor of the drainage and other works authorised under the provisions of this Act. It is obvious that, although the title of Surveyor may have well suited the office up to the year 1847, when it was made the legal title, the prodigious growth of municipal work during the last fifty years has rendered it necessary to make some change by altering the title to that of "engineer," or some other similar suitable name. At the present time several different meanings and occupations are attached to the word " surveyor," as the following list will show : " land surveyor," " district surveyor," "county surveyor," "road surveyor," "surveyor of taxes," " surveyor of customs," " quantity surveyor," " fire insurance surveyor," "Lloyd's surveyor," and a still more curious instance where an urban authority is itself dubbed "surveyor of highways " by the I44th section of the Public Health Act, 1875. It is evident, therefore, that the title of town surveyor as now applied must lead to confusion, and to perfectly erroneous impressions as to his work and duties. Sir Henry Ackland, in a paper read before the Associa- tion of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors, at a district meeting held at Oxford, makes the following remarks on this point : "In the Public Health Act, 1875 (the summary of all health enactments), the name of 'engineer' does not once occur in the 343 clauses. He is still the old ' surveyor ' we all remember, the plodding, energetic man of highways and bye-ways ... but then the surveyor of the present day may be called on to advise on anything, from the form and cost of an earthen syphon trap to the calcula- tion of work to be done by engines which are to supply half a million of persons with water; to be responsible for the construction of sanitary mechanisms, from a housemaid's sink to an intermittent downward filtration farm." 6 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. There can be but little doubt that it is absolutely necessary for the town surveyor of the present day to be a competent civil engineer of great knowledge and varied experience, for he may at any moment be called upon to advise his corporation upon any of the following subjects, or to act in any one of the following capacities, in addition to the multifarious ordinary duties legally devolving upon him as surveyor under the Sanitary Acts : 1. As engineer for sewerage and sewage works. 2. As engineer for water and gas works. 3. As engineer for canals, docks, harbour improvements, and river navigation, or for the protection of coasts against the encroachments of the sea, and the prevention of floods by rivers. 4. As engineer for the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges. 5. As engineer for the construction and maintenance of lines of tramways, either horse, steam, electrical, or any others. 6. As engineer to advise on schemes for electric lighting. 7. As architect for the construction of lunatic asylums, municipal offices, hospitals, abattoirs, mortuaries, baths and wash-houses, cemetery chapels, stables, police stations, and other similar work. 8. As landscape gardener for the laying out of public recreation grounds, parks, and cemeteries. 9. As quantity surveyor to make estimates of all works, and sometimes to furnish bills of quantities to intending con- tractors.* 10. As surveyor and valuer to advise his employers on the values, &c, of corporate or other property. * In the first edition of this book the Author's meaning with regard to this duty of a surveyor was somewhat misunderstood. The Author is of opinion that bills of quantities should not be furnished by the surveyor unless he is paid the usual quantity surveyor's commission, as the furnishing of quantities throws a considerable pecuniary responsibility upon the surveyor, for which he ought in common justice to be paid. The Town Surveyor. * 1 1. As land surveyor to make surveys of any size that may be required. 12. As accountant to examine and rectify the workmen's wages sheets, and all tradesmen's accounts for work per- formed or goods supplied. The foregoing list is no exaggeration of the onerous duties of the town surveyor, and it seems to be a grievous mistake that this officer, whose importance in all practical sanitary work cannot be over-stated (as without him no useful municipal work could go on), has been left unprotected by the Public Health Act of 1875. In that Act both the medical officer of health and the inspector of nuisances have received Government protection, whereas the surveyor, the very officer of all others who neces- sarily is more likely to come into collision and to be unpopular with his employers in the faithful discharge of his duties, has been afforded no protection whatever, but has been left to the tender mercies of an annually changing body of municipal governors, " to be removable at their pleasure " (38 & 39 Viet c. 55, s. 189). On this highly important point I cannot do better than quote some passages from Mr. Lewis Angell's interesting ad- dress to the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors, on the occasion of their inauguration, in the year 1873:* " The ' town surveyor/ according to his opportunities, has done the country good service, but, surrounded as we have been with obstructions and difficulties, cramped and restricted by popular prejudices and private interests, subject to clamour and attack without protection and without appeal, it is indeed surprising that we have accomplished so much. Had such officers been from the first judiciously selected, adequately remunerated, properly supported, and duly protected, our * Vide ' Minutes of Proceedings of the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors, ' vol. i. p. 18. 8 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers' Handbook. influence upon sanitary progress would have been more con- spicuous and our office better appreciated. . . . " In many cases the unprotected surveyor may be required to report to a protected medical officer the negligence of his own employers. No local surveyor or engineer can be ex- pected to give cordial and active assistance in compulsory sanitary work when he is conscious that his action would be opposed to the views or the interests of his employers the public upon whom he is dependent. The existence of such a distinction between the medical officer and surveyor under the same board will produce a want of harmony in interest, and must lead to a divergence of action between the two departments. ..." And, speaking of the multifarious duties of the town surveyor, Mr. Angell says: "Any one section of his duties would, under commercial circumstances, command fair pay according to its importance ; but where cumulative duties are included in the same office, they demand constant attention, special knowledge, professional experience, and administra- tive ability ; to which is added the anxiety which the respon- sibilities of public office always involve. Such a position in a commercial concern would receive high remuneration in proportion to the extent of the undertaking, but unfortu- nately our work does not pay a dividend : it is all expendi- ture, from which the town derives no return excepting in health and comfort, matters which are neither fairly assessed nor duly appreciated ; consequently, the municipal engineer is paid less for his professional knowledge than the contractor's agent whose work he directs." Speaking further on the subject of Government protection, Mr . Angell says : " Surveyors appointed under the Towns Im- provement Clauses Act were protected during the existence of the General Board of Health. Sir C. Adderley's Public Health and Local Government Bill of 1872 proposed similar protection. Officers employed under the Poor Laws are fully The Town Surveyor. o protected as to position, emoluments and superannuation. The administration of the Poor Laws and the Public Health Acts is now united in one department under the newly estab- lished Local Government Board : it is therefore in my opinion equally due to local board officers that they also should be recognised and protected. Without such protection, sanitary legislation cannot, in the words of the Royal Sanitary Com- mission, be ' active and effective,' because local officers are too dependent on their immediate employers to be thoroughly efficient." Mr. Angell further says : " In advocating protection let me not be misunderstood. I do not mean centralisation, or the removal of that proper control which every local authority should maintain over its own officers. I would maintain intact the great principle of local government, which has been the bulwark of our social and political freedom. But local government may degene- rate, and in small towns deteriorate into littleness ; local affairs are too frequently avoided by those who are most fitted by intelligence and social standing to take part therein. I would simply control in the most constitutional manner the shortcomings or excesses of local government, as is already done in various other departments. I would require that local officers should be properly qualified, and adequately remunerated ; that in the honest discharge of their duties, and during good behaviour, they should be protected from the effects of ignorance, narrow prejudices and interested clamour ; and that they should have an appeal to a disinterested and judicial body, superior to local feeling. The demand is reasonable I ask no more. ..." To these admirable remarks by Mr. Angell on the present position of the town surveyor I can add but little. I believe that the sole reason which is given why Govern- ment protection is not granted to the surveyor is the argu- ment, used by those in authority, that if a surveyor disagrees io Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. with the corporation he serves it is considered better that he should resign his appointment rather than be protected by the Local Government Board or other central office ; but if this argument is sound, why does it not also apply in a similar manner to the medical officer of health or the inspector of nuisances? Failing protection, to which there seems to be considerable objection on the part of the Local Government Board, it would be well to consider whether some scheme of superannuation should not be put forward, not only as regards the town surveyor but also for the other officials of a corporation. It appears to be a great injustice that, although in all Government services, pensions or superannuation are granted to all officers, a corporation official has nothing of the kind to look forward to, and length of service is not of the slightest advantage to him on the contrary, it often militates very much against him, as past services are never considered by an ever-changing municipal corporation ; and an old servant is often dismissed as being too old for further work, without one shilling of recompense for his past services. This state of affairs is bad, not only for the officer but the corporation he serves there is no binding link between them. Such a condition of things may lead to a mere question of who can get the most out of the other, whereas if a superannuation fund could be started, in which both the corporation and the officers were interested, a better feeling would no doubt exist. With a view to such an arrangement, therefore, the following sketch scheme for the superannuation of municipal officials is given : (a) All salaried officers to pay into the fund three-and-a- half per cent, of their salaries. (b) The corporation to pay one-and-a-half per cent, as a contribution, and to allow four per cent, compound interest on the amounts paid in to the fund. (c) Superannuation to be paid on a fixed scale say one- The Town Surveyor. T l sixtieth of average salary for the last ten years multiplied by number of years of service on an officer attaining the age of sixty or becoming permanently incapacitated from work. Or he may take the amount standing to his credit, with four per cent, compound interest. (d) In case of death before superannuation, his personal representatives to draw the amount standing to his credit, with four per cent, compound interest. (e) In case of death after superannuation, but before he can have drawn an equivalent sum to the amount standing to his credit, the officer's personal representatives may draw the amount still standing to his credit. (/) In case of voluntary resignation, the officer to with- draw the whole amount standing to his credit, but without interest. (g) In case of dismissal other than for fraud, the officer to withdraw his own money contributed, but not the corporation contribution or any interest. (ft) In case of dismissal for fraud, the whole to be forfeited. (i) In case of long illness, advances to be made of an amount not exceeding one-fourth of sum standing to officer's credit ; no second advance to be made until the first advance has been repaid. (/) The management of the fund to be in the hands of a committee of the corporation, with certain officials added to them. Some such scheme, if carried out, must result in a better feeling between the officials and their employers, and the probability of the services of the best officials being retained, as they would have a sum of money at stake with the cor- poration, which sum would be increasing every year. It would also add to the energy and attention of the surveyor, as he would feel relieved of the anxiety and care for the future which now besets him. Additional security is also ensured in case of possible fraud by an official. 12 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers' Handbook. The time will no doubt come when the necessity for some change in the position of the town surveyor will be apparent, and adequate protection will be afforded him ; in the meantime let him strive, by attention to work and by daily advancement in scientific knowledge, and in courtesy to those with whom he is associated, to make the position and power of the town surveyor felt and honoured as it should be throughout the kingdom. CHAPTER II. THE APPOINTMENT OF SURVEYOR. WHENEVER a vacancy occurs in the office of a surveyor to a town, or upon a sanitary authority determining to make such an appointment, the question is usually relegated to a com- mittee or sub-committee to report upon the subject, to fix the amount of salary proposed to be given, and frame the duties of the office. The following report emanated from an important English borough, and is given in full as a specimen and as a guide on which a report could be framed ; altered, of course, to such requirements as may be locally necessary : Report of the Special Sub- Committee as to the Surveyor, 1. Your sub-committee report that they have, in com- pliance with the resolution of the day of , carefully considered the steps to be taken with reference to the vacancy caused by Mr. 's resignation, and they have come to the unanimous conclusion that it is desirable that the office of surveyor should be continued. 2. Your sub-committee have also considered the duties which were assigned to the office on Mr. 's appointment, and they beg now to submit them, revised in accordance with the present circumstances of the department, and with the recommendations contained in this report. 3. Your sub-committee further recommend that the salary of the surveyor be fixed at - per annum, and that adver- tisements be issued for candidates. 14 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. Dtities of the Surveyor* 1. To have charge of the repairs of all highways, and to perform all duties devolving on the council as surveyors of highways. 2. To report from time to time to the committee super- intending the same, the state of the several highways and lines of tramway, and as to the materials wanted or works necessary. 3. To prepare all plans, specifications, or instructions neces- sary in relation thereto, and as to the materials to be used therein, and to see that all works are completed according to contracts entered into. 4. To engage and dismiss, under sanction of the com- mittee, all workmen employed at daily and weekly wages. 5. To certify all accounts for work done, materials sup- plied, and wages due. 6. To have charge of all materials and implements. 7. To purchase, or contract for, or hire, all horses, carts, tumbrils, stones, flags, gravel, draining pipes, and proper im- plements and materials, and all other matters and things, at such prices and in such manner as the committee shall judge reasonable and expedient, and to sell or otherwise dis- pose of the same as he may be directed. 8. To have the entire charge and superintendence of the breaking up and repairing of all streets, for the purpose of laying or replacing gas and water pipes. 9. To inspect and report, in conjunction with the medical officer of health, upon slaughter-houses preliminary to licences being granted, and to make the plans and superintend the construction of any slaughter-houses which the council may hereafter erect. * Under the Public Health Act, 1848, the duties of officers were regulated by bye-laws, requiring confirmation and other formalities, but now they are only the subject of regulations which, by sec. 188 Public Health Act, 1875, do not require confirmation by the Local Government Board. The Appointment of Surveyor. \ 5 10. To take all levels and surveys which may be neces- sary for the purpose of deciding on the best mode of draining the several districts, or any part thereof, or for the purpose of fixing the levels and inclinations of any streets or roads, or in anywise relating thereto. 11. To carry out the scheme now in course of construc- tion for the interception of the sewage of the borough, and any future scheme for its precipitation, filtration, deodorisa- tion, or any other process which the council may adopt, either within or without the borough. 12. To superintend the construction and completion of all tramway lines and sidings which may be required. 13. To prepare, from time to time, schemes for the drain- age of the several districts or any part thereof. 14. To prepare all such plans, sections, and specifications as may be necessary for the due execution of any flagging, paving, sewering, or other works required to be done, or for entering into any contracts in relation thereto, and to see that all works are executed in accordance therewith. 15. To measure up and duly certify the execution of all works, and apportion the cost to the parties chargeable there- with. 1 6. To see that all house drains, which may from time to time be carried into any public sewer, are made and connected in accordance with the regulations. 17. To give to the several contractors performing any works orders for the same in writing only, keeping duplicates thereof, duly entered in a book to be kept by him for that purpose. 1 8. To prepare all plans, drawings, and estimates required, and to superintend the execution of all improvements. 19. To see that no encroachments be made on any high- way or public place. 20. To advise on, and execute, all engineering works, and prepare all such plans, specifications, and estimates of, and take 1 6 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. out quantities for, such sewers, buildings, bridges, and works as may be required, and to superintend the erection and execu- tion thereof.* 21. To have in his charge, and be responsible for, the proper management of all buildings and properties belonging to the corporation, or for the repair and maintenance of which the corporation is liable, except otherwise directed -by the council. 22. To examine and report upon all plans and elevations of buildings proposed to be erected or altered upon land sold or leased by the corporation. 23. To inspect and report on plans of new streets to be laid out, of houses to be built, and of buildings to be erected or altered. 24. To see that all streets are properly named, and that the name plates are kept in good order. 25. To act as building surveyor in all matters relating to the execution of the Sanitary and Local Acts, and to examine and certify new houses as fit for habitation. 26. To examine all buildings in a condition dangerous to the public, to report thereon, and to take such steps as may be necessary to prevent accidents arising therefrom. 27. To prepare all plans and sections for deposit, pur- suant to standing orders, with respect to all street improve- ments, tramways, gasworks, waterworks, or other works, unless otherwise ordered by the Council, and to prepare all other surveys, plans and sections required. 28. To attend the meetings of the several committees when required. 29. To prepare all returns relating to his office that may be required by the Government. 30. To attend in London or elsewhere when required without extra charge, excepting only his travelling and hotel expenses. * Vide remarks in footnote at bottom of page 6. The Appointment of Surveyor. \ 7 31. To keep accurate permanent records and plans relating to all properties purchased, leased, or sold, or in possession. 32. To devote the whole of his time to the duties of his office, and not to be engaged in any other office, business, or employment whatever. 33. To report from time to time all and every matter connected with any branch of his office which, in his opinion, may require the attention of any committee, and take their instructions thereon. In addition to the very binding terms contained in clause 32 of this specimen report, some of the recent advertisements for the appointment of a surveyor have contained the follow- ing paragraph : " He will be required to devote his whole time and attention to the duties of his office, and will not be allowed to take any private practice or hold any other appointment, or engage in any other business or employment whatever ; and any fees received by him either as a witness or in any other capacity will have to be paid to the council." It is evident that the restrictions placed on an officer by the latter part of this paragraph make it professionally impossible for him, without losing his self-respect, to act in any consultation, arbitration, or as a skilled witness, or in any other similar capacity where his services might be desired and be of considerable value but where they are* thus proposed to be " farmed out " by his employers. It is questionable whether such restrictions are not really detrimental to the interests of the community he serves, for if an engineer has no opportunity of extending his professional knowledge and scientific experience outside the district in which he is engaged, it is more than probable that his views will become narrow and restricted, and consequently of less value to his employers. c 1 8 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. Although it would no doubt be impolitic, and possibly unjust to other members of the profession, to allow a town surveyor an unlimited private practice, it cannot be doubted that under certain restrictions if he is allowed to increase the scope of his knowledge, gain experience in engineering skill, and raise his professional position, by being permitted to give expert evidence, or to act as arbitrator, &c., that this, instead of being detrimental to the public service, would be to the benefit of the ratepayers and to the credit of the corporation he serves. Unlike the medical officer of health, who, by Act of Parliament, is required to hold a diploma of competency,* it is open to anyone to apply for and obtain the appoint- ment of a town surveyor. This is no doubt unfortunate, as some test of merit is desirable ; and of late years the neces- sity of some examination as to competency has been much discussed. In order to meet this requirement, the Sanitary Institute instituted examinations in the year 1880, and granted certifi- cates of competency for both town surveyors and inspectors of nuisances, although with regard to surveyors this practice was discontinued in the year 1894. In the former editions of this book I gave in extenso the reasons for these examinations, a syllabus of subjects for local surveyors, and specimens of the questions asked at one of the examinations ; but as all this information is available on application to the Secretary of the Sanitary Institute, Margaret Street, London, W., I do not consider it necessary to repeat it. It was always felt that it was open to question whether the Sanitary Institute was the proper authority to hold these examinations or not, and, as I have stated, such examinations were discontinued in 1894. "A person shall not be appointed medical officer of health unless he is a legally qualified medical practitioner" (38 and 39 Viet. c. 55, sec. 191). The Appointment of Surveyor. 19 The necessity, however, for some examination was pre- viously felt by the Association of Municipal and County Engineers, who, in the year 1886, undertook the holding of " Voluntary Pass Examinations for candidates for Surveyor- ships under Municipal Corporations and the Local Govern- ment Acts " ; and these examinations are periodically held in various English towns throughout the year. In former editions full particulars were given of these examinations, but as they are procurable from the Secretary of the Association, n Victoria Street, London, S.W., it is unnecessary to repeat them here. Under the present system of appointment to the office of town surveyor, those seeking that office must be prepared to work hard to obtain it, and to give up some considerable time to its acquisition. Tact, patience and perseverance are indis- pensable qualities when seeking such appointments, and the following suggestions on this matter may be of use. The appointment usually rests finally with the whole body of the town council or corporation, even if a sub-committee or committee has been appointed in the first case to make some selection of candidates. The candidates thus selected by the committee are usually requested to appear before the whole body of the town council, who then make the appointment from amongst them. The first thing a candidate should do when he hears of a vacancy occurring in the office of a town surveyor, or sees an advertisement requiring a surveyor's services, is to obtain fresh testimonials from those persons of position and influence for whom he has worked or who know him professionally. These testimonials, with any very good old ones (but not too many of either) should be sent by post to the town clerk or person mentioned in the advertisement, with a formal care- fully-worded application for the appointment. If canvassing is not prohibited, a list of the members of the town council, with their addresses, should then be pro- C 2 20 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers' Handbook. cured, to whom printed copies of the application and testi- monials should be sent, accompanied by an autograph letter asking that the application and testimonials should be read. This should be followed up (if possible, immediately) by a journey to the town, and a personal visit to each member of the council or corporation, not necessarily for the purpose of soliciting a vote, but with a view to making the acquaintance of the members of the corporation and to identify the appli- cant with his testimonials ; and in these visits great tact and patience are necessary. It is also of importance to seek and obtain all the outside influence that is possible, in order to bear upon the members of the corporation, by means of letters of introduction, and informal testimonials as to eligibility for the appointment, and personal character and position, &c. Canvassing on behalf of oneself is extremely unpleasant and harassing work ; but, wrong as the system may appear to be, it is not easy to see how, in municipal government, any other method can be adopted ; and the visit of the candidate to each member gives the latter an opportunity of asking him questions and satisfying himself as to his qualifications, and thus he will not feel he is acting blindly when he'gives his vote in favour of that candidate whom he thinks, after a personal interview, the most suitable for the appointment. 21 CHAPTER III. THE SURVEYOR'S DUTIES. IT will be observed on reference to the list of the duties of the surveyor, given in the preceding chapter, that the first on the list is as follows : " To have charge of the repairs of all highways, and to perform all duties devolving on the council as surveyors of highways." The necessity for these duties is obvious when we turn to the Public Health Act, 1875, and read the following sections :* " Every urban authority shall within their district, exclu- sively of any other person, execute the office of and be sur- veyor of highways, and have, exercise, and be subject to all the powers, authorities, duties, and liabilities of surveyors of highways under the law for the time being in force, save so far as such powers, authorities, or duties are or may be incon- sistent with the provisions of this Act ; every urban authority shall also have, exercise, and be subject to all the powers, authorities, duties, and liabilities which by the Highway Act, 1835, or any Act amending the same, are vested in and given to the inhabitants in vestry assembled of any parish within their district. " All ministerial acts required by any Act of Parliament to be done by or to the surveyor of highways may be done by or to the surveyor of the urban authority, or by or to such other person as they may appoint " (38 and 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 144). * For full particulars and explanations of the various Highway Acts see ' Tbe Powers and Duties of Surveyors of Highways and of other Authorities with regard to the Management of the Public Highways,' by Alex. Glen, M.A. &c. 22 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. " All streets being or which at any time become highways repairable by the inhabitants at large within any urban dis- trict, and the pavements, stones, and other materials thereof, and all buildings, implements, and other things provided for the purposes thereof, shall vest in and be under the control of the urban authority. The urban authority shall from time to time cause all such streets to be levelled, paved, metalled, flagged, channelled, altered, and repaired, as occasion may require ; they may from time to time cause the soil of any such street to be raised, lowered, or altered, as they may think fit, and may place and may keep in repair fences and posts for the safety of foot-passengers. Any person who without the consent of the urban authority wilfully displaces or takes up, or who injures the pavement, stones, material, fences or posts of, or the trees in, any such street shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds, and to a further penalty not exceeding five shillings for every square foot of pavement, stones, or other materials so displaced, taken up, or injured ; he shall also be liable, in the case of any injury to trees, to pay to the local authority such amount of compensa- tion as the court may award " (38 and 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 149). The duties thus devolving upon the town surveyor, by reason of these sections and the orders of the council, are very considerable. The following table gives a list of the principal subjects which will require his attention all of which will be considered in due course in this book ; List of Duties devolving upon a Town Surveyor as " Surveyor of Highways" I. The construction and maintenance of highways or streets, including (a) Roads formed of broken stones or " metal," commonly called macadamised roadways ; The Surveyor s Duties. 23 (b) Tar-macadamised roadways ; (c) Streets paved with granite cubes or setts ; (d) Streets paved with wood ; (e) Streets paved with asphalte. 2. The construction and maintenance of footwalks or footpaths, including the different materials of which these are formed. 3. The breaking of stone for road metal. 4. Steam rolling. 5. The necessary notices, specifications and apportion- ments, under the i5Oth section of the Public Health Act, 1875, or under the Private Street Works Act, 1892, for the purpose of compelling private streets to be properly sewered, levelled, paved, metalled, flagged, channelled, lighted and made good. 6. The lighting, cleansing and watering of streets. 7. The naming and numbering of streets. 8. The planting of trees along the sides of footwalks. 9. Obstructions caused by builders' rubbish or by hoardings and scaffold poles, and also by dangerous or defective cellar coverings. 10. The damage caused to footpaths by allowing water from private premises to flow over them, and the nuisance caused by defective rain-water gutters or shutes. 11. The damage caused to roadways by the laying or re- moval of gas and water mains and services, or electricity cables or telephone tubes, &c., and the surveyor's powers and duties in connection therewith. 12. The importance, especially in old towns, of laying down improved building lines of frontage in the narrower or crooked streets. 1 3. The examination of all plans of proposed new streets or buildings. 14. The supervision of all new streets and buildings whilst their construction is in progress. 24 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. 15, Dealing with all buildings in a condition dangerous to the public. 1 6. Dealing with all dangerous "holes" and dangerous " quarries." In order to graphically describe the above and other duties which a surveyor has to perform, the Author gives the following table illustrative of these duties : TABLE SHOWING SOME OF THE DUTIES OF A TOWN SURVEYOR. ENGINEERING. BRIDGES. SEWERAGE. Water Dry Disposal. Carriage. Systems. | ^ ^ x - ^ Irrigation. Partially Separate Complete Earth- Tubs. Pails. Middens. | Separate System. System, closets. Filtration System. | Precipitation. WATER. ROAD MAKING. Collection. Supply. Traffic. Macadam. Paving. Footways. Rivers. Constant. Intermittent. Road Stone Wood. Asphalte. Bricks. | | Rolling. Setts. Springs. Pumping. Gravitation. Gathering Grounds. Deep Wells. PREVENTION OF FLOODS. TRAMWAYS. STREET LIGHTING. Cable. Electric. Steam. Horse. Compressed Electricity. Gas. Air. The Surveyor s Duties. SOME OF THE DUTIES OF A TOWN SURVEYOR continued. ARCHITECTURE. BUILDING SURVEYOR. Dangerous Structures. Inspection of Plans. Safety _^ Streets Buildings of in in Theatres. Progress. Progress. Defects. House Factories. Drainage. CORPORATION BUILDINGS. Municipal Artisans' Markets. Offices. Police Dwellings. Public Abattoirs. Stations. Baths. 1 1 Fire Mortuaries. Stations. ELECTRIC ACTS. LAW. LIGHTING ORDERS. SANITARY ACTS. GAS WATER AND ACTS. Special Acts. Bye- Laws. PARLIAMENTARY ARBITRAI WORK. Oppositions and Promotions. Extension of Boundaries. L. G. B. Inquiries. CONTRACTS. REMOVAL OF SNOW. HYGIENE. MISCELLANEOUS. SCAVENGING. Collection. Disposal. LANDSCAPE GARDENING. ROAD WATERING. DISINFECTION. Recreation Grounds. Cemeteries. Parks. 26 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. SOME OF THE DUTIES OF A TOWN SURVEYOR continued. SURVEYING. QUANTITY FIELD VALUATIONS. SURVEYING. WORK. Levelling. ADMINISTRA TfON. STAFF. CONTRACTS. COMMITTEE. Tradesmen's Wages. Statistics. Reports. Records. Accounts. Correspondence. Some of the foregoing list of duties will be dealt with in separate chapters, in addition to other matters which will be treated ; but before closing this chapter a few words upon the subject of " meetings " may be of use. In addition to the items enumerated in the list which I have given of the duties of the surveyor, there is another requirement with which he is generally expected to comply, viz. : " To attend all meetings of the board, and committee meetings, except where his attendance has been previously dispensed with ; to attend upon the chairman when so re- quired." The result of this order is, that a very large percentage of the surveyor's time has to be devoted to attendances at long meetings of the board or town council, and at the numerous committee and sub-committee meetings which are appointed under it. This work is doubled where, as in many towns, the corpo- ration and their committees sit in a dual capacity, viz. as the council proper, and the council as the urban sanitary authority ; this often involves two ordinary meetings of the whole body each month, and probably at least six committee meetings The Surveyors Duties. 27 a week, leaving the surveyor but scanty time to look properly after his works. With regard to these committee meetings, it is necessary that each should have some distinguishing title descriptive of the class of work over which it has jurisdiction, and in select- ing names for them the following list may be of some service : Finance Committee, General Purposes Committee, Law and Parliamentary Committee, Surveyor's Committee, Land and Estates Committee, Rates and Taxes Committee, Streets Committee, Lighting and Cleansing Committee, Navi- gation of Port Committee, Public Grounds Committee, Sani- tary Committee, Drainage and Sewerage Committee, Markets Committee, PropertiesMbr Sale Committee, Works Committee, Water Committee, Gas Committee, Watch Committee, Health Committee, Library, Museum and Arts Committee, Baths Committee, Parks, Gardens and Improvement Committee, Streets Improvement Committee, Insanitary Properties Com- mittee, &c., &c. The surveyor should always endeavour to be punctual in his attendance at the council meetings and those of the committees, as to be late is always looked upon with dis- favour. His reports should as much as possible be in writing, so that there should be no misunderstanding as to what his advice is on any subject. To save trouble and expense it is well that all drawings of new schemes should be first sub- mitted to a committee in pencil, as they are frequently much altered ; this is very vexing if they have been neatly and highly finished. It must not be forgotten that the gentlemen who form municipal bodies give their time gratuitously, and everything should be done to save it as much as possible. It is an excellent plan, and a great convenience, if a surveyor will have a series of named and numbered pigeon-holes in his office corresponding to his committees, in which to place all papers, drawings, correspondence, &c., which he intends to bring up to the next meeting of a committee ; thus saving 28 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. himself flurry at the last moment before the meeting, in endeavouring to find the papers he wants. With his varied duties, correspondence, interviews, meetings, inspections, in- vestigations, reports, drawings and calculations, the motto of a surveyor's office should be " method." CHAPTER IV. TRAFFIC. BEFORE a surveyor can decide upon the best material with which the streets of his town shall be paved, it will be well to consider the question of the class of traffic they will have to bear. It must be remembered that three distinct interests have to be considered in dealing with this question, viz. : (i) the ratepayers, upon whom the cost of construction and main- tenance of streets falls ; (2) the owners and employers of horses and vehicles who principally use the streets ; and (3) the inhabitants of the adjoining premises, who would be annoyed if the materials selected were unduly noisy or dirty. In addition to these considerations, much depends upon local circumstances ; the class of trade upon which the welfare of a town is dependent must not be lost sight of. A pavement suitable for a busy, pushing manufacturing city may not be suitable for a quiet agricultural or cathedral town, or for a town which is used as a health resort. Again, the question of the most adaptable materials must be considered, and the climate and physical character of a town should enter largely also into this question. To sum up these considerations, they may be taken as follows : 1. The amount and description of the traffic. 2. The gradient, width and continuity of the streets. 3. The class of property which abuts on the streets. 4. The local facilities for obtaining a suitable material for a pavement. 30 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. 5. The financial position of the local authority who are responsible for the paving. Unfortunately, the consideration which the author has placed last very frequently is taken first, under the mistaken idea that the cheapest pavement is the most economical, whereas experience has shown that, so far from this being the case, it is an absolutely proved fact that the pavement most suitable for the traffic is the cheapest in the end. For instance, in the city of Liverpool, where, about twenty-five years ago, the council, acting under the advice of their engineer, introduced the system of paving their streets in the best possible manner with impervious granite sett paving, in 1894, out of 258 miles of roads (" repairable by the inhabitants at large "), 113 miles were thus paved. The result of this was as follows : In the year 1872, when impervious pavements were first introduced, there were about 200 miles of roads, and their annual mainten- ance cost 38,2807., the interest and sinking fund was 15,7567., or a total cost of 54,0367., making a cost of 2/o/. per mile ; whereas in the year 1894, with 258 miles, their annual main- tenance only cost 14,2057., the interest and sinking fund was 36,9177., making a total cost of 51,1227. per annum, or 1987. per mile. Bearing the above in mind, and in order to condense the requirements of a good roadway into as small a compass as possible, the following may be given as some of its principal requisites : 1. It must not be extravantly costly in its first construction. 2. It must be durable, and require the least possible amount of repairs at the least cost. 3. It must be safe, firm and hard, with an even face and yet giving sufficient foothold to horses. 4. It must be as noiseless as possible. 5. It must be so constructed as to be quickly laid down and repaired when broken up for water, gas, drains, or other purposes. Traffic. 31 6. It must be of strong foundation, so as to carry the heaviest weight without subsidence. 7. It must be of such a shape as will throw off all surface water at once. 8. It must be of such materials as will make a minimum of dust or mud. 9. It must be easily cleansed. 10. It must be non-absorbent of impurities or moisture of any kind. 11. It must give easy traction upon its surface. 12. It must not cause jolting to the traffic. 13. It must not injure horses' legs or hoofs. Of the above requirements No. I affects the ratepayers alone; Nos. 3, n, 12, 13, affect the traffic only, except that the occupiers of shops are indirectly affected by them ; No. 4 affects both traffic and occupiers, and No. 10 affects the occupiers principally. The remainder of the requirements affect all three interests. With reference to the wearing effect of traffic upon the surface of the roadway, no standard has yet been arrived at by which this can be determined with accuracy. In France a great number of observations and experiments have been made from time to time by the engineers of the Fonts et Chaussees, but their practice has been to count the number of " collars " passing a given section of a roadway in a given time, irrespective of the weights, speeds, or number of wheels such collars may be drawing. Mr. Deacon, formerly Borough Engineer of Liverpool, has, however, reduced traffic to a standard of tons per yard width of roadway per annum. This he effected by having the traffic in any street carefully watched for a certain definite time, the number of vehicles, their character and approximate weight being noted as well as the number of horses by which they were drawn, and their number of wheels. The effect of the traffic thus tabulated, arranged and 32 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. . 15 J~* M-H I a .S PH CO ii o 1.S U : d REMARKS.*] Hi suox ^ 2 S.fc S9SJOH : : :::::: > xg ; i : ; : ^^^ suox sasjojj : : : : : sapitpA : : : : : suox : : : : S3SIOH ; LJJJ PPPA suox : : : : : : : S3SIOH PR3A ; suox ; ; ; i i ; : ; sasjOH : : ; ; i ; ; : : : : : : : sapnpA suox S3SJOTI : : : : : : : : : : : : : : sop^A ! i i : : I : suox 'S3SJOJJ ; i ; ; sgpiqa^ ; ; ; ; >. 1 s >^e fg%$ : o f 1 %_ i i . '^& >-> IS 5*5 3 '5 en 1 c o i ^ 5 c '5 1 "* !J t I 1 | i c rZ I Z g Class of Traffi< cS O c C " M b s S d ^ ~jj 3 > O O O ^ 53 o J aq It*. 5# I D fL Traffic. 33 reduced to ton-yards per annum, can be ascertained upon any roadway, and Mr. Deacon has given the results of his observations in a valuable paper on the subject of street carriage pavements which he read before the Institution of Civil Engineers.* In order to assist surveyors in the preparation of a complete census of traffic, I give a specimen sheet (see page 32) of a " Return of Street Traffic " to be used by an observer. Sir John MacNeill has estimated that 80 per cent, of the total wear of a road is due to traffic, the remaining 20 per cent, being due to atmospheric causes. Of this 80 per cent, 66 per cent, he considers is due to the action of horses' hoofs where the traffic is fast, and 44*5 per cent, where the traffic is slow. General Morin estimates' the wear of a road due to horses' feet to be two-thirds of all causes. There can be no doubt that the action of horses' feet, shod as they are with heavy iron shoes with long toe- pieces and heels, must have a destructive effect upon the surface of a carriage-way, and this may be easily observed when watching the ruts formed by any continuous line of traffic in a macadamised roadway. With reference to the question of traction upon roads, General Morin, in his ' Experiences sur le Tirage des Voitures,' states that the resistance to the rolling of vehicles upon solid metalled roads and pavements is proportional to the weight, and inversely proportional to the diameter, of the wheels. On solid roads he states that the resistance is nearly independent of the width of the tires when they exceed 3 or 4 inches, but on a compressible face it decreases in proportion to the width of the tire ; the resistance further increases with the velocity on hard roads, but does not do so when they are soft. The following table is almost universally now adopted as showing the traction upon level roads formed of different * Vide ' Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,' vol. Iviii. D 34 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. materials, asphalte being taken as the standard of excellence in this respect : Asphalted roadway i*o Paved roadway, dry and in good order I -5102-0 ,, ,, in fair order 2'o ,, 2-5 ^ but covered with mud 2*o ,, 2"J Macadamised roadway, dry and in good order .. 2'5 ,, 3' ,, in a wet state 3-3 in fair order 4-5 ,, ,, but covered with mud .. 5*5 ,, ,, with the stones loose .. 5-0 ,, 8'2 There are four forces constantly at work tending to destroy the momentum of vehicles passing along a roadway : they are gravity, collision, friction, and the resistance of the air. The first of these is lessened by easy gradients in a road, the second can be overcome to a great extent by evenness of surface, the third by hardness, and the fourth, as well as all the others, by giving sufficient foothold to the animal draw- ing the vehicle. Another excellent table,* prepared from experiments made by Mr. Amos on different descriptions of pavement in the City of London, may be useful, and is here given : Road Material. Speed in Miles per hour. Draught in Ibs. Fraction of Load. Tractive Force in Decimals of the Load. Gravelly macadam in aj 6-945 126-6 iPs 0219 side street i 3-45 II4-322 0197 5 3 f 5-I5 70-963 8TT OI23 Granite pitching by side J of tram way .. .. "j 3-196 4I-932 i I37-3 0072 I 2-557 47-572 121 0082 Gi antte macadam 4-239 262-886 I 21'9 0456 44 freshly laid " .. j 2*775 242-726 I '0421 * Vide ' Report of the Society of Arts on the application of Science and Art to street paving and street cleansing of the metropolis, 1875.' Traffic. TABLE continued. 35 Road Material. Speed in Miles per hour. Draught in Ibs. Fraction of Load. Tractive Force in Decimals of the Load. t 5-025 9I-525 I 64-9 0158 Asphalte Pavement .. ^ 3-56 69-753 I 82-5 0121 5-687 84-268 I 'OIII 68*3 ( 3-932 118*163 i 48^7 0205 Wood Pavement .. H 3-278 102*412 i _, ~f . _ 0177 56-2 I 3'827 IOO*o66 i 0173 Macadam road, very ' 57-5 good, on Victoria Embankment 6*65 109-06 i 52^7 0181 The following table from Law's 'Rudimentary Treatise on Civil Engineering ' shows the force required to move a load of a ton weight on different descriptions of roadway, the limiting angle of resistance, and the greatest inclination which should be given to the road being also stated. Description of the Road. Force in Ibs. required to move a ton. Limiting angle of resistance. Greatest inclina- tion vhich should be given to the road. Well-laid pavement .. 33 O ' o 50 I in 68 Broken stone surface on a bottom \ of rough pavement or concrete / 46 I II I 49 Broken stone surface laid on an j old flint road / 65 I 40 i 34 Gravel road 147 3 45 i 15 The table given in 'Molesworth' upon the same subject is too well known to be repeated, and another table may be found in Sir Henry Parnell's work on roads, which gives a comparison between the draught necessary on a well-paved D 2 36 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. road at 2, on a well-made, clean macadamised road at 5, whereas on a wet and muddy gravel or flint road it rises to 32! Mr. T. D. Hope, of Liverpool, assuming the power of traction at 100, gives the following table : Weight drawn. Level macadamised road 27 cwt. ,, granite pavement 3'5 ,, wood 54'75 95 And Lieut. Crompton has given the resistance of wheels in Ibs. per ton on different surfaces as follows : Very good pavement 35 Good macadam 60 Ordinary ditto 9 Newly laid gravel 200 Soft grass land 3 Newly laid metal 44 Here rt newly laid metal " comes out very badly, and points to the necessity of rolling, of which I shall speak in a future chapter. Whilst on the question of wheel resistance, it may be well to note that the small front wheels of a waggon cause con- siderably more harm to a macadamised road than the larger hind wheels. In the smaller diameter any loose stone or obstruction is pushed along in front for a considerable dis- tance, often tearing up the surface of the road, whereas in the other case the stone is forced into its place or crushed as under a roller. With reference to this question of traffic a few words upon the Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) Act, 1878, will not be out of place. Section 23 provides that where extraordinary expenses are incurred by an authority in repairing their roads by reason of excessive weight or extraordinary traffic passing over them they may recover the expense from any person by whose order such weight or traffic has been conducted. Traffic. 37 This clause has not been very generally acted upon, as there seems to be some difficulty in proving the damage or extraordinary cost, and questions have frequently arisen as to whether there has been " extraordinary traffic " or " excessive weight " within the meaning of the Act, and also as to who is the person " by whose order " the traffic has been conducted. In order to meet some of these difficulties Mr. Taylor, the Borough Surveyor of Barnsley, read a very interesting paper on the i/th of June, 1882, at a district meeting of the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Sur- veyors held at Goole.* In order to arrive at an approximation of the damage caused by traction engines Mr. Taylor prepared the follow- ing table : 8 o;j U 6 1 1 dg c/) V !! *y*. H g) P^ w ^ Progressive eight of Tractioi Dimensions of Driving Wheel. Dimensions of Front Wheel. Weight of each Waggon. si fi.S 1 Dimensions of Waggon Wheels. 1 il fc 2 Or Per sq. inch. tons. ft. in. in. ft. in. in. tons. tons. ft. in. in. Ibs. Ibs. I 9 7 o x 17 4 o X 12 4 5 (39 X 6 j 13 3 x 6 / 347 700 2 8 5 6 X 15 3 4 X 10 if 3 J39 x 6 j 13 3 X 6 / 359 420 3 7 7 o x isJ 3 6 X 8 a| 4 / 3 7^X 8 \ \34^x 8 / 326 456 4 10 7 o x i7J 4 o x 9 3 7 ( 3 i x 9 |l I 3 5 x 9i/ 423 606 5 6* 5 6 x 16 3 6 x 10 ii 6 / 3 5 x 5*1 14 4 x 5 / 280 800 6 8 5 4 x 16 30x9 2 3 30x6 359 464 7 6J 5 6 X 10 3 6 x 10 2 3 3 o x 9* 364 295 Minutes of Proceedings of the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors,' vol. viii. p. 79. 38 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. Then, having found that the extra amount of repair to his road had cost I OS/. 12s. 6d., he apportioned this amount out amongst the eight traction engine owners as follows : , Name of Owner of Traction-Engine. Number of Journeys. Tonnage. Amount apportioned. a 1260 3 6 >540 > s. d. 62 4 7 b 120 3,760 684 f 360 I I, 060 18 16 8 d 180 5,400 942 180 4,860 8 5 5 J 5 g 20 400 o 13 4 h 5 Total .. 62,020 105 12 6 Space will not permit me to give all the details necessary to arrive at the above results, but Mr. Taylor finishes his admirable paper with the following suggested amendments to the Act i- That the term "extraordinary traffic'* shall mean and include the carriage along the highways, by means of ordi- nary team labour or by road locomotives, of all goods or merchandise, foreign to or not directly connected with the staple trades or industry of the district of the particular authority of the highways traversed ; or the carriage of goods and merchandise along the highways of any authority by means of road locomotives, no matter whether the same shall have been licensed to travel by the proper authority or not. Section 32 to be amended so as to confer upon every highway authority, instead of as at present upon the county authority only, power to make, alter and repeal bye-laws for the regulation of road locomotives, such bye-laws to be Traffic. 39 subject to the approval of a central highway authority to be formed in London, and to grant licences to road locomotives to travel through their district by any highway authority, provided always that in case of the refusal of any local authority to grant such licence, the reason for such refusal shall be at once communicated by the local to the central authority, who shall have power, if they think such reasons for the refusal unfair, to require the local authority to grant a licence. Section 23 to be amended so that the expenses of extra- ordinary traffic may be levied by a charge of any amount, not exceeding one penny per ton per mile of macadamised highway traversed, or not exceeding threepence per ton per mile of paved highway traversed ; or by the difference between the cost of repairs for ordinary and extraordinary traffic. The term " excessive weight " to mean the weight of any road locomotive, empty or loaded cart, wain or waggon drawn on any highway, greater than is allowed in the 28th section of this Act, or in the above-mentioned bye- laws. Cases of traffic by excessive weight to be dealt with summarily before the magistrates and treated as misde- meanours. At a meeting of the Association of Municipal Engineers and Surveyors held at Liverpool in 1890, Mr. J. H. Burton, surveyor to the Auldenshaw Local Board, read a paper on "Traction Engines and their Effect upon Roads and Build- ings," and after speaking of the great damage caused to roads by the wear and tear of traction engines and the heavy loads they drag, he brought to the attention of the members at the meeting a new system of wheels fitted with Boulton's patent springs which, he said, caused absolutely no damage what- ever to the roads, and that vibration was reduced to a minimum ; and so favourable was the opinion of the Ashton- under-Lyne Town Council to this form of wheel that they passed the following resolution : " That no travelling fee bq 40 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. charged for traction engines with Boulton's patent spring wheels passing through the borough, except in the event of actual damage being done." " The Mayor, in moving the confirmation of the minutes, said the Council would see from one of the minutes that the committee had agreed to accept, without cost, traction engines fitted with Boulton's patent spring wheels. They found that these wheels did little or no damage whatever, and they thought it would pay them better to admit these engines than admit other traction engines with the ordinary wheels at the usual payment." This Act of 1878 has been amended by the "Locomotives on Highways Act, 1896," which was framed to meet the ques- tion of the restrictions placed on light motor cars by reason of the Act of 1878. Shortly, this later act exempts locomotives of less than 3 tons weight unladen, and not used for drawing more than one vehicle, from certain statutory provisions and imposes other provisions as regards warning lights and bells, rates of speed, the use of petroleum, and the provision for Local Government Board Regulations ; and these Regula- tions, which were issued shortly after the framing of the Act, provide for weight, width, class of tyre, brakes, and numerous other details. It was thought that this Act would encourage the use of motor cars on our roads, but up to the present time these expectations have not been fulfilled. On the question of "safety" to traffic, the late Mr. Hay- wood, the eminent Surveyor of the City of London, caused several most complete observations to be made from time to time, the results of such observations being detailed by him in various reports. Amongst other useful information compiled by htm, he has ascertained that a horse will travel 446 miles upon a roadway paved with blocks of wood without a fall, 191 miles upon asphalte, and 132 miles upon granite setts. I cannot do better than give verbatim his remarks upon this point : Traffic. 41 " Slight rain makes both asphalte and wood more slippery than they are at other times. On asphalte the slipperiness begins almost immediately the rain commences ; wood requires more rain before its worst condition ensues. The slipperiness lasts longer upon wood, on account of its ab- sorbent nature, than it does upon the asphalte; when dry weather comes after the rain, then asphalte is in its most slippery state, and the horses fall on it very suddenly ; on wood their efforts to save themselves are more effectual ; wood also is frequently in that peculiar condition of surface in which horses slip or glide along it without falling. A small quantity of dirt upon asphalte makes it very slippery, wood requires a large quantity. Slipperiness can be tem- porarily cured on both pavements ; on the asphalte by sprinkling it with sand, on the wood by sprinkling it with gravel. The result in both cases is dirt. The sand thrown on asphalte helps to wear it out, the gravel thrown on wood tends to preserve it. When a horse falls on asphalte it has difficulty in getting [up ; on wood it rises more readily." * In streets crowded with traffic, the constant stopping and starting, especially on any surface that is slippery, is very trying to horses. Attention has frequently been directed to this point with a view to the storage of some power in a vehicle, either by the compression of a spring in stopping, or by some other mechanical means, in order that in starting the driver may at will liberate this power so as to assist the horse in overcoming the inertia of his load. These trials, however, have not at present met with much success. Before closing this chapter on traffic, it will be well to point out that nearly all vehicles travelling rapidly can pass each other safely if allowed a clear space of eight feet ; hence * * Report on Accidents to Horses on Carriageway Pavements,' by William Haywood (1874). 42 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. all roadways should, if possible, be made of a width between the curbs of some multiple of eight : a convenient width for the footpaths, so far as foot-passenger traffic is concerned, is found to be one-fifth of the entire width of street. It is scarcely necessary to add that vehicles pass each other on the left side, pedestrians on the right. It is not easy to assign a cause for the former, beyond custom, except that the whip is held in the right hand, and in consequence free play is given for its use, as the driver sits on that side and can watch his wheels in passing. In France and other countries the right side is the "rule of the road." In the case of pedestrians it may be more convenient for some reasons to pass on the right side, one being that the umbrella or parasol is always carried in the right hand, which is also used to remove the hat when bowing, and another because one's tendency in passing any obstacle is to give way with the left shoulder ; but the objection to this practice is that the pedestrian is moving in the same direction as the vehicular traffic and cannot see what is following him, and if he should happen to step off the curb he might be run over. For regulating the traffic and for the protection of foot passengers, " sanctuaries," as they are termed, have often to be constructed by surveyors in broad streets or awkward centres of traffic, and it is well to place a lamp-post on these sanctuaries, on which may be advantageously fixed a notice, " Keep to the Left," so as to regulate vehicular traffic. On the lamp-posts at the edge of the footpaths it is also sometimes customary to fix small enamelled iron plates bearing the inscription on both sides, " Keep to the Right/' so as to regulate the pedestrian traffic. Of the danger to life and limb to pedestrians in London much has frequently been said, and no wonder, when we consider the number of persons who are daily injured, and sometimes killed, according to the Registrar - General's Traffic. 43 returns.* Some years ago it was proposed to erect light iron bridges over the most dangerous crossings, approached by winding stairs, but " time is money " in the mighty me- tropolis, and the scheme was abandoned because it was felt that most persons would prefer the risk of being run over rather than spend the time in ascending and descending the necessary steps for this purpose. * From a 'Return of the Number of Accidents known to Police which occurred in the Streets (of the Metropolis) during the year 1895,' I find that the number of persons run over by vehicles and killed was 164, and that for the same period the number of persons run over and maimed or injured was 8412 ! 44 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. CHAPTER V. MACADAMISED ROADWAYS. IT is not proposed in this work to speak of any of the engineering operations necessary to lay out or construct long lines of connecting roadways, as that is a duty which seldom falls to a town surveyor to perform, and there are a great number of treatises and books upon the subject already published. The object of this chapter will be to give some information and hints upon the construction and maintenance of what are known as macadamised roads, suitable for urban and suburban traffic.* There can be little doubt that roadways of this description are expensive luxuries where the cost of their maintenance, owing to excessive traffic or other causes, exceeds is. 6d. per square yard per annum, but they are often necessary luxuries when the requirements of the locality are considered, a point to which I drew attention in the preceding chapter upon "Traffic." For purposes of what may be styled "pleasure traffic," macadamised roadways are unequalled when well constructed and maintained ; but there are many objections to them, which will be considered in their place in this chapter. The word " macadamised " is, as is well known, derived from one John Loudon Macadam, who in the year 1816 first * The following is a list of the "Road Authorities" at present existing in this country. The Imperial Parliament. County Councils. County Boroughs. Boroughs. Urban Local Boards. Rural Local Boards. Single Parishes without Local Boards. Grouped Parishes formed into Highway Boards. Road Trustees (almost entirely defunct). Macadamised Roadways. 45 took up the question of putting broken metal upon a road in- stead of the boulders previously used.* His name being rather a peculiar one, has been attached to this description of road ever since.f As a matter of fact, the " macadamised " roadways of the present day are constructed after a method introduced by Thomas Telford, as an improvement upon Macadam's prin- ciples, and a perusal of the two following specifications will, I think, show that there is not very much difference be- tween the method introduced by Telford and that followed at the present time. Specification of a Roadway as designed by Thomas Telford more than sixty years ago.\ " Upon the level bed prepared for the road materials, a bottom course or layer of stones is to be set by hand in form of a close, firm pavement ; the stones set in the middle of the road are to be seven inches in depth ; at nine feet from the centre five inches ; at twelve feet from the centre four inches ; and at fifteen feet three inches. They are to be set on their broadest edges lengthwise across the road, and the breadth of the upper edge is not to exceed four inches in any case. All the irregularities of the upper part of the said pavement are to be broken off by the hammer, and all the interstices to * The first road "engineer" in this country was John Metcalf of Knares- borough, who was born in 1717, and who, although totally blind, was the first person to introduce a -methodical system of road repairs. Vide ' Roads and Road Makers,' by Henry Alexander Glass. t " The name of Mr. Macadam deserves a few remarks for other reasons than its present popularity. The public naturally look to him as a sort of magician, and his invention, as it is thought, as something preternatural. If his own name had not been macadamisable into a verb, it is probable that his roads would have been little known. He did not invent the method in question of breaking stone, because it had long been the practice of Sweden, Switzerland, and other countries, and was long known to every observing traveller." (Vide 'The Westminster Review,' vol. iv. p. 354.) \ Vide < A Treatise on Roads,' by Sir H. Parnell (1833). 46 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. be filled with stone chips firmly wedged or packed by hand with a light hammer, so that when the whole pavement is finished there shall be a convexity of four inches in the breadth of fifteen feet from the centre.* "The middle eighteen feet of pavement is to be coated with hard stones to the depth of six inches. Four of these six inches to be first put on and worked in by carriages and horses ; care being taken to rake in the ruts until the surface becomes firm and consolidated, after which the remaining two inches are to be put on. " The whole of this stone is to be broken into pieces, as nearly cubical as possible, so that the largest piece in its longest dimensions may pass through a ring of two and a half inches inside diameter. "The paved spaces on each side of the eighteen middle feet are to be coated with broken stones or well-cleaned stony gravel up to the foot path or other boundary of the road, so as to make the whole convexity of the road six inches from the centre to the sides of it, and the whole of the materials are to be covered with a binding of an inch and a half of good gravel free from clay or earth." If the above specification, written more than sixty years ago, is compared with one of the present date, it will be seen that there is a strong resemblance between them. Specification of a Roadway as now executed. The cross section of the roadway when finished is to be an arc of a circle, with a rise of I in 27 from curb to the centre of the roadway each way.f The roadway, when con- solidated and finished, to be 12 inches in depth at the gutters and 15 inches at the centre, diminishing gradually from this * The total width of roadway being thirty feet. t It is necessary to give a new roadway more convexity than it will have when finished, for however carefully it is raked or attended to when being rolled, the top is sure to flatten and spread towards the haunches. Macadamised Roadways. 47 point right and left to the depth named. The gutters to be 2 feet in width, formed of stone setts 6 inches by 6 inches, and laid in sand, on a firmly consolidated surface of small broken stone or gravel. The earth road-bed on which the surface formation is to rest is to be excavated to the required depth, and when graded and shaped to its proper form, it is to be thoroughly and repeatedly rolled with a steam roller, and all depressions which then appear are to be filled with the same material as the road-bed, and rolled until the whole be uniformly compact and firm. On the road-bed thus formed and compacted, a bottom layer of stone of a depth of 8 inches at the centre of the road and gradually diminishing to 6 inches at the curb, is to be set by hand, to form a close, firm pavement. The stones are to be laid, with their largest side down, in parallel lines across the street, breaking joint as much as practicable.* The width of the upper part of the stone not to be more than 8 inches, nor less than 6 inches. The stone not to exceed 1 5 inches in length. After being set closely together, the stones are to be firmly wedged by inserting a bar in all possible places, and placing between them stones as nearly as possible of the depth of the pavement, until the whole is bound in position. Projections of the upper part of this course are to be broken off, care being taken not to loosen the pave- ment ; and no wedging is to be done within 20 feet of the face of the work being laid. The small interstices are to be filled in with stone chips firmly wedged with hammers. The whole is to be thoroughly rammed and settled to place, and all undue irregularities of surface broken off. On the foundation course must be laid an intermediate layer of broken stones, varying in size from 3 inches in their * Instead of parallel lines it is sometimes well to place these stones diagonally from centre to curb, or "herring-bone" fashion, thus greatly facilitating the under drainage. 48 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. greatest diameters to I inch in their smallest diameters. These irregular sized stones may be either the " tailings " of the screened stones, or may be raked from the quarry, and placed on the roadway without being machine-broken ; but they must nevertheless be so laid as to compact solidly, and must be clean broken stone, free from dust and dirt, and within the dimensions given above. This intermediate course must be 4 inches in depth at the centre of the roadway, gradually decreasing to 3 inches in depth at the gutters ; it is to be thoroughly rolled with the steam roller until it be firm, compact and solid. On its upper surface it must be identical in rise and form to the cross-section of the finished pavement, as specified above. In the laying of this course of stone a small quantity of binding material is to be used, sufficient only to fill up the crevices, and render this portion of the pavement solid. Preferably the binding is to be of fine screened gravel or sand, which is to be sufficiently watered during the process of rolling, so that the " licking up " of the road material and its adherence to the rolling-wheels may be prevented. On the intermediate course is to be laid the surface layer of broken stone.* It must be 2j inches in depth, and the stones must be practically uniform in quality, and as near an approach to a cube in form as possible. Each stone used in this layer must have passed through a 2j-inch circular hole, and all stones that are wedge-shaped, and do not approach uniformity of measurement on their sides, are to be taken from the road with properly shaped rakes, and no stones allowed to remain which are not sound, strong, and equable in size and quality of material. The stones are to be raked into an even layer, and the steam roller passed over them twice or thrice. After this a quantity of fine screened gravel or sand is to be thrown on and sufficiently sprinkled to * In metalling a road it is better to put on the coats gradually, than to give the whole thickness of metal at once. Macadamised Roadways. 49 moisten the mass without " licking up." The rolling is then to be continued (working the roller backwards and forwards, gradually from the gutter to the crown), with an occasional light watering of the pavement, until the cross-section be exact according to specification, the interstices filled in, the roadway firmly compacted and solid, and all excess of binding removed from the surface of the finished pavement." * Telford's object was the complete separation of the road metal from the subsoil by a firm and regular foundation, and this system has ever since held its ground. The advantages to be gained in constructing a roadway in this manner may be summed up as follows : 1. Economy of construction, as a considerable quantity of metalling is saved ; only 3 inches of properly broken stone and a little binding material being necessary, the foundation of the roadway (which really carries the traffic) may be made of a quality of stone unsuitable for road metal, or even of bricks or stones from old buildings that are being pulled down. 2. The prevention of the rising up or " spewing " of the clay or other soft material on which the roadway rests. 3. A solid foundation is secured which will successfully resist the weight and percussion of the traffic. 4. The increased facility for the drainage of the roadway ; water being ruinous to it.f * The method adopted in Chicago, U.S.A., for forming their roadways is as follows : The road bed is prepared of the proper contour and well rolled with a 15-ton steam roller until it is even, firm and compact ; on this bed rubble stone is carefully placed by hand with its broadest surface downwards, then 12 inches of metal are added 6 inches at a time, thoroughly rolled to bind it well.; it is then topped with 4 inches of crushed trap rock or some other equally hard stone, which will not disintegrate through the action of the weather, nor pulverise under the pressure and wear of vehicles upon it ; this is again thoroughly well rolled so as to compact and bind it together. t "If roads be kept dry they will be maintained in a good state wilh propor- tionally less expense. It has been well observed that the statuary cannot saw his marble, nor the lapidary cut his jewels without the assistance of the powder of the specific materials on which he is acting ; this, when combined with water, produces E 50 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. Instead of forming a paved or " pinned " foundation for macadamised roadways, sometimes what is called "hard core " is placed at the bottom of the road upon the surface formation. This " hard core " is made of very heterogeneous mate- rials, often the waste products of the house refuse dep6t, and consists of ashes, old pots and pans, meat tins, old bottles, shells, and a variety of similar articles ; sometimes the core is made of burnt ballast, but in no case does it make so good a foundation as stones set by hand. The following table, showing the thickness of the founda- tion and metalling of broken stone roads, is from a paper on roadways, read to the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers, by Mr. James Hall, Borough Surveyor of Stockton, and may be of use to those who would like to know what proportions to use : Pinned Foundations. Broken Stones. Concrete. Pinning Covering. Metal. Under. Upper. Concrete. Metal. inches. inches. inches. inches. inches. inches. inches. Country roads 6 3 4 9 4 4 3 Suburban roads 9 3 5 9 6 6 5 Town streets .. 9 6 5 15 6 10 5 With regard to the annual outlay upon macadamised roadways, the following comparative tables,* prepared by Mr. Ellice Clark, the then surveyor of Derby, may be of interest : sufficient attrition to accomplish his purpose. A similar effect is produced on roads, since the reduced particles of the materials, when wet, assist the wheels in rapidly grinding down the surface." Parneli's ' Treatise on Roads,' 1883. More modern writers have likened macadamised roadways to " stone-mills on which the stones are ground into dust when dry, or mud when wet." * Vide 'Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,' vol. Ix. Macadamised Roadways. Annual Outlay. Description of Pavement. Original cost per square yard. Interest Sinking fund 3 per cent, compound Main- tenance. Scav- enging. Gravel. Totl. interest. S. d. d. d. s. d. s. d. d. s. d. Wood pavement .. 15 I'S rs 10* I I'D o 2-7 5'0 2 2- 3 Val de Travers com-) pressed asphalte . . / 18 0*0 9*7 o 3-6 o o'4 I I'7 Granite setts 7 inches by 3 inches laid over a layer of 12 inches of 17 9-0 9-6 o'5 o 1-3 o 2-5 I I'9 cement concrete .. Macadam in south ofl England .. .. / 4 9*o 2*1 3 6-0 I O'O V 4 8-I Material. Load of Mud per area. Traffic per Annum per yard of width. Superficial yards. Tons. Macadam 344 25,000 Granite setts 500 50,000 Wood 1666 25,000 Asphalte 4000 500,000 The following is a table of the costs of streets in Paris per square yard per annum : * Description of Pavement. Maintenance. Cleansing. Total. s. d. s. d. S. d. Stone pavement .. o 4-50 o 3'37 o 7-87 Macadam 9'25 o 7*3i I 5-26 Asphalte O IO'2O o 4-17 i 2-37 The cost of maintaining macadamised roadways as com- pared with that of granite setts has been said to be as high as 5 to I, and that this cost if capitalised for 12 or 13 years will * Vide Annales industrielles de Paris,' Oct. 2ist and Nov. 4th, 1877. E 2 52 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. equal the first expense, interest on money, and the necessary repairs for a granite paved roadway. The only way to obtain any reliable data as to the com- parative cost of maintenance of any description of pavement is to reduce the traffic by actual observation to a unit of weight at per yard width of street per annum, and this the author has done in Liverpool and has prepared therefrom the table on the next page. With observations such as those given in the table, the surveyor could arrive at some unit or standard of traffic by observation, and then divide his streets into some such category as the following : Roads with a traffic of less than 10,000 tons per annum per yard of width. Roads with more than 10,000 and less than 30,000. Roads with more than 30,000 and less than 50,000, and so on. With reference to the great cost of maintenance in Paris, the following particulars * may here be given : " The surface of the street is picked by gangs of men, metal from 2\ to 9 inches in thickness is then laid on, a coating of sand is then spread upon it, it is watered and rolled at per kilometre-ton, that is, at per ton weight of roller per kilometre travelled, at a cost of about 15*33^. per ton- mile for the first 250,000 ton-miles, and at reduced rates for additional service. The materials used for the roads are flints costing 4^. 6\d. per cubic yard for light traffic roads ; for medium traffic, hard millstone at us. 4d; and for the heaviest and greatest traffic, porphyry at 15^. gd. The average total cost of maintenance of the streets is is. %^d. per square yard per annum for the first-class roads, and is. \\d. for the lighter traffic ; the highest cost for mainten- ance is as high as los. $d per square yard, the lowest per annum." * Vide ' Annales inclustrielles cle Paris.' Macadamised Koadways. 53 W H > w w bM ^ & o w H C/5 O U i M oo s oo hH 8 vn VO VO ft s *3 C a a C g 3 d a B ^^ o gj S Indifferent Indifferent Very good Very good o 04 1 Much worn 1 1 s o i> CO vO U S g . ^2 o 9 00 CO 1^1 VO g g b b b ^ Pn , M ** ** S ,* 1 S'H ^ o\ CO 00 vo CO CO ^J. CO c? 31 i CO t/i .^ >. M- S M M CO 00 SoJ o"-2 ^ 00 00 M 5 J3 15 CO vo UH | >, o I-, ^ " " t^ OA < *l ^J M w fe *5 S vo vo VO Q * 8 'S ^ oT co ir s 8 8 8 111 2 ^ * VO o co 9- ? 8 * o . !|1 1 1 vious setts rvious setts rvious setts rvious setts 1 Dved wood \ ivement / 1* s s 8, t t Jl & & ffi r ^ "vo K s ^o oo ** *t^ oo eu 1 00 oo t^ ** g . . oo "8 oo oo T3 1 a . CO > rt > O CL, * "8 : rt cu vS? s, a * w 1 I Second stree Third street Fourth stree Fifth street ( Sixth street Seventh stre 1 . 54 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. It may be well to mention that 73 per cent, of the streets in Paris are paved, 5 per cent v are coated with asphalte, and 22 per cent, are macadamised. The contour, or best form of cross-section that should be given to a roadway, has often exercised the minds of en- gineers, but for all practical purposes evenness of surface and regularity of section in a macadamised roadway are of more importance than the slight difference between straight lines and curves, which might only tend to confuse the workman. Formerly it was the practice to employ a complicated gauge in the form of a straight-edge fitting with plummet or level and sliding bars, but a good eye, assisted by a long straight- edge and spirit-level and three boning rods, is generally found to be sufficient, and if the centre of the roadway is kept level with the heel of the footpath, a sightly cross-section is generally the result ; or say 6 inches to 9 inches higher in centre of a roadway 30 feet in width between the curbs, 3 inches to 4 inches where it is from 18 to 20 feet in width. A good rule to remember is that the height of the versed sine of the section should be one-sixtieth of the width between curbs. The following detailed section of a macadamised roadway is one which I am in the habit of specifying for suburban districts, as it is easily set out and constructed, and answers all purposes most admirably. The total width of street is 36 feet, of which the roadway takes 24, leaving a footpath 6 feet in width on each side. Macadamised Roadways. 55 The surface of the finished roadway is a segment of a circle, the crown being level with the heels of the footpaths on each side ; the formation surface is parallel with it, and of course the depth of this and the thickness of foundations and metal must depend upon local circumstances. It will be seen that the haunches are drained with 3-inch common drain-pipes. This may be omitted if the ground is thoroughly dry, but it is often a great help to a road. The paths, curbing and channelling will be described in their respective chapters. It must be borne in mind that on a perfectly level road a more convex section is necessary than on a gradient. It is wrong to make the sides of a roadway weaker than the centre, especially in streets with shops on each side, or on hills where drags are likely to be used. On hills, too, be it remembered, the channels should take the surface water ; any ruts from wheel tracks acting as watercourses are disastrous. Hauling timber on a macadamised roadway is also very damaging. The great objections to macadamised roadways are as follows : 1. They manufacture too much mud and dust* 2. They are too absorbent. 3. They are very noisy and damaging to vehicles and horses when fresh metalled. 4. They constantly require mending, but never seem quite sound. 5. They are frequently encumbered by men and carts engaged in either repairs, cleansing or watering. 6. They are very expensive to maintain and cleanse. 7. They are bad for a horse to fall upon, as such falls generally damage their knees. * A report of the Paddington Vestry on "wood and other pavements" (1878), states macadam as a mud-producing material is twelve times worse than wood, and six times worse than granite cubes. 56 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. The following notes upon the maintenance of macadam- ised roadways may here be of service : 1. Roads should be inspected in wet weather, as hollows and other imperfections are then easily detected ; a hollow place extends very rapidly if neglected. 2. All ruts should be filled in at once. If there are three parallel, the centre rut should be first filled in ; the traffic is thus slightly diverted, as a horse will avoid new metal. 3. Ruts should not be allowed to form ; the surface of the road ought never to lose its regular section. 4. A road should be thoroughly repaired directly it shows the least sign of being fairly worn all over. 5. The right season of the year for repairs is the autumn, although where a steam roller can be used almost any time will do. If the surface of the road is very hard it should be " lifted " * previous to repairs. 6. All loose stones should be picked off at once or put together in hollow places upon the roadway, as, if allowed to remain, they are not only dangerous to horses, but are liable to be crushed, or to be forced through the skin of the road- way, thus causing it damage. 7. Water lodging upon a road does great mischief, but it should not be let off by digging a trench with a pickaxe to the side of roadway, as is sometimes done. 8. A roadway when very dry sometimes suffers through disintegration of the surface. 9. Scraping the mud off a roadway may damage it by loosening stones ; sweeping the surface when wet is best. * This is also sometimes called "stocking" or "chequering," and consists of making furrows across a roadway with a sharp pickaxe, about a couple of inches in depth, thus removing any irregularities, and also allowing the new metal to bed properly. Several mechanical scarifiers have been invented which can be attached to a steam roller or traction engine, such as " Rutty's," " Hossack and Voysey's," "Morrison's," &c., and with these machines it is claimed that the work can be more effectively and economically executed than with hand labour. It is stated that with some of these machines the cost of "stocking " is only about one-tenth of a penny per square yard of road surface. Macadamised Roadways. 57 10. A heavy shower does a road good by washing it ; a continuous drizzle, especially after frost, is very ruinous to a roadway. 1 1. A good cleansing is sometimes worth a coat of metal. Upon the question of Road Maintenance, the "Roads Improvement Association " have issued some useful instruc- tions to Road Foremen and Labourers, copies of which can be had gratis on application. Tar Macadam Roadways. In some towns in England Bituminous or Tar Macadam- ised Roadways are formed, and for light traffic they answer their purpose admirably if care is taken in their construction ; the modus operandi may be explained as follows : The material to be used may be the ordinary local road metal broken to three sizes, viz. 2j-inch gauge, ij-inch gauge, and if -inch gauge. These are heated on an iron floor, under which are flues from a fire, until all the moisture is driven out of each piece of stone.* The material is then mixed in its heated state with a sufficient quantity of a mixture (also in the heated state) of pitch, tar and creosote oil boiled until they form a thick and tough consistency ; the stone and mixture are thoroughly incorporated together by frequent turnings until each particle of stone is thoroughly coated and even slightly impregnated with the tar mixture. The quantity of the tar, pitch, &c. depends on the quality of these articles, especially that of the tar, which frequently varies ; a good average may be however taken as follows : * Another method is to heat the road metal by making a heap of it mixed with small coal or "slack," setting fire to it and allowing the heap to burn out. This is, however, not very satisfactory, as a quantity of cinders are thus mingled with the metal. 58 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. 12 gallons of tar. J cwt. of pitch. 2 gallons of creosote oil. i ton of stone. The longer the treated stone is allowed to remain before being put on the road the better, but it is well in this case to again treat it with some of the mixture before taking it to the road. The road bed and foundation are prepared in a similar manner to that for an ordinary macadamised roadway, and the tarred macadam is laid down as follows : the first layer is made with the 2^-inch metal, about 3 inches thick, and well rolled with a 15 -ton roller ; upon this is laid the I J-inch metal, about 2 inches thick, also well rolled, and the top coat is made with the f-inch metal about one inch in thickness, sprinkled over with sharp sand or grit and thoroughly well rolled and consolidated. The cost of this work varies with the price of materials in different localities from 2s. to 3^. per square yard, exclusive of the cost of foundations. For further information upon this subject I refer my readers to the remarks and specifications of the late ever to be regretted Mr. Joseph Gordon, M.Inst.C.E., and to the specifi- cations and remarks of other engineers carefully tabulated by Mr. H. U. McKie, M.Inst.C.E., which will be found in the Proceedings of the Association of Municipal and. Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors, vol. x. page 53. Dry weather is essential whilst this class of roadway is in course of construction, and the work will require careful watching, as, upon the skin becoming broken, the whole road- way soon breaks up. Such roads have, however, many ad- vantages over ordinary macadamised roadways when finished, not the least of them being their imperviousness to moisture, and the ease with which they are cleansed. Before closing this chapter it may be convenient to refer, Macadamised Roadways. 59 in a short and concise manner, to a few other methods of paving street carriageways, as these methods are not of sufficient importance to devote a separate chapter upon the subject. Bricks. i Brick pavements have not been much used in this country as carriageway pavements, though they have been at one time somewhat largely used for footwalks, but in America and some other countries, notably Holland, they are fairly considerably used what are known as " vitrified bricks " being principally employed for this purpose ; and in a paper read before the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors by J. W. Tyrrill the author states that for ordinary traffic " of, say, five hundred vehicles per yard of width per day and less, a good quality of vitrified brick pavement should give excel- lent results, and be preferable to asphalte." In the city of Liverpool " Tees scoriae " bricks from Middlesbrough were laid as a trial in the year 1881. They were not very successful, as they wore very unevenly, and it was found on examination that some of them had large holes in them where the materials had not fused together, and their surface had the further disadvantage of being very slippery almost like glass. Ordinary bricks might be used for carriageway pavements in exceptional circumstances where other materials were not easily procurable ; and if so, they should be laid on edge, with their joints grouted in cement or bitumen, on a proper concrete foundation. Such a pavement, however, would probably wear very unevenly, owing to the varying quality of the bricks. In San Francisco a new street pavement has been tried, but with what result the author is unable to state ; it is called " hydro-carbolised brick pavement," and consists of bricks boiled in coal tar, which, it is said, renders them tough and hard. On the prepared bed a layer of bricks is placed flat, 60 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. and on this another course of bricks, placed on edge, close together. The interstices are then filled with boiling tar, and the whole covered with a thin layer of screened gravel. In Des Moines town there are about 10 miles of streets paved with bricks somewhat in the same style, but without any previous tar boiling ; it is also stated that bricks are used in West Virginia with good results. Cleveland and Philadelphia have about 70 miles of brick pavement, and in Wheeling, Johnstown, Indianapolis, Balti- more, &c., they are largely used. In Charleston a brick pavement has been down for twenty years, consisting of vitrified brick laid upon a " 9-inch bed of fine gravel covered by 2 inches of clean bar sand. As the joints are laid close and filled with cement it makes an imper- vious covering at a low cost, and provides a good wearing surface when the bricks are of good quality." * In Holland, brick pavements have been used for many years. The road from Utrecht to Conninghem, 27 miles in length, is thus paved, and there are many miles of brick pavement in Rotterdam. It is possible that there may be a field in the future for bricks of suitable material laid upon a sound concrete foundation, but at present they cannot compete in this country with either asphalte, granite or wood. India-rubber in large sheets, about one inch in thickness, has recently been introduced in Hanover as a material with which to pave roadways, but I have not seen it, nor can I give any particulars of the manner in which it is laid. It is said to be as durable as granite, perfectly noiseless, and unaffected by either heat or cold, and that it is not in the least slippery, all of which is possible, but it must be very expensive. There is a small sample of india-rubber pavement to be seen at the entrance to the L. & N. W. Euston Railway * * A Study of Street Pavements,' by Lewis M. Hampt, a lecture delivered before the Franklin Institute, November 8, 1889. Macadamised Roadways. 61 Station. These sheets of india-rubber are held down at their sides upon a concrete foundation by strips of iron, which clasp the edges tight on each side. The effect of these small pieces of india-rubber pavement is excellent, and if it could be applied in a more general manner at a price which was not prohibitive, perhaps the road pavement of the future is to be found in this material. A short length of " Busse's Caoutchouc Beaten Asphalte or India-rubber pavement" has been tried in the City of London, and was laid in the carriageway of King William Street, between Nicholas Lane and Cannon Street. The late Mr. Haywood, the Engineer to the Commissioners of Sewers, thus described it : * " The material of which this pavement is composed, is said to be obtained from the chemi- cal treatment of the residue from the Scotch shale oils, mixed with powdered limestone, and laid in the form of a heated powder, in a similar manner to the compressed asphalte in ordinary use, the thickness, when finished, being about 2j inches." The author has ascertained that this pavement was not successful, and has since been removed altogether. * Vide ' Report on the Works Executed during the year 1890,' by William Haywood. 62 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. CHAPTER VI. ROAD METAL AND BREAKING. THE only true test of the fitness of any stone for use as a road metal is by an experimental trial upon a certain length of roadway ; but in making the first selection for such trials it is well to make the following investigations : 1. Ascertain from local persons, such as masons, quarry- men and others, their opinion of the qualities of the stones in the neighbourhood. 2. Make a trial of the stone for toughness. This can be done by setting a good stone-breaker to work upon a heap of the stone as quarried and carefully watching how much he can break in an hour.* 3. Ascertain what power the stone has to resist abrasion. This is done in France by putting the broken metal into a revolving cylinder and then carefully noting by weight what the cubes lose by contact with each other. Another plan may be adopted by pressing the stone against a grindstone with a uniform pressure, and noting the loss caused by such contactf 4. The power to resist compression may be easily ascer- * Toughness is not all that is required. Leather would be very difficult to break with a hammer, but it would not make a good road metal. t A little laboratory for testing paving materials has been established in Paris, and one or two new tests have been devised. Besides the chemical analysis of asphaltes and other substances, and the usual tensile tests of cements, material for macadamising is tried by means of a simple machine, consisting of two hollow cylinders of sheet iron fastened together, and revolving on a common axis. To estimate the resistance of any stone to the rubbing and wearing of a macadamised road under traffic, one cylinder is filled with broken pieces of stone, of the size Road Metal and Breaking. 63 tained by placing small cubes in a hydraulic press and noting under what pressures each cube will crush. 5. The effect of weather is not easily ascertained arti- ficially, although it is suggested that a good test may be made by soaking the stones in a saturated solution of sulphate of soda ; and then on exposure to the air, if soft, it is said the stone will disintegrate, as if under the action of thaw succeding frost.* The specific gravity of a stone is no criterion whatever as to its fitness. Clay-slate has a higher specific gravity than a tough flint, and yet the former is almost useless as a road metal ; the latter, on the contrary, often making excellent roadways. The qualities necessary for a really good road metal are hardness or power to resist abrasion, toughness, not easily decomposed or affected by the weather, strength to resist compression, and at the same time the stone when broken and form used for roads, and the other with an equal weight of similar pieces of a standard stone, a certain hard porphyry. The coupled cylinders are then revolved for a considerable time. The axis of rotation is oblique to the axis of figure, so that the pieces of stone not only rub upon each other, but are tossed about, and strike each other with hammering blows. The result of this is to wear off the surface into dust. When the process has been carried on long enough, the cylinders are opened, and the dust in each is collected and weighed, the amount of dust from the new stone under test, compared with that from the standard stone, giving, by inversion, its comparative value as a road material. The average of at least three tests is taken as the coefficient of resistance to wear for that material, and observations are also recorded on the character of the mud produced by mixing the dust collected with water, as some stones when used for road metal give in rainy weather a much more slippery mud than others. Stone for block pavements is tested by cutting it into cubes, which are pressed against a revolving disc of cast iron. A similar cube, also of cast iron, is pressed against the disc at the same time, with equal force, and at the same distance from the centre of rotation. Both cubes are weighed before the operation begins; and when the cast iron is worn away to an appreciable extent, both cubes are weighed again. The loss of each, in proportion to its whole weight, shows the resistance to wear of the stone, compared with cast iron, but the coefficients are reduced to that of a certain hard sandstone, taken as unity. * I have tried this experiment, but without success, except on such soft stones as were evidently unfitted for use as a road metal. 64 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. ought to have some power of cohesion without the neces- sity of much binding material. The question of cost I put aside at once, as it is well known that the best road metal is always the cheapest where there is much or heavy traffic. Local circumstances must to a great extent determine what stone to use upon a roadway, but the following list may be of use : Syenite. This is a granite in which horneblende takes the place of mica, and is an excellent road material ; the darker the colour the more durable it is found to be. Granite. This should have more felspar than quartz, and have as little mica as possible ; the closer the grain the better. Coarse-grained granites soon decompose.* Trappean Rocks. Some of these are excellent for road metal. Basalts of dark colour and close grain should be selected. Greenstones with similar characteristics are good ; as is also Whinstone. Gneiss. Is inferior to granite ; it has mica in layers and is not a good road metal. Clay Slates. These are useless, as they crumble on exposure or degenerate into mud. Limestone. The Metamorphic, Silurian and Carboniferous limestones may be used if crystalline in appearance, but the Lias and Oolitic are of little use.j Sandstone. Some of these, if cherty or containing a large * All granites are not suitable for road-making. When a granite becomes weathered the felspar may decompose into kaolin or china clay. The com- mencement of this alteration is indicated under the microscope by the turbidity of the felspar. At the quarries it is often necessary to reject large quantities of stone for road purposes because of this change. All the toughness is gone out of it, and the quarrymen speak of it as " dead." t Many hundreds of miles of roadways in this country are made with lime- stones ; they often make an excellent surface, as they possess a considerable power of binding together, but weather and very heavy traffic affect them considerably ; as they all have a strong affinity for water, their very power of thus cementing themselves together causes a quantity of dust in dry, and mud in wet weather. Road Metal and Breaking. 65 percentage of iron, may be used ; but as a rule they are quite unfitted for use as a road metal.* Flints. These, if tough, make excellent road-ways ; but unfortunately they are sometimes too brittle for heavy traffic. Surface-picked flints are better than those from a quarry. | Pebbles. These are found on sea shores and river beds. They are composed of very various rocks, and are much water-worn and rounded ; when broken they sometimes answer very well if mixed with gravel to bind them. Gravel This if of a flinty character, and not too much mixed with earthy matter, makes good roads for light traffic, if carefully watched or well rolled during formation. Pit gravel should always be screened through wire screens of I J and if gauge, and the small can be used for footpaths. In some places it is difficult to obtain any natural stone for the purposes of road metal ; in these cases slag from blast furnaces or ordinary clinkers from furnaces are sometimes used. Oyster shells are used on the roadways near the Gulf coasts, \ and charcoal in Michigan, United States. I have myself made a most excellent roadway with coral on the coast of Jamaica, and no doubt many strange materials have been, and still are, used for this purpose. " I never mix " is an adage that should be followed by surveyors as regards road metal. Do not mix a soft material with one that is harder for either construction or maintenance of a roadway ; the effect is what is known as a " bumpy " road, arising from the fact of the soft stone wearing faster * The late Prof. Ansted, writing concerning roads, said it was well to remember " that sandstone is better than limestone, and hard limestone better than slate, while basalts and granites are exceedingly good or exceedingly bad, according to the proportion of alkaline earths (especially soda) which they contain." t A flinty or quartzose stone seems to harden with exposure. This is notably the case in pebbles ; old pebble paving taken up and broken makes a most hard and durable road metal. J ' Roads, Streets and Pavements,' by Q. A. Gillmore, p. 10. Ibid. F 66 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. than the hard. The hardest metal should be kept for the top or surface layer of the roadway. As an instance of the extreme difficulty besetting the question of the best material for road metal, I will here give a table showing the comparative coefficients of quality assigned to them by the engineers of the French Department of the Fonts et Chaussees.* COEFFICIENTS OF QUALITY OF ROAD MATERIALS. Granite gravel 23*8 Quartz gravel 21*4 Trap 20-0 Quartz lO'o to 25 'o (in one instance 4*8) Basalt 12-0,, 2O'o Porphyry lo'O ,, 20 'O (in one instance 5' o) Quartzite H'o,, 18*0 Devonian schist 16*0 Schist 4'otoi2'o Sandstone 120,, 16-0 Granite 6*0 ,, 20 'O (generally lo'o to 12*0) Syenite 12 *o Gneiss 9*otoi2'o Siliceous pebbles and gravel 8*0 ,, 19*0 (in one instance 6*0) Silex 8-0,, 16-0 Chalk flints 7'O,, li'6 Siliceous limestone .. .. 6*0,, 18 o (generally about io'o to 12*0) Compact limestone .. .. 14^0 Magnesian limestone .. .. 16*0 Carboniferous limestone .. 9'O Oolitic limestone .. .. 5*0 to 12*0 Lias limestone 5'O 10*0 Jurassic limestone .. .. 5*o,, 8*0 Limestone 5*0 ,, I2'O Mean of all France 10*63 It will be seen by the above table how different are the results obtained from materials of the same character. The French engineers also made experiments upon the materials in the following table taking 20 as excellent, 10 sufficiently good, and 5 bad. * Vide ' The Maintenance of Macadamised Roadways,' by Thomas Codrington, p. 33, a most excellent work upon this subject. Road Metal and Breaking. 67 Material. Wear. Crushing. Granite 7-3 to i8'o .. .. 7-7 to 15-8 Syenite ii'6 } , 12-7 .. .. 12-4 ,, 13-0 Chalk flints .. .. 3-5 i6'8 .. .. 17-8 25-5 Limestone .. .. 6'6 15*7 .. .. 6'5 ,, 13-5 Syenite comes out pretty level all through, while the other materials given show great fluctuations of value, both as regards wear and as regards crushing. Breaking stone for the purpose of using it as a road metal was, until comparatively recent years, always effected by hand ; now, as in other cases, machinery has stepped in and somewhat supplanted manual labour. Hand-broken road metal, however, still finds favour with road surveyors ; it is better broken, and in some districts the occupation finds em- ployment for persons who otherwise would be thrown on the rates for support. In breaking stone by hand the breaker sits and strikes the stone with a small, cast-steel, chisel-faced hammer, weighing about one pound, at the end of a long, straight-grained but flexible ash stick.* The breaker also has another hammer, weighing about five pounds, with which he reduces the size of the large stones before breaking them into the proper size for road metal. This latter size is often a matter of choice, some engineers preferring it to be broken so small as will pass through a ring of only ij inch in diameter; others are content with 3 inches, especially where the roads are steam rolled. An old method of gauging used to be " such a size as the stone breaker could put in his mouth," but this was a varying gauge and unsatisfactory to all persons concerned ; and "to pass all ways through a ring of 2\ inches internal diameter" is now the size very often adopted. Upon this subject I cannot do better than quote Mr Ellice-Clark's * Mr. W. Bold considered a hammer weighing ij lb., of an elliptical form, pointed at the ends, the area of each end being about ^ of a square inch, to be the most suitable to break hard stones. Vide ' Minutes of Proceedings Institution of Civil Engineers,' vol. i. (1840) p. 50. F 2 68 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. remarks in a paper he read before a district meeting of the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Sur- veyors at Hanley in 1886 : " Some difference of opinion exists as to the sizes to which stones should be reduced for metalling a road. There is a prevailing opinion that all stones should be broken to pass a gauge of ij inches. The writer ventures to express the opinion that this is an error ; all the hardest stone, like granite, trap rock, basalt, the Devonshire dolorite and similar rocks, should be broken to a smaller gauge than flints and the hardest limestone, which, in their turn, should be broken smaller than such materials as Kentish rag and stones of a similar character. " The method of specifying the dimensions of stone should be abandoned for a weight test. Macadam says, * Every piece of stone put on to a road which exceeds an inch in any of its dimensions is mischievous/ and in most of his specifications he insists on no stone weighing more than six ounces. " Parnell adopts 2 \ inches for the largest dimensions. To within the past few years the latter size was very generally adopted irrespective of the quality of the material. It has been the practice now for upwards of half a century when repairing roads with granite and the harder rocks, to have the stones broken as uniformly as possible. The results of this are that, though the general surface may be in good repair, the road will be full of small rises and depressions, the sur- faces of which are also rough, stones rising abruptly above the general surface of the road. "It is this which causes granite macadam roads to be so unsuitable for light-springed vehicles such as cyclists use. The author has recently been led to investigate the cause of complaints arising from cyclists when travelling over what was apparently a well-kept road, and he has come to the conclusion that it is of as much importance to have stones of different sizes as it is to have a maximum size. The Road Metal and Breaking. 69 proportion of different sizes requires yet to be determined. So far as investigations have gone, he gives the following as closely approximating upon the proper proportions of sizes : Maximum Weight. Minimum Weight. Granite and similar rocks 3J oz. .. .. J oz. Flints and similar stones 5 .. f Limestone and similar stones .. .. 6 ,, .. .. i ,, One-half of the total quantity to be of maximum weight, one- eighth of the minimum weight, the remaining three-eighths to be composed of stones varying between the maximum and minimum. This brings us to the question of binding materials. "In a former paper on this subject, published ten years ago, the author stated his conviction that the 'decadence of modern roads commenced with the using of binding material,' the introduction of which was coincident with the use of stones broken to a uniform size. Longer experience has confirmed this, and though in practice he is compelled to use materials to bind (?) roads, he does so very sparingly, and only because of the inability to obtain materials broken to various sizes in sufficient quantity. If the demand is, however, generally set up for proportions of different sized stones, the necessary quantities will soon find their way into the market." * Mr. Codrington says,f rt A good stone breaker will break 2 cubic yards of hard limestone to the ordinary gauge in a day, and some men will break more. Hard siliceous stones and igneous rocks can only be broken at a rate of ij or of I cube yard per day ; of some of the toughest, such as Guern- sey granite, a man can only break on an average half a cube yard per day. River gravel, field stones, or flints, which are already of a small size, can be broken at the rate of 3 or 4 cube yards per day." * Vide ' Proceedings of the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors,' vol. xii. p. 207. f The Maintenance of Macadamised Roads,' by Thomas Codrington, p. 38. 70 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. This may be taken as fairly representing a day's work ; the price for breaking, however, must vary considerably in different ARCHER'S ' STONE BREAKER. localities on account of the varieties of the stones to be broken and the value of labour ; in some districts the road metal "BLAKE'S" STONE BREAKER. does not cost more than is. per cube yard, in others 2s. 6d. and 2s. %d. is not considered too high, and it was to meet Road Metal and Breaking. 7 1 and reduce this great expense that steam stone-breaking ma- chines have been introduced. These machines are known as " Hall and Robinson's," " Broadbent's," " Mason's," " Goodwin and Busby's," " Ellison's," Newall and Archer's," " Hope's," " NEWALL AND ARCHER'S " STONE BREAKER. " Blake's," and " Baxter's," the latter being those which are best known and most generally used in this country. The accompanying illustrations will give a general idea of the manner in which the stone is broken or crushed between strong iron jaws ; in all cases a revolving perforated screen is necessary (not shown in the drawings) to separate the stone MASON'S" STONE BREAKER. broken to proper gauge from that which is too large, and also from the spalls or chippings. Mr. Till, the late Borough Engineer of Birmingham, speaking of the work done by one of Blake's machines in 72 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. 1874, says:* "The stone-breaking machine at Holliday Street will break on an average 40 tons of ragstone per day, at a cost, exclusive of wear and tear of machine, of iojve loads. It has, however, been found that where rollers of more weight than 1 5 tops are used, f not pply are they unwieldy, but, from their great wpight, the solidity of the foundation of * Vide * The Use of Steam Rollers/ by A. W. Parry, Reading, t Some road surveyors contend that for gravelled roads 6-ton rollers are heavy enough, for macadam roads 1 2-ton rollers. Road Rolling. 87 the roadway may be interfered with, and also there is great danger of damaging gas or water mains and services, besides cellars that may be constructed under the roadway. 88 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. The steam rollers which are principally used in this country are those manufactured by Messrs. Aveling and Porter, Ltd., and those by Messrs. J. Fowler & Co. (Leeds), Ltd., drawings of both of which are represented. In Paris the Gellerat steam roller is used, and another is also known which is manufactured by Messrs. Morland and Sons. A 15-ton steam roller costs about 4OO/. in the first place, the cost of working it, &c., has been given in the early pages of this chapter. The advantages of steam road-rolling may be summed up as follows : 1. The saving of wear and tear to vehicles and horses. Roads should be made/ (Central) .. 948 0-323 0-255 Leadenhall Street Improved 808 0-200 0-186 Brompton Road Asphaltic 648 0-373 0-431 King's Road Improved 603 0-157 0-195 Brompton Road Henson's 584 0*184 0-236 Edgware Road . . Plain 584 0-I98 0-254 Regent Street .. Asphaltic 558 0-286 0-384 > Lloyd's 558 0'2I4 0-288 King's Road .. Improved (pitch pine) 558 0-089 0-II9 j Plain 55i 0-144 o* 196 Plain (asphalte bed) 498 0-139 0-209 Plain (pitch pine) .. 468 0-055 0-088 Creosoted blocks \ (mastic joints) / 434 0-139 0-240 Creosoted blocks \ ( (lime joints) / 407 O'HI 0-204 Sloane Street .. Plain 279 0-065 0-175 Society of Arts, upon some most careful investigations he had made on this subject, gives the wear as J of an inch in 1 8 months on blocks laid with vertical fibre, which he Wood Paving. 109 proved was the best manner of laying them to ensure the longest life. Mr. Deacon estimated the wear at from if inch to 2^ inches per annum.* Mr. Copland estimated tha wear at -f of an inch per annum.f Mr. Howarth estimates the life of wood paving at 25 years per inch of wood, if an absolutely uniform quality of wood fibre could be assumed-l Mr. Hay wood says, " Wood pavements with repairs have in this City (London) had a life varyinj from 6 to 19 years, and that with repairs an average life of about 10 years may be obtained." My own experience with Karri wood blocks has been that under an exceptionally heavy traffic of over 220,000 tons per yard width per annum the wear is at the rate of about of an inch per annum, and that unless observations are taken of the amount of traffic no estimate of the life of a wood pavement is of any value. There is no doubt that the best wood pavement is that which can be constructed in the simplest manner, as for instance Jarrah or Karri wood blocks 4 or 5 inches deep, laid with a close joint upon a portland cement concrete bed, the blocks being well grouted in with pitch or some description of bituminous mixture. There is some difference of opinion on the question of joints between the blocks ; in some cases they are laid with an open joint between them, about J inch or J inch wide, and this joint is filled up with " racking," composed of dry, clean, sharp, or rounded gravel or pebbles about the size of beans or small nuts, which is afterwards filled in with a bituminous mixture, consisting of three of pitch to one of * Vide 'Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,' vol Iviii. p. 82. t Ibid.y vol. Ix. p. 293. t Ibid., vol. Iviii. p. 45. ' Report upon Asphalte and Wood Pavements,' by William Haywood (1874), p. 44. no Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. creosote oil, well boiled together in a travelling pitch-boiler on the Healey system. The pitch, when boiling, is usually drawn off into a bucket containing about 1 1 gallons, which is carried on a pole by two men on to the road which is in course of paving, and run into the joints. It is found that, wood is absorbent of moisture, with a consequent swelling, and it is contended that " racking " when employed enters into the sides of the blocks, and thus takes up the extra space required for this swelling or expansion, and prevents upheaval or the forcing away of the curbs at the sides of the carriageways. The expansion due to this swell- ing of the wood owing to absorption of moisture varies with different woods. It is very small with the Australian hard woods, but considerable with the softer pine woods, amounting in some cases to as much as 2^ inches in 16 feet.* In the early * The following experiments, to ascertain comparative absorption in different specimens of paving blocks, were made by the Author with the following results : Absorption. Uncreosoted. per cent. Baltic red deal 16.3 Canadian red pine 16*37 8-79 24/22 IS'" Creosoted. Baltic red deal 7'6 Canadian red pine 3'57 6-03 Coated with " Jodelite." English elm 0-17 Canadian red pine 0-62 , 5'73 7'77 In Natural State. Jarrah wood 4-0 Karri wood .. . 3*46 Cork and asphalte composition 0-38 5 j 0*48 Wood Paving. 1 1 1 days of wood pavements this expansion caused great trouble, as in some cases the force was enough to upheave the curbs. In order to prevent upheaval or movement of the blocks, an expansion joint filled with clay is sometimes left about ij inches wide parallel and close to the curb on each side of the carriageway ; in other cases, " dog toothing " is resorted to, so that each transverse row of blocks has an expansion joint of about 4^ inches. It is said that where the bituminous grouting of joints is run into the surface of the street, the action of the sun and air causes evaporation and consequent decay of the jointing material, and that putting salt on the surface of the carriage- way during snow has a deleterious effect upon it. If this is a fact, it could be avoided by finishing the joint with a grouting about I inch in depth of Portland cement, but the Author has had no experience of the kind, nor does he think it occurs. Mr. William N. Blair, the engineer to the Vestry of St. Pancras, London, has recently issued a very valuable report on the question of pitch and cement grouting for street pave- ments, by which it is clearly proved that pitch grouting is preferable to cement grouting for many reasons set forth in the report, and which may be summarised as follows. Pitch grouting allows the joints to be reduced to ^ inch wide, thus soft wood blocks may be in close contact and so prevent the fibre spreading, and this preserves the life of the wood it is more elastic than cement, and consequently absorbs ex- pansion and gives way to contraction. It is also impervious, and the pitch joint next the wood helps to preserve it. Traffic may be turned on directly the joint is cool, and it is easier applied than cement grouting. It further appears from the report that out of twenty surveyors of London vestries who replied to Mr. Blair's question on this point, fifteen preferred pitch grouting for wood, and ten out of twenty-four for granite paving ; and of provincial towns fifty-five preferred pitch grouting for wood paving out of sixty-seven, and sixty-five ii2 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. out of seventy-five for granite paving. These results ought to settle this question definitely in favour of pitch grouting until some better material is discovered. The further disadvantages of an open transverse joint between the blocks in wood pavement are that they expose the arrises of the blocks to attrition and rounding off by the traffic, thus making a bumpy and noisy road, and also that mud sticks jn the joints which is difficult to dislodge, and thus adds to the slipperiness of this description of pavement. The more modern practice, consequently, is to do away with all joints between the courses, and the blocks are laid close together, the sides and ends touching, hot tar being laid over the surface and brushed or " squeegeed " until it disap- pears between the blocks, expansion being provided for in the manner already described. In all cases of wood pavement it is necessary to cover the finished surface with a half-inch coating of clean, sharp shingle, gravel or pebbles about the size of beans or small nuts, leaving the traffic to squeeze it into the top surface of the wood, which preserves its life and renders it less slippery. The woods formerly employed for paving were beech and oak, larch, which is not easily procurable, elm, which is not durable, pitch pine and Baltic fir. Memel and Dantzic timber is better than Riga, the best soft wood for the purpose being said to be Wyborg or St. Petersburg red deals. Swedish yellow deals have been largely used in the metropolis, as well as American spruce, which is not very durable, but all these woods are gradually giving place to the harder and more satisfactory Australian woods. Whatever wood is employed, it is most important that all sappy wood should be at once rejected as unsuitable. This is a great objection to creosoting or other preserving processes, as it hides defects in the wood. The advantages of wood paving may be summed up as follows : Wood Paving. 1 1 3 1. It is the quietest of all known pavements, wheels make scarcely any noise upon it and there is no clatter of horses' hoofs. 2. It is much safer than either asphalte or granite pave- ments for horses travelling upon it, and if a horse falls he can rise more easily. 3. The traction necessary upon it, though slightly greater than upon asphalte, is compensated for by the better foothold given to horses. 4. It is clean. If well constructed there should be no mud made upon it ; all that appears upon its surface should arise either from its being imported upon it, or from the gravel with which it is sometimes necessary to dress the surface. 5. It presents a uniform and slight elasticity, which is of great benefit to vehicles passing over it. 6. It may be laid on a gradient of I in 20 with safety to the traffic. 7. It is very durable when hard woods are employed. 8. It is moderate in cost. 9. It is comparatively easily repaired, 10. It is easily cleansed. n. It has a good appearance. 12. It radiates very little, if any, heat. The principal objections which have been raised against wood as a paving are : 1. It is said to absorb moisture and to smell offensively, but this has often been refuted.* 2. It is said to be difficult to cleanse without the aid of water, as dirt adheres to the wood and lingers in the joints. With regard to the cost of wood paving. This must vary in different localities, according to the value of labour, of materials, and in the manner in which the work is done. * The Surveyor of the parish of St. George's, Hanover Square, London, says, "My experience of wood, and I have laid down 25,000 yards, is that it is perfectly free from smells, even on a cab rank." Report of a Committee of the Paddington Vestry on Wood and other Pavements (1878) p. 30. I H4 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. The practice of most of the companies engaged in this .class of work is to make a fixed charge per square yard for the pavement, including the concrete but excluding the ex- cavation ; and they also guarantee to keep the pavement in repair free of charge for one or two years, and then for so many years after, at so much per yard per annum. About 14^. per square yard may be taken as the first charge for constructing, and is. per square yard as the annual charge for maintenance. Upon this subject of cost the following table * may be useful, although it is now somewhat out of date : TABLE SHOWING THE ACTUAL DURATION AND COST OF CERTAIN WOOD PAVEMENTS IN THE CITY OF LONDON. Situation. Date when laid New. Life. First Cost per Square Yard. Total Cost of Repairs per Square Yard during Life. Average Cost per Square Yard per Annum. Yrs. Mths. s. d. * d. s. d. May, 1855 10 2 12 2 o 17 4* 2 II Cornhill July, 1865 6 8 II 6 089! o 3 oj Nov., 1853 ii 7 12 8 o 17 ij 2 6f Gracechurch Street June, 1865 6 o o ii 6 o 6 ii o 3 of 1 May, 1851 9 4 096 060 o i 7f Lombard Street . . < 1 Sept., 1860 10 7 092 I 2 029 May, 1854 12 3 12 6 i 8 4l 034 Lothbury Aug., 1866 6 i 12 6 o 3 51 o 2 7J Mincing Lane July, 1841 19 i o 14 4 o 13 4 o i 5i Aug., 1860 13 o 092 I 2 6f o 2 5 Bartholomew Lane May, 1854 12 3 12 6 o 17 Si o 2 51 Aug, 1866 5 5 12 6 o 3 "i o 3 oj Foundations are included, but no excavation. * Vide 'Report on Asphalte and Wood Pavements/ by William Haywood, 1874, pp. 38 and 41. Wood Paving. 115 In concluding this chapter upon wood paving, I will give a few heads for the preparation of a specification for work of this description. Excavation. Excavate the ground to a depth of inches below the level of the proposed finished surface of the road- way.* The formation surface thus excavated must be well watered and rolled and punned if found necessary, and any soft or made earth removed to such a depth as may be found to be sufficient.! Foundation. Upon the excavated formation surface a bed inches thick of concrete is to be laid, composed of one part of good, approved Portland cement to two of fine, sharp river sand, and three of clean river ballast or broken stone. The concrete to be finished off with an even and smooth top surface conforming with the contour line of proposed finished roadway. Wood Blocks. Upon the concrete thus laid, and after it has sufficiently set, wood blocks are to be laid.f These blocks must be of the best description of Australian Karri wood timber (or such other timber as shall be specified), sound and thoroughly well seasoned, free from all sap, shakes, large and loose knots or other defects, and any that may be rejected by the surveyor as unfitted for the work shall be at once removed from the works or broken up. The blocks must not be less than 6 inches or more than 12 inches in length by 3 inches in width and 6 inches in depth ; they are to be care- fully laid with the fibre of the wood placed vertically, their * If the road material thus excavated is macadam, it may be screened and used as concrete in the foundation, if approved by the surveyor. The granite pitching of crossings, channel gutters, &c., must remain the property of the sanitary authority, as well as the surplus macadam. t It is important to give sufficient notice to gas and water companies in order that they may attend to their mains and services before the foundations are put in. \ Sometimes about half an inch of fine sand is spread upon the surface of the concrete upon which the wood blocks are bedded. If soft woods are to be used and are to be creosoted, the number of pounds of creosote that should be absorbed in a cubic foot of the wood should be specified ; this is generally about 10 Ibs. of creosote to I cubic foot of wood. I 2 n6 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers' Handbook. ends must butt with close joints to each other, leaving an expansion joint on each side close to the kerb of inches in width. Joints. Hot tar or other specified bituminous mixture is to be then laid over the whole surface and brushed or " squeegeed," until it disappears between the blocks. Top Dressing. The whole surface of the pavement is then to be spread with a coating, at least inch in thickness, of fine sharp gravel or chippings. The following heads of general conditions under such a contract may also be useful. Alteration of gullies, sewer man-holes, &c., will be done at the expense of the sanitary authority. Contractor must make good at once any damage caused to gas or water mains or services time penalty for delay. Maintenance of work after completion for a specified time. Power to be reserved to surveyor to suspend work during bad weather or from other causes. Heavy time penalties for non-completion of contract by a certain date. Payments to be made to contractor on surveyor's certi- ficate, up to 80 per cent, of whole contract, remaining 20 per cent, to be paid at end of (say) 2 years after completion. In conclusion, I cannot do better than draw attention to Mr. G. H. Stayton's paper on Wood Pavement in the Metropolis, which may be found in vol. Ixxviii. of the Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and gives a large amount of useful information upon this subject. CHAPTER X. COMPRESSED ASPHALTE ROADWAYS. THE word asphalte, in its generally accepted sense, implies a natural rock consisting of pure carbonate of lime, intimately combined and impregnated with mineral bitumen in very variable proportions ; that used for roads or footpaths should not contain less than 7 or more than 12 per cent, of bitumen. The rock, when broken, takes an irregular fracture with- out definite cleavage; it is principally derived from Val de Travers, Seyssel, Sicily, Chieti, Auvergne, Lobsann and Limmer. Its grain should be regular and homogeneous, the finer the grain the better.* When exposed to the atmosphere asphalte gradually assumes a grey tint, by reason of the bitumen evaporating from the surface, leaving a thin* film of limestone behind. The stone is usually taken from open quarries, but at Val de Travers shafts are sunk, and the general treatment is similar to a coal mine. Bitumen, it must be borne in mind, is itself a mineral product found in Trinidad and some other places ; it is composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. The weight of a cubic yard of natural asphalte is about 3874 Ibs., its specific gravity is 2* 114, but this of course varies with its percentage of bitumen. The following is a test for asphalte given by Mr. Delano in a paper he read before the Institution of Civil Engineers in the year i88o.f * In this respect the Seyssel is the best, being of a very fine grain. t Vide ' Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,' vol. Ix. 1 1 8 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. "A specimen of the rock freed from all extraneous matter, having been pulverised as finely as possible, should be dissolved in sulphurate of carbon, turpentine, ether or benzine, placed in a glass vessel, and stirred with a glass rod. A dark solution will result, from which will be precipitated the pulverised limestone. The solution of bitumen should then be poured off. The dissolvent speedily evaporates, leaving the constituent parts of the asphalte, each of which should be weighed so as to determine the exact proportion. The bitumen should be heated in a lead bath, and tested with a porcelain or Baume thermometer to 428 Fahr. There will be little loss by evaporation if the bitumen is good ; but if bituminous oil is present the loss will be considerable gritted mastic should be heated to 450 Fahr. The limestone should next be examined. If the powder is white and soft to the touch it is a good component part of asphalte, but if rough and dirty on being tested with reagents, it will be found to contain iron pyrites, silicates, clay, &c. Some asphaltes also are of a spongy or hygrometrical nature. Thus, as an analysis which merely gives so much bitumen and so much limestone may mislead, it is necessary to know the quality of the limestone and of the bitumen. " For a good compressed roadway an asphalte composed of pure limestone and 9 to 10 per cent, of bitumen, non- evaporative at 428 Fahr., is the most suitable. Asphaltes containing much more than 10 per cent, of bitumen get soft in summer, and wavy ; those containing much less have not sufficient bind for heavy traffic, although asphalte containing 7 per cent, of bitumen, properly heated, does well for court- yards, as it sets hard when cold." For roadways " compressed " asphalte should be used, and not "mastic," which is only fitted for footpaths, court- yards, &c. Compressed asphalte roadways are constructed as follows : Compressed Asphalte Roadways. 119 The asphalte rock is first crushed in a " Blake's " or other suitable crusher, and then pulverised in a " disintegrate^" until it is reduced to a fine powder, so that it will pass through a sieve of o * I square inch mesh. This powder is then heated up to between 240 degrees and 250 degrees Fahrenheit in cylinders, which are kept revolving so that each particle may become heated without burning, and still remain separate from its neighbour. The powder is then carefully transported to the street where it is to be laid, in iron covered carts, in order that it may not lose more than 20 degrees of -heat during transit. The powder must then be spread upon the concrete in an even layer, about 2f inches in depth, and be carefully raked so as to have regularity of depth and surface. Great care must be exercised to ensure that the face of the concrete shall be perfectly dry before the asphalte powder is laid on it, otherwise the moisture is sucked up into the powder, turned into steam, which tries to escape through the heated powder, and fissures are formed, which may not appear until after the roadway has been made some little time. Such a result will lead to the disintegration of the mass, with the consequence that the material breaks up. After the powder has been laid and raked, it must be well rammed with iron punners, weighing about 10 Ibs., heated so as to prevent the adhesion of the powder. This ramming must be done lightly at first so as to ensure equality of thickness, and afterwards augmented to heavy blows. After being thus rammed, the pavement must be smoothed by a suitable curved hot iron tool, after which it is again vigorously rammed and rolled until it is quite cool. The roller must weigh about 1 1 oo Ibs. Within a few hours of the completed compression of the asphalte the road is ready for traffic, a light sprinkling of sand being first applied to its surface. I2O Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. The following advantages are claimed for asphalte road- ways : Pedestrians can walk on asphaltic roadways as well as on the footways. It is comparatively noiseless under traffic, though in this case wood is better, as the clatter of the iron-shod horses' feet upon asphalte is very apparent. It is expeditiously laid, and when repairs are necessary they can easily be effected ; no pavement shows less signs of openings being made in it for gas and water-pipes repairs than asphalte, when these repairs are properly executed. The rapid laying causes less inconvenience to traffic in the streets. Ease of traction ; but here steps in the one great objection to asphalte as a roadway paving, viz. danger to horses by slipping and falling, of which I shall say more hereafter. Cellars and vaults under the streets are kept dry, by reason of its impermeability to moisture. Easily cleansed, especially by mechanical sweeping, and snow is easily removed. It is very pleasing to the eye, being so uniformly regular and of good colour. It is a cool pavement at night ; it does not absorb heat during the day, and consequently none radiates from it after the sun has gone down.* The great objection to asphalte as a material for roadways arises from the fact that it is extremely slippery when damp,f irrespective of temperature, and this in the climate of England is frequently the case. The result of this slipperiness is, that * In Paris and other cities liable to civil war or internal commotions, it is contended as an advantage of asphalte that it cannot be used for the construction of barricades, breastworks, or rifle pits. t Vide Mr. Haywood's Report upon Asphalte and Wood Pavements, also ' Report on the Application of Science and Art to Street Paving and Cleansing of the Metropolis,' and numerous other pamphlets and reports by eminent authorities upon the subject. Compressed Asphalte Roadways. 121 not only do horses frequently fall upon it, but it is also difficult to stop a horse when drawing a load, thus causing more risk to foot-passengers of being run over, and straining the horse considerably in its efforts. Again, in thoroughfares crowded with vehicular traffic, constant stoppages occur, and in starting again it is painful to witness the struggles of the horses to keep their footing and overcome the inertia of their load. When a horse falls he has very great difficulty in rising, but on the other hand, although he may be strained, a horse never breaks his knees upon this class of pavement. The strewing of sand upon asphalte renders it less slippery, but in addition to the interference of the traffic whilst this is being done, there are the further objections of the possible injury of the sand cutting into the asphalte, the expense of labour and materials, and the mud caused thereby, which has afterwards to be removed. Another plan is to frequently wash the asphalte with water, but this is expensive and only of temporary benefit.* Another objection to asphaltic roadways is that they cannot with safety be constructed of greater gradient than I in 60, and it must also be borne in mind that fine weather is necessary both for the construction and repairs of a roadway of this description. Very little smell, and that not of an unpleasant character, arises from the work when compressed asphalte is being used ; the mastic is, however, temporarily unpleasant to those who dislike the odour. * I believe that in Berlin, where there are many miles of streets laid with asphalte, the objection to it is being somewhat overcome by the fact that the horses and drivers are getting more used to it, and by keeping the asphalte scrupulously clean. This is a most important point. If perfectly dry and clean, or thoroughly wet and clean, asphalte is by no means a slippery pavement. As a proof of this, showing what greater care in this direction will effect, it appears that in the year 1885, in Berlin, 4403 horses fell on 400,000 square yards of asphalte ; in the year 1887 there were only 2456 falls on 490,000 square yards of this pavement ; and the large horse owners of this city petitioned that more streets should be laid with this material, as the ease of traction was so great a saving to them. 122 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. O u g ^jiOTt-NVO N ^f CO fell ciMHH HH J|>. s?o o o o o o o O |ls| >jo ^o o o\o co o ^i^s a co O vO ^-O O co M H J w *~~~~o~~ ^ 1 3 1 B II II II II II II II II |lj] t/} y)C/l r/JUj E/3t/) CA in 8 'rt M hH >H M hH M HI lf "2 8 <* *w v^o VQ vo vO O *O O o CJ I*" 1 .rl ^222^222 2 c^ S?0 o.S rt a 05 -2 II I Us a3 ^ Hw 2 5 4(3 S 2 2 S2i o CP- 54 Q^S -S | Q p -g | Q P ^ g 'rt U^ o O L> p g *- O -^j * o cd * * : j S 1 is 6 2 w | i n ^ u S w I 1 1 1 1 1 1 ^2 1 .2 - s B o w " o ^ 55 S O H O c^ C4 i i o O Compressed Asphalte Roadways. 123 With reference to the question of the cost of compressed asphalte for roadways : it is of course a matter depending upon local circumstances as to the first cost, but it must be remembered that the compressed asphalte hitherto laid has been nearly all that of the Val de Travers Company, who charge a fixed price per square yard for laying according to thickness required, the distance of the locality from London, and other local circumstances. With reference to mainten- ance, this is a question dependent mainly upon traffic, but here again the company will undertake to keep in repair at so much per square yard per annum for a certain number of years. With reference to cost, the table on page 122 may be of some service. With the one serious objection of slipperiness, compressed asphalte seems a suitable material for the surface of a road- way, but that objection is of considerable weight when we reflect that the great object of roadways is that of " traffic," and it is for that purpose they are constructed ; still, in cities where a heavy business traffic is going on, this class of road- way has so many advantages that where cheap horses are driven it might be used ; where, however, valuable horses are used for pleasure driving, as in the West End of London and the corresponding better parts of cities, some other descrip- tion of roadway should be maintained. Mastic asphalte will be described in the chapter on foot- paths. Hints for a Specification for a Compressed Asphalte Roadway. The foundation must be made, as in the case of stone or wood pavements, of the best and hardest concrete, the top surface of which must be floated up to a smooth and perfect contour. 124 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. The asphalte rock must be crushed in a stone-crusher, such a I have already described, and then pulverised in a " disintegrater," until it is reduced to a fine powder, so that it will pass through a sieve of o * I square inch mesh. This powder is then heated up to between 240 degrees and 250 degrees Fahrenheit in cylinders, which are kept revolving so that each particle may become heated without burning, and still remain separate from its neighbour. The powder is then carefully transported to the street where it is to be laid, in iron covered carts, in order that it may not lose more than 20 degrees of heat during transit. The powder must then be spread upon the concrete in an even layer, about 2 inches in depth, and be carefully raked so as to have regularity of depth and surface. Great care must be exercised to ensure that the face of the concrete shall be perfectly dry before the asphalte powder is laid on it ; otherwise the moisture is sucked up into the powder, turned into steam, which tries to escape through the heated powder, and fissures -are formed, which may not appear until after the roadway has been made some little time. Such a result will lead to the disintegration of the mass, with the consequence that the material breaks up. After the powder has been laid and raked, it must be well rammed with iron punners, weighing about 10 Ibs., heated so as to prevent the adhesion of the powder. This ramming must be done lightly at first so at to ensure equality of thickness, and afterwards augmented to heavy blows. After being thus rammed, the pavement must be smoothed by a suitable curved hot iron tool, after which it is again vigorously rammed and rolled until it is quite cool. The roller must weigh about noo Ibs. Within a few hours of the completed compression of the asphalte the road is ready for traffic, a light sprinkling of sand being first applied to its surface. One of the principal reasons of durability in asphalte Compressed Asphalte Roadways. 125 pavement is its elasticity, and it should be remembered that compressed asphalte does not begin to " wear " until all com- pression has ceased ; this is the case with no other system of pavement stone and wood both begin " wearing " from the day the traffic commences. Under ordinarily heavy traffic it may be estimated that it will take two years to complete the compression of asphalte, and the weight of a square foot of this pavement will at the expiration of that time be nearly the same as on the day it was laid, though the thickness is reduced during the first two years as much as it will be in the following eight. Much is said about the advisability of good and dry con- crete ; but it may be as well to explain the reasons that necessitate so much care in the foundation. First, it should be always borne in mind that asphalte pavement is nothing more than a tough " carpet," and has no power of itself of offering resistance to heavy traffic ; consequently, if the substratum or concrete is not thoroughly solid and resisting, the weight of traffic will crush it, and the asphalte will at once give away in all directions. The concrete should be made strong enough to resist the traffic, and the asphalte is a simple covering to protect the concrete from direct contact with the wear and friction caused by the traffic. So much for the strength, but the dryness is of even still greater im- portance ; for the best asphalte, laid by skilled workmen, on thoroughly first-rate but damp concrete, will rapidly go to pieces a phenomenon takes place, which, although quite natural, is little realised by most engineers. When the hot asphalte is laid, the water is immediately sucked up and turned into steam, which tries to escape through the heated powder, and the result is that although the surface of the asphalte is smooth, the mass is really disintegrated from underneath by its bitter enemy " water," and as soon as the surface begins to wear, the fissures formed by the passing of the steam appear on the surface and the whole pavement 126 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. falls to pieces : thus accounting for some of the failures this description of roadway has met with under unskilled treat- ment. This completes the subject of roadways ; I will turn to that of footpaths in the next chapter. 127 CHAPTER XL FOOTPATHS. As in the case of roadways, so with footpaths : the foundation is of primary importance, whatever material may be used for the surface. For some materials, notably asphalte, concrete is essential as a foundation. For gravel, tar paving, or other similar surface, a hard core bottom well drained is sufficient. The materials of which a footpath can be formed are very various, but the following may be given as embodying most of them : 1. Natural asphalte, compressed and mastic. 2. Yorkshire flagging Caithness flagging, &c. &c. 3. Blue lias, and Devonian limestone flagging, slates, &c. 4. Concrete in monolith, or slabs. 5. Bricks or tiles. 6. Granite slabs. 7. Artificial asphaltes, including tar pavement. 8. Gravel, stone chippings, &c. First on the list stands natural asphalte, compressed and mastic. The compressed has been thoroughly described in the pre- ceding chapter ; it is generally used for footpaths where there is a very heavy traffic, and answers admirably. I will, however, now deal solely with mastic asphalte, which means the rock ground to powder, mixed with a certain proportion of bitumen to act as a flux, and then sub- jected to heat ; this is sometimes used in conjunction with fine sharp clean river sand, but more often with finely crushed 128 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. stone about the size of peppercorns, and is styled "gritted asphalte." As long ago as the year 1838, Mr. F. W. Simms speaks of mastic asphalte from Pyrmont, near Seyssel, and says " it may be considered a species of mineral leather " * a very good description of its surprisingly tough, hard, durable and pliant properties. The usual method of the preparation of the mastic is as follows : According to the amount of bitumen contained in the natural stone, from 5 to 8 per cent, of refined Trinidad bitu- men f is placed in a large caldron which is usually provided with agitators driven by steam power ; when this is thoroughly melted, the powdered asphalte is added little by little, the heat being raised to between 390 and 480 F., the mixture kept well stirred and " cooked " for about five hours. It is then turned out into iron moulds, most companies having a special pattern with a trade mark for this purpose. The caldrons generally used contain from i J to 2 tons of mastic. Some companies in large towns are provided with caldrons on wheels, commonly called " Locomobiles," in which case the grit is mixed with the mastic in the fixed caldrons, and the whole mass run out into the locomobiles (which are also provided with agitators worked by an endless chain attached to the axle of the wheels), and transported direct to where the work has to be done. This system, though undoubtedly the best, is not practicable except in large towns ; the more usual method of laying mastic footpaths is to send the asphalte cakes to the works, where they are remelted in small * Vide ' Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,' vol. i. p. 6. t Trinidad bitumen is best, but it has to be refined before it can be used. This is done by cooking it with shale oil, then straining it and decanting it, which is a troublesome and tedious process, and there is great danger of fraud being practised. Good bitumen can be detected by its elasticity and softness when rolled between the finger and thumb, and also by its smell. Footpaths. 129 round street caldrons, containing from 8 to 12 cakes each, weighing from 40 to 50 Ibs., the grit being sometimes added in the fixed caldrons, sometimes in the street caldrons, this amount of grit varying from 20 to 60 per cent, according to the nature of the work. The grit makes the asphalte more difficult to spread, but it lessens the cost and makes a very durable path. The affinity between the asphalte and grit is so great that, in breaking a sample, the actual pieces of grit will be found broken in half. The asphalte should be spread from \ to J of an inch in thickness (if compressed i inch is the minimum), and should be brought hot on to the works in covered caldrons on wheels ; the test of its being ready and fit to lay, being made by plunging a wooden spatula into it, which should come out without any of the asphalte adhering to it, and also by jets of light smoke darting out of the mixture. The mastic should be taken from the caldron with a wanned ladle, and put into buckets previously heated, then thrown out on the concrete (which should be perfectly dry) near the spreader, who spreads it skilfully with a wooden stave, spreader, or spatula. The surface should then be floated and dusted over with fine sand, Portland cement, or stone dust. Dishonest contractors sometimes substitute inferior ma- terials for natural asphalte, such imitations being made of ground chalk, fire-clay and pitch or gas tar, or ground lime- stone mixed with bitumen. A sample of the footpath after it is laid should be cut out (this is easily effected by heating the surface with a piece of hot mastic), in order to see that the proper thickness is given, and by applying a light to the sample, the smell will readily tell if real asphalte or any inferior material has been used. Stockholm tar or common pitch should not be allowed to be substituted for Trinidad bitumen, or it will spoil the mastic. K 130 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers' Handbook. Asphalte mastic footpaths are excellent in every way, the only objections to them being the necessity for the grit, and the temporary unpleasant smoke and smell whilst being laid. It is also necessary to put stone sills round the cellar openings and coal shoots, &c., for the asphalte to butt against, but it makes an invaluable pavement, especially for courts, alleys, back yards, &c., for sanitary and other reasons. The proportions of asphalte, bitumen and grit are given as follows by Mr. Delano in his translation of a paper by M. Ernest Chabrier, on the applications of asphalte.* " One ton of sanded mastic requires 1 3 cwt of pure block mastic, 2 qrs. 12 Ibs. of bitumen, 7 cwt. of grit or sand washed and dried," and it takes 2 cwt. of coal to heat it. He further says that one workman can easily prepare 3 tons of material in 12 hours. The following table gives the number of square yards that a ton of prepared Sicilian rock asphalte will spread : Without grit. With about 25 per cent, of grit. Thickness. square yards. square yards. inches. 63 80 1 51 65 i 32 40 l 26 33 i 16 20 ii iH 16 2 A skilled workman properly assisted can lay 140 to 180 square yards in a day.t With regard to the price of asphalte mastic footpaths, this is quite a local question, and is not worth while discussing. The life of a footpath thus treated may be reckoned at about * Vide ' Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,' vol. xliii. p. 293. t Ibid., vol. xliii. p. 293. Footpaths. 131 15 years under ordinary traffic ; the concrete will remain un- touched, and what is left of the asphalte may be remelted, so that a renewal is not so costly as the first expense. Yorkshire Flagging. This pavement is too well known to need any description from me ; it is an excellent pavement in many ways, and is most pleasant to walk upon, there being a cling or foothold not experienced in any other material. The objections to this description of pavement are : 1. Its first cost, which is undoubtedly high as compared to its durability. 2. The fact of uneven wearing : one stone will be found soft next to a hard one ; the former wears, leaving a pit which forms a pool for water in due course, and has to be removed. 3. Unless very carefully bedded, a stone will see-saw ; this is very unpleasant in wet weather, water accumulates beneath, and as the pedestrian treads on one end of the stone a squirt of dirty water up to his knees, and a stumble, remind him that the stone is loose. 4. Liability to crack when any heavy goods are thrown upon it. The following specimen specification for Yorkshire flagging pavement may be of use : Specimen Specification for Yorkshire Flagging. Foot Pavements. The old flagging (where and when directed) to be taken up, refaced, squared and relaid. The new flagging is to be chisel-dressed to a fair face, true, out of winding, and not less than 3 inches thick,* to be * A rule is sometimes made that York flags should be \ inch thick for every square foot of surface, but they should never be less than 2 inches thick. K 2 132 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. properly squared and not pitched off only, or undercut, but to hold good to the square ; to have not more than fourteen pieces to the hundred superficial feet ; the joints must be set flush, and bedded and pointed with the best blue lias mortar. The bed for the flagging both old and new, if any is required, to be made with proper earth, gravel or dry rubbish, and all surplus earth and rubbish to be carted from the streets as it arises from the works. The flagging to be properly cut and rebated to receive all area gratings, coal shoots, rain-water troughs, &c. Any damage done to gas or water-service pipes in digging for the flagging, or in any way connected with the work, to be made good by the contractor, as also all and every other damage to windows, wood or glass work ; and the contractor will be held responsible for, and will make compensation for any injury that the public may sustain through the negligence of his workmen, or otherwise. The whole of the flags to be of the very best quality, from Halifax, the quarries in the neighbourhood of Brad- ford or in Yorkshire, and subject to the approval of the surveyor. The contractor to provide all lights and proper guards at night, and when old paving is to be taken up the work is to be done under the direction of the surveyor, and if considered necessary, the stones are to be removed from the streets to be refaced and squared. No stones to be stacked in the streets. The flagging to be measured after the work is completed. The contractor to provide all stone, materials, tools implements, horse and cart hire, and pay all railway dues, freightages, &c. ; and also to provide all labour of every kind for properly completing the work to the full and entire satis- faction of the surveyor. Payment will be made as the work proceeds, on the certificate of the surveyor. Footpaths. 133 Should the contractor fail to perform the work to the satisfaction of the surveyor, he then shall have power to execute the work and charge the same to the contractor, and deduct the cost from any amount that may be due to him ; and in the event of the cost being more than the amount due, or if there shall then be no sum due to the contractor, such cost shall be paid by the contractor to the mayor, aldermen and citizens, and the same shall be recoverable from him as liquidated and ascertained damages. Caithness Flagging is now used very largely instead of Yorkshire ; it come from Thurso in Scotland, and it is con- tended for it that it possesses many excellent qualities ; amongst others may be enumerated the following : 1. It is impervious to wet. 2. It is not slippery nor does it wear so. 3. It does not scale or flake. 4. It dries rapidly after rain. 5. Its appearance is cheerful. 6. Great durability, as it does not abrade. 7. Frost has no effect upon it. 8. Can be re-used when half worn. 9. Cleanliness ; for, not being porous, no dirt or dust can adhere to it. 10. Vehicular traffic may be turned over it without injury to the path. 11. Economy; as natural faces can be used, thus saving labour, and it can be laid from I J to 2 inches thick only. 12. Having sawn edges, the joints are expeditiously and well made. 13. Its whole surface wears evenly. The following table was compiled by the well-known firm of Kirkaldy, by direction of the late Mr. Tarbottom, the Borough Engineer of Nottingham, in order to ascertain the resistance to a gradually increased bending stress upon Yorkshire flagging as composed with Caithness: 134 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. YORKSHIRE. Test No. Weight. Dimensions. Ultimate Stress. Length. Breadth. Thickness. K Ibs. inches. inches. inches. Ibs. 1918 I8 4 36 24-07 2*46 4 '744 1919 163 36 24-03 2'22 3-398 1920 Mean 107 36 23-90 1*50 i '459 IS' 36 24-00 2-06 3'2OO CAITHNESS. Test No. Weight. Dimensions. Ultimate Stress. Length. Breadth. Thickness. K Ibs. inches. inches. inches. Ibs. 1921 215 36 24-06 2'59 17-274 1922 I 7 8 36 24-05 2-15 I2'7H 1923 Mean 114 36 23-90 1-38 6-2II I6 9 36 24-00 2-04 12-065 By which it appears that the balance in favour of Caithness flagging is 8 865 Ibs. Blue Lias Flagging. A blue lias flagging does not make a first-rate pavement, as, although it is very cheap, durable, clean, and has many other good qualities, it sometimes wears slippery and is then dangerous to pedestrians : but the Devo- nian limestone, which is much used in the west of England, has not apparently this defect. Concrete Footpaths. The use of concrete, as a monolith, and also in slabs, as a paving material for footpaths, has made great progress during the last few years, and in nearly every Footpaths. 135 town in the United Kingdom more or less concrete may now be seen as a pavement upon the footpaths. When this description of pavement was originally laid in mass with large exposed surfaces, great alterations took place on changes of temperature, and the concrete either cracked or gaped open, or in some cases rose up from its bed into arches and curves. The cure for this has been to lay the concrete in bays of about six feet in width, completing each bay alternately, allowing the intermediate one to set before the neighbouring bay is commenced. Another m-ethod is to leave laths or strips of soft wood between the widths of concrete, and subdividing those widths by cutting into the concrete with a trowel before it is quite set, thus splitting up the mass of concrete and giving it plenty of room to expand. The following may be taken as a fair description of the manner in which monolith concrete footpaths should be constructed. Excavate the ground to a depth of about 5 inches below the finished level, and upon this lay an even bed about I inch in thickness of cinders or gravel ; upon this lay a layer of clean hard stone or other suitable material, broken so as to pass through a 3-inch ring, well water and roll, filling up inequalities and leaving the surface about 2 inches below the finished level of footpath. Divide into bays as described above with battens of soft wood, and complete each alternate bay by laying upon the stone foundation carefully prepared concrete composed of I part Portland cement, 2 parts coarse clean gravel, or other suitable and procurable material, passed through a i-inch screen, and 2 parts of clean sharp sand, which must be well beaten or rolled into place ; and before it is set a finishing coat I inch in thickness of a finer and richer concrete is to be added and brought up to the finished surface of the footpath, and well trowelled and smoothed into place. This finishing coat may be composed of I part Portland 136 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. cement to 2 parts granite chippings, Oporto gravel or other suitable material which will pass through a quarter-inch sieve.* As the work is finished the battens may be removed and the joints filled with fine sand. As concrete footpaths are somewhat more slippery than natural stone, a cross fall of three-eighths of an inch per foot is sufficient. In the construction of concrete footpaths great care is necessary that the materials should be perfectly clean and well washed, and that none but the best Portland cement, ground very fine, should be used, and that the concrete should be most carefully mixed. Traffic should be prevented until the concrete is thoroughly set, either by diverting it, or by covering the footpath with planks for about a fortnight. In hot, dry weather the concrete should be covered with a coating of sand and kept thoroughly damp. From a return prepared in 1889 by Mr. Macbrair, the City Surveyor of Lincoln,! out of 29 towns from which replies were received, 19 had footpaths laid with monolith concrete, which had cost from u. %d. per square yard up to ^s. 6d., and the majority of the surveyors' opinions were in favour of this class of foot pavement. In the first edition of this book I gave, in extenso, a description of the method employed in the United States for the construction of this class of footpath, but it is scarcely necessary to repeat the detail particulars, as they may be found in * Roads, Streets, and Pavements/ by Q. A. Gillmore, page 208. Under the head of Concrete may be included many arti- * The selection of suitable materials must depend to a great extent upon locality, but the grit or gravel for the finished surface must not be "rounding," or it will become displaced by the feet of pedestrians. t Vide ' Minutes of Proceedings of the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors,' vol. xv. p. 189. Footpaths. 137 ficial stone pavements, such as " Bucknell's Granite Breccia," " Imperial Stone," " Ransome's Artificial Stone," " Eureka Con- crete," " Ferrumite," " Granolithic," " Wilkinson's Granite Con- crete," "Silicated Victoria Stone," "Perfect Pavement," and others. Some of these are laid in situ, whilst others are made in the form of slabs, usually about 2 inches in thickness and of varying sizes, so as to suit the widths of footpaths. A cheap and good slab may be made of fine Portland cement concrete well rammed into wooden moulds lined with iron, which are oiled to prevent adhesion. When sufficiently set the moulds are taken to pieces, and the slabs may then be placed in a bath, or stacked in the open air, special precautions being taken in frosty weather, until they are thoroughly matured. This description of pavement is cheap, as it can be made and laid for 3^. per square yard, where shingle is easily procurable. The blocks are of uniform size and give an even "break joint," the colour is pleasing, they wear evenly and are indifferent to changes of temperature, are easily cleansed and dry rapidly after rain, and if evenly and securely bedded will stand considerable shocks. When one surface is worn they can be turned over, though, as the face is made of stronger material, the under side is not so durable ; still from the long period during which they have matured whilst wearing on the face, there is considerable life left in the lower surface which may be used for streets of lighter traffic. Even a cheaper form of flags can now be made with a mixture of clinker from a "refuse destructor" and Portland cement mixed together in the form of concrete, and placed in a mould and subjected to hydraulic pressure. The Author has made this description of flagging for the last two years at a cost of about is. 8d. per square yard, and the result has been exceedingly good. The flags thus made have not quite such wearing qualities as those made with granite chippings, but for footwalks of light traffic their life is long and their appearance &c., excellent For full particulars of the manufacture of these flags the 138 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. Author refers his readers to a paper he read at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Municipal and County Engineers held at Brighton in 1896.* Brick Footpaths. Ordinary bricks were no doubt formerly used for paving footwalks in some districts, because no better material could be procured except at a prohibitive price ; eventually hard vitrified stoneware bricks were introduced in Staffordshire, with a chequered or diamond-pattern surface, and these bricks have been extensively used ever since, principally on account of their cheapness and durability. In West Bromwich, for instance, a pavement of this description only costs about is. gd. per square yard, and has a life of upwards of thirty years. In Derby these bricks last for twenty years, and can then be used again for other purposes ; and generally they have been excessively durable when thoroughly vitrified ; they are especially suitable for use in back-streets or narrow footpaths in the districts in which they are manufactured. They have, however, a multiplicity of joints, and the pavement cannot therefore be considered a sanitary one ; they are difficult to bed level unless laid upon a foundation of concrete, which adds largely to the cost ; they wear very slippery and unevenly, and unless the quality is of the best, the skin is soon rubbed off, showing a red interior which wears as rapidly as an ordinary building-brick. A thoroughly satisfactory pavement of this material is not easily obtainable ; the appearance of the bricks is against them, and a brick pavement always feels " harsh " to the feet. A buff brick of an improved appearance has lately been introduced, and is said to wear as well as the blue vitrified Staffordshire brick. Granite Slab Pavement. This is sometimes adopted, large granite slabs, 6 inches in thickness, being laid ; they are very useful when there are cellars underneath, or where * Vide f Proceedings of the Incorporated Association of Municipal and County Engineers, vol. xxii. p. 211. Footpaths. 139 heavy vehicular traffic is intended to cross the foot pavement. Granite is, of course, excessively durable, but it wears very slippery with traffic and must then be tooled or axed ; in process of time this wears it out, and its first cost is heavy. This description of pavement can be laid with advantage in front of markets or similar buildings. Artificial Asphalte Pavements. -The cost of obtaining natural rock asphalte from the mines, and the knowledge that it is composed of two very simple ingredients, limestone and bitumen, has led to a great number of artificial asphaltes being introduced, especially for foot pavements. "British Rock Asphalte " is a name by which many of the composi- tions are known ; " Beauchamp's Mendip Mountain Machine- made Granite Asphalte " is a high-sounding title ; " Prentice's Mineral Foreign Rock Asphalte " is another. All these, and many more of the same description, are really what may be better and more correctly described as "tar concrete" or "tar paving," and consist of different modifications of the homely coal-tar and limestone. So long ago as the year 1840, "Lord Stanhope's Compo- sition " was well known : it was made as follows : Three gallons of Stockholm tar, 2 bushels of well -dried chalk, I bushel of fine, sharp, clean sifted sand ; the whole being boiled in an iron caldron. Tar paving is now made in many and various ways by different surveyors of towns, but the following hints upon the subject may be of some value. Either gravel or stone chippings must be carefully screened through sieves of ij inch, | of an inch, \ an inch, and \ of an inch gauge, and then heated on iron plates with fires burning underneath. The gravel, or chippings, having been thoroughly dried and heated, the following ingredients are mixed together, boiled in iron caldrons, and added whilst hot; 12 gallons of tar, \ cwt. of pitch, and 2 gallons of creosote to about I ton of the screened materials. The composition when added to the 140 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. gravel, or chippings, should spread easily and thoroughly over every particle of the stone. This now becomes tar- concrete, and can be laid in layers, the largest size gravel at the bottom, and so on up to the smallest size for the top layer, each layer as it is laid being well rolled with an iron roller of about 10 cwt. In order to secure success with this description of pave- ment it is well to observe the following conditions : The stone- chippings, or gravel, must be thoroughly heated so as to ensure perfect dryness, as then the composition will adhere firmly. It is better to keep the tarred materials a month or two before use, so as to be thoroughly soaked by the composition. Broken Kentish ragstone, or limestone chippings, make the best tar pavements, as too hard a material causes a bumpy path. The laying should, if possible, be carried out in the spring, or winter, if dry, as a hot sun draws the composition away from the stone on to the surface of the path. The foundation of the path must be dry, as water seriously affects the tar-concrete. When the last layer of the path has been completed it must be dusted over with fine grit, or stone dust, and this facing, accompanied by a thin "painting" with tar, should be repeated at least once every other year. With regard to the cost of this description of pavement, the following facts, compiled from a recent return upon the subject, may be interesting : At Banbury, the cost of tar-pavement is only <)d. a square yard, whilst at Hereford it is 3^. In Bath the cost is is. $d. y and the footpaths last in good repair for twenty years ; whilst in Burnley their life is only five years. In Darlington they last for ten years, and are then re-topped at a cost of $d. per square yard, their original price having been 2s. per square yard. In Doncaster, where the cost is is. 8d. per square yard, the paths wear from twenty to thirty years. In Harwich, the cost being is. 4^., they last ten to twelve years, Footpaths. 141 a coating of hot tar and sharp grit being put on the surface every year. In Ipswich the life is thirteen years ; and in Peterborough, where the cost is only is. ^d. per square yard, the life is from fifteen to twenty years. In Scarborough the cost is is., and the life ten to fifteen years ; and in Windsor the cost is 2s., and the life twenty years. In Streatham it is used in all new streets previous to being taken over by the local authorities, and some paths laid down in the year 1870 remained perfectly sound and good at the end of the year 1885. The disadvantages of tar-pavement are as follows: It is dark in colour unless a very light-coloured stone chipping is used ; it is apt to wear gritty or bumpy ; it is rather difficult to repair. In very hot weather it sometimes becomes rather sticky or soft. Tar-pavement must only be reckoned as a substitute for ordinary gravelled footpaths. It must not be compared with paved or asphalted paths ; but there can be no doubt that a pavement of this description for traffic that is not too heavy answers every requirement ; for streets of greater traffic, genuine mastic asphalte should be used. Before closing my remarks on artificial asphalte pave- ments, the following description of an American method may be interesting : On a dry foundation is placed a coat of rough clinkers from anthracite coal, or iron clinkers from a foundry, mixed with sand and tar in the proportions of 15 cubic feet of fine sifted ashes, 14^ cubic feet of pit sand, and I J cubic feet or 9 gallons of tar. This is laid about 3 to 4 inches thick and well rolled. Over this is placed a coating from I inch to ij inch thick, composed of 15 cubic feet of coarse sifted ashes, 15 cubic feet of clinkers, and i cubic feet or 8 gallons of tar. It must be then well rolled and sanded, care having been taken that the materials are thoroughly mixed. Gravel Footpaths. Very little can be said upon this subject; such footpaths are only suitable for suburban [42 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. districts, or opposite vacant land ; they are uncomfortable to the pedestrian, and are either covered with loose stones and dust in dry weather, or with slippery mud in wet weather. In Chorley, screened furnace cinders are used instead of gravel, at a cost of ^d. per square yard, and the footpaths last for about eighteen months without repair. Chippings of Mendip rock, limestone, and even of granite, are sometimes substituted for gravel with good results, but these footpaths cannot be considered .economical, as the material of which they are made is constantly being washed or kicked off the path ; and it was to meet the unsatisfactory state of things arising from the " gravelled " path that tar-concrete was introduced with such beneficial results. The same rules that apply to a macadamised roadway apply to a gravel footpath. They must be well " bottomed," and well drained and well rolled. Limestone or other stone chippings may with advantage be used with a pit gravel for constructing paths of this description, and a barrelled surface looks better and is more enduring than a hanging path. Gravel footpaths are sometimes tarred over when thoroughly consolidated. This must be done only when the weather is quite settled and fine, the least rain will spoil the whole operation ; it consists in simply tarring over the surface of the footpath in the same manner that a gate or wall or any other substance would be tarred. The surface of the path must previously have been swept perfectly clean, and immediately the tarring is completed, fine stone dust must be sprinkled on its surface ; the traffic should be diverted from it for a few hours, and it is then ready. Care must be taken that the tar is not too thin in con- sistency, and that the coat is not put on too thick. Treating a path in this manner saves gravel, which is washed or kicked off it if left with an ordinary surface ; but a cold night, a light shower or inferior tar will make the whole process abortive, and the path will be in a fearful mess in the winter. 143 CHAPTER XII. CURBING AND CHANNELLING, ETC. FOR all footpaths, both urban and suburban, a curb of some description is necessary to be fixed on the outside of the footpath, for the following reasons : 1. The curb acts as a sill for the raised footway against which the material with which it is paved may butt. 2. It retains the foundation and surface of the footwalk. 3. It keeps off the vehicular traffic. 4. It raises it above the water flowing in the gutter or channel. 5. It forms the side of the gutter. 6. It is necessary to act as a butt for the haunches of the carriageway. The materials employed for curbing are the natural stones such as granite, syenite, sandstone, &c., cement concrete, vitrified fireclay blocks, cast and wrought iron. Granite or syenite, being the best, are generally used in streets where there is much traffic, as the curb is often subjected to severe blows from the passing vehicular traffic, as well as a grinding action from the wheels of wagons and other heavy vehicles, especially on gradients where " hugging " the curb acts as a drag or brake. In such cases, granite or syenite, although the most expensive in the first case, are certainly the most economical, and no other materials should ever be used unless there are some very good reasons for their substitution. The proper dimensions for this description of curb must naturally vary considerably in different localities and in great 144 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. measure according to the width of the footways, for it is evident that the wider the footway the wider should be the curb. In any case, however, it must never be of less depth than 9 inches nor narrower than 4 inches ; depth of curb is necessary to keep it from falling over towards the gutter, and width is mainly for appearance and also to allow of the splay, which will presently be explained. The curb should never be in lengths of less than 3 feet, and when 8 inches and broader, the top surface should be bevelled off to conform to SECTION OF CURB AND CHANNEL. the slope of the footway and allow the water falling on its surface to reach the gutter. Granite curb should be drafted about I inch along both top edges, and hammer-dressed about 5 inches on the face, in addition to the whole surface of the top and for 3 inches at the back, in order that there may be a smooth surface visible against the channel gutter, and also for the flagging or other paving to butt fair against, besides giving a clean appearance to the arris of the curb both inside and out ; in addition to this, in streets of heavy traffic it is well to splay off the front face of the curb in order to minimise the effect of the grinding action previously mentioned. The above figure (section of an 8-inch granite curb) will explain this. The top surface of the curb, which is, of course, fair with the surface of the footway, should always be tooled or axed Curbing and Channelling^ &c. 145 whenever it has worn slippery, as a slip from a curbstone often causes a bad fall to a pedestrian. Deep and narrow curb may be bedded on a good bed of gravel and beaten into place with hard blows from a heavy setting maul or beetle, weighing not less than 50 Ibs., the fill- ing in on the gutter side being well rammed with an iron bar to keep the curb upright and prevent it falling over towards the channel a very unsightly and objectionable performance. Broader and shallower curbstones should be bedded on con- crete. The model bye-laws issued by the Local Government Board for the use of sanitary authorities (IV. New Streets and Buildings, 1877) provide that the footways of new streets shall be constructed " so that the height of the curb or outer edge of such footway above the channel of the carriageway (except in the case of crossings paved or otherwise formed for the use of foot passengers) shall be not less than 3 inches at the highest part of such channel, and not more than 7 inches at the lowest part of such channel." The idea of this is that a height of less than 3 inches would render it possible for vehicles to drive on to the foot- ways or for the water in the channel to overflow it, and with a height of more than 7 inches it would be inconvenient for foot passengers, and also render the curb liable to tilting over towards the channel. Having thus far dealt with curbs made of syenite or granite, the remarks on which equally obtain in great measure to those of other materials, the Author will make a few re- marks on curbs of cement concrete. These can be made either in situ or, preferably, in blocks made in moulds, either subjected to hydraulic pressure or simply made by hand. In every case, the concrete of which they are made must be carefully compounded of well-selected materials the best Portland cement (on which the limits of this book will not L 146 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. permit any remarks), and perfectly clean shingle, sand, ballast, or broken stones, in proper proportions and carefully mixed together. If the footway itself is made of concrete, it may be finished with a concrete curb by means of a plank moulding rigidly fixed in place, so that when removed the curb forms a part of the footway, and has the appearance when finished as shown in the following sketch. FOOTPATH ROADWAY SECTION OF CONCRETE CURB. Concrete curbs made in moulds at the yard, and fixed in a similar manner to granite or other stone curbs, require no explanation ; they are, like the concrete curb, made in situ, quite suitable for streets of light traffic, but cannot be recom- mended where they would be subjected to heavy blows or grinding action from the wheels of passing traffic of a heavy character. FOOTWAY FOOTWAY ROAD ROAD FIRECLAY BRICK CURBS. Fireclay brick curbs are not often used in this country, but they have been employed in America with success ; they can, of course, be made of almost any shape those which have hitherto been in use are shown in the accompanying sketches. Curbing and Channelling, &c. Wrought and cast iron curbs have been used in France and elsewhere ; two examples are given in the accompanying diagrams. Having thus far dealt with the question of curbs, a few remarks are necessary upon channels. These are also called FOOTPATH ROAD FOOTPATH ROAD FIRECLAY BRICK CURBS. " gutters," " channel gutters," or " water tables," and are neces- sary for carriageways, not only as adding to their appearance, but also to carry the water along the haunches of the carriage- way, and, in the case of unpaved roads, to prevent the wash FOOTPATH CHANNEL WROUGHT-IRON CURB. of the water undermining the curb and causing it eventually to fall over towards the carriageway. In the case of paved streets, the channels are usually constructed of the same materials with which the carriage- L 2 148 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. way is paved : thus, with granite or syenite paved streets the gutters are formed of precisely the same setts, only they are placed longitudinally, instead of transversely, so as to aid the flow of water in the channel, which in no case should have a flatter gradient than about I in 300, their transverse section sometimes following the contour of the barrel of the carriageway, and sometimes being nearly level. A channel gutter should be from 12 inches to 18 inches wide, so that if the latter, and it is constructed with ordinary 3-inch setts, six courses will be necessary. They should be .o:o- FOQTPATH 'Q O -? ? '*;o\ 70' CHANNEL IX^ ;l^?tp?WP^ .pOjg.-B o ^-CONCRETE i. r^ ^. . o Vi -/UL)r\-__*o 1^-9 ' O'.-U' ^^^"nffNo^W? >r .o^-OoO ,0^ ^^44 c ro c S 3 ^i V J3 C/J .. J O I!- 3 4- w oo 00 ^ ^ ro w ? 8 8 -> ,_ ro roro TO Nroro II s 3 S'3 b/) 10 *^ i ^" r\) ^"* Id t O J5 73 .- ^3 r^ 2 S. 0^ S3U O, u <* c3 N o N O N -O vo ro .?.j-?efsii ONNiOrf N-I t> VO NiOTj-OvO "-" r^ ro 51FaS i S3 Q ill II s^l If W J JPQ 156 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. lamplighter at lighting time. It was found, however, in practice, that these pilot lights were unreliable, a proportion of them becoming extinguished during the day, necessitating a special visit of the lamplighter with a ladder after com- pleting the lighting of his district. Added to this was the deterioration of the mantle, due to its use, and the cost of the maintenance of the pilot light, the consumption of gas for the purpose being assessed at "25 feet per hour, which amounted to an annual consumption of 1428 cubic feet, involving an addition to the ordinary lighting charge (with gas at $s. per 1000) of 4^. ^d. per burner per annum. It was therefore found that, under the closest supervision, the renewals and the additional gas for the pilot light in- volved an aggregate annual charge of I/. 4$. 6d. per burner in excess of the ordinary gas burner, which was regarded as unsatisfactory. Efforts were made to reduce this charge by abolishing the pilot light and lighting the burner by means of a match and ladder. This was found both costly and inconvenient to the public, and further efforts were made to obtain a lamp in which the burner should be used under the best conditions in respect of ventilation, suitability of position, freedom from vibration, and capable of being lighted by the lamplighter in the same way as the ordinary lamp, viz. by means of a torch and pole. The result of these efforts has been that Mr. C. R. Bellamy, the Superintendent of Street Lighting and Gas Examiner for the City of Liverpool, has designed and patented a lantern of which the following are diagrams and description : A, is the air inlet. B, the ventilating top. C, the lighting doors, two being provided, fixed in line with the street, to enable the lamplighter to use the door on the side of the lamp opposite to the direction of the wind, the lamp being lighted by thrusting the torch through the Lighting Streets. 157 < Q. Z < (t O 158 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. lighting door into the box marked K, where the gas, escaping through the chimney L, is lighted. D, cleaning door with lock. As all the products of com- bustion are carried by means of the chimneys into the lighting box beyond the glazed portion of the lantern, internal clean- ing is only necessary at long intervals. Frequent access is not therefore required, and the locking of the door prevents interference with the burners. E, suspension platform. F, suspension wires and springs. The springs permit of the platform being depressed, which draws the glass chimney out of the copper chimney and permits of the renewal of the parts without disconnecting the platform E. G, flexible tubes. H, three-way cock, for double burner lamp. This is so arranged that either or both of the burners may be used, the practice being to light both until midnight, and, with weekly alternations, one of the burners remains lighted until daybreak. I, enamelled steel reflector, acting as a baffle plate to the fresh air supply. J, opal glass reflectors, M, wire gauze cup to prevent back lighting. With the use of this lamp, all the difficulties have been overcome, and the result has been a most marked success. The lamp is lighted in the ordinary way by means of a torch, with the same facility as an ordinary flat-flame burner lamp, and with no greater expenditure of time. The lighting of the burner over the chimney has been most beneficial as compared with the objectionable amount of air passing always through the mantle and chimney with the bye-pass arrange- ment, and as a large number of mantles have been in use under this system for nine months, or 2341 hours, with an average efficiency at the end of that period of 10*39 candles per foot of gas, it must be admitted that this system Lighting Streets. 159 of lighting is beneficial to the mantle, and is the most satis- factory yet adopted. About 2000 burners on this principle, are now in use, a large number of which have stood the severe tests of very stormy weather and exposure to con- siderable vibration from very heavy traffic. It is interesting also to note, that with the new lantern the life of the mantles, &c., has been materially extended, as the average renewals per burner have worked out as follows : Mantles .. Chimneys.. Mantle rods New System. Old System. 2'6 as against 13 2'3 12 . 0-23 3 The comparative cost will be of interest, and is given as follows : Description of Lamp. Gas Charge at zs. 6d. per 1000 cubic feet. Per Annum. Average Illuminating Power. First Cost of Lamp, and Fixing. Total Annual Charge. Double-burner lamp .. incandescent ) s. d. 2 3 ii Candles. 80 s. d. 2 7 5 s. d. 3 12 9 Single-burner lamp .. .. incandescent 1 J I $ 40 i 17 4 2 II 2 Ordinary flat-flame burner . . i 9 3 16 i i i 26 3 So much, then, for the two great factors which have taken such an active part in the improvement of outside illumina- tion. I will now pass on to the general question of street lighting. The powers which an urban authority possess with reference to the lighting of their streets, are contained in section 161 of the Public Health Act, 1875, which enacts as follows : " Any urban authority may contract with any person for the supply of gas or other means of lighting the streets, markets and public buildings in their district, and may pro- 160 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. vide such lamps, lamp-posts and other materials and appara- tus, as they may think necessary for lighting the same. . . ." (38 and 39 Vic. c. 55, s. 161.) I do not propose to entertain the question of lighting where the gas works are the property of the corporation, but only to give information that may be of use where a contract has to be entered into between the corporation and a com- pany, and also to give some general information upon this subject which may be of interest to the surveyor. Most lighting contracts are based nearly always upon the length of time at which the public lamps are to be kept lighted, and may be summarised as follows : First, where the public lamps are lighted from sunset to sunrise every night throughout the year; this averages 12 hours per diem, or about 4,000 hours per annum. This is exceeded in some instances, the highest being in the City of London, where the hours of lighting amount to 4300. The average of the towns of the United Kingdom, with a population of 100,000 and upwards, amounts to 3648 hours. The following table has been carefully prepared, and pro- vides for an annual lamp-light of 3808 hours, and is shown graphically on the diagram on page 162. Under this table the whole of the lamps are lighted within one hour of sunset from the beginning of January to the end of April, and then, taking advantage of the twilight, the time is gradually extended to one hour and three-quarters at Midsummer, from which point it gradually decreases in the same ratio to the end of September, where it is brought back to one hour after sunset, which position it maintains to the end of December. The graphic diagram more fully explains this description. The vertical lines represent the hours and quarters, and the horizontal lines the months and weeks ; the outer curves indicate the rising and setting of the sun, and the inner stepped curves represent the mean hours of lighting and extinguishing the lamps. Lighting Streets. 161 Jj . *tvo Ooo N N oo oo vQ O Ooovo moo ooOrf-^voNOON . ooor^ovomvooN moo ^ t-^ cj vo o rt-co oo vo m ONVO M >- X "*t m "tf- vo 10 vovO vO t^.vO OO t~ ONOO OOOON'-'O'-'OMN ?r H ei *'i OO t^OO 00 00 t^OO OO 00 t>.OO l^OO t^OO OO 00 t^OO t^OO t^OO OO to w , 10 LO iovo vo t^oo oo ONONO ** >-< N M mm*tf-^Tf-r}-ioioio m M P5 III * VN N ^^mmm^^^^^^^^vo^^^vTvf ^ 1 Q G i-l o 33 O ON ON ON ONOO oo OO t^ t^ t-^vo vovo io>oioiovoTl - T} < ^-^-Th C3 -'OO vomt-ico omooo iom'-*oo >omooo ioro>-* c75 ^ g ^> "*"<" "c/^ "O " " '& "Q | .s OQ 3^ H . O t^ C^ O ON moo ON rj- N Tf vo OOOOONOOOOOOi^Tfm X N O -> f ON ON ONOO ONOO 00 00 t^vo t^ iovO ^- u-> ^ -sf m ro m 3- m 1 a 1 o || 00 t^OO OO t^ t^ t^ t^OO t^OO 00 00 t^OO t>-OO t^OO 00 OO t^OO t^- s (M O ES W ; j 10 ^ ^t" ^~ ro to N OJ i^ *^ O O ON ONOO OO t^ t^vo vo ^O 10 ^ ^J" I 1 'Z |i| ca be lo-tmNiHio^-M Tj-coHHioco ^-cp-< g m CO ^J-OO >- iovo ONmr~ONN lOONO T}-VO 10 t^ N vo PI 10 N , 10 vo 10 vovo vO vo vo VO t^ t^ t> t^OO OOOOOOOO ONONONONO -> ONVO ** ONVO Tj- W W^ M MM 1-.N !-HN HHN M H j .* i. * i iii -I & 3 S ii f 3 y o i % I- H- M* 6 I l_. _ it 9f\ t 4-- Tfl " "PC r 'L _[_ :p 4 1 r 1 i i l Lighting Streets. 163 Another method sometimes adopted by economical local authorities is that by which the public lamps are not lighted on the nights of full moon, nor for two or three nights before and after this period ; the rest of the year they are lighted at sunset. A third method is somewhat similar to the preceding, except that the public lamps are not lighted during the five nights of full moon ; the night after, they are lighted for one hour and extinguished on the rising of the moon. This lighting increases from night to night about three-quarters of an hour until the moon has entirely disappeared, when the lamps are lighted during the whole of the night for five consecutive nights. Then, again, on the appearance of the new moon the lamps are extinguished the first night for about an hour whilst the moon is visible, and this extension increases nightly about three-quarters of an hour, according as the moon appears, until the period of full moon, the intention being to profit by every hour of the moon's light. By this arrangement the lighting is about 2000 hours per annum, instead of 4000 hours, when it is continued throughout the night during the whole of the year. Under this arrangement it must not be forgotten that the nights of full moon are occasionally of the darkest description, and therefore districts are sometimes left in complete darkness for several nights together. Where this method is adopted the following table may be of some service : TABLE OF THE MOON'S RISING AND SETTING. At 4 days old the moon sets about 10 o'clock P.M. 5 6 7 15 16 17 18 19 20 II 5 12 midnight. I A.M. ses 6 P.M. 8* ,' 10 , II 5 12 , . 164 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. In some districts the lamps are not lighted at all during the summer months ; and in others the public lamps are extinguished at midnight all the year round, if not for the whole, for some portions of the district, it being assumed that, all respectable citizens being in bed, no light is required. In some cases every other lamp only is lighted in the summer months, and many other similar variations for the sake of economy may be practised. Of all the methods which I have enumerated as modi- fications of the first, it is, I think, evident that the first is the most satisfactory to the inhabitants, the local authority, their officers and the gas company. It is the least likely to in- troduce disputes ; and, although something may be saved by adopting the more parsimonious methods enumerated, it is found in practice that the first is the best. Of course with the " all-night " principle a saving can, and is, effected by re- ducing the quantity of gas consumed by the lamps at midnight, as it is evident that the same amount of lighting which is necessary for the early hours of darkness is not so necessary as the night progresses, and the majority of the citizens are in their beds. It is, however, of course necessary that the light- ing should be sufficient for police and other purposes, and safety must not be sacrificed to economy. In Liverpool, in 1894, it was decided, after careful experi- ments in consultation with the police, to reduce the lighting power of all the ordinary lamps in the city to one-half their full power, the work commencing at midnight and ending at I A.M. As the hour of midnight is practically the dividing line between that of sunset and sunrise, it is clear that the saving in gas with such an arrangement must amount to about one- fourth of the total consumption, and would be more in cities having a large number of high-power lamps, where the con- sumption may safely be reduced to a minimum of about 5 cubic feet per hour. The charge for labour would probably be increased, as an Lighting Streets. 165 additional visit to the lamps is necessary, but the introduc- tion of such a system, involving a general re-arrangement, may result in a diminution of all the charges under careful re-organisation. The following statement, applying to Liver- pool, which was prepared in 1894, shows the charges under the all-night system, and those of the midnight reduction, gas being taken at 3^. per thousand cubic feet. ANNUAL COST UNDER OLD SYSTEM. Gas for 10,526 lamps, at 2 $s. gd. each .. Lighting, extinguishing, cleaning and main- taining 10,526 lamps, at 17^. 3^. each j. d. 24,078 4 6 9,078 13 6 * d. 11 T Cfi iS O ESTIMATED ANNUAL COST UNDER NEW SYSTEM. Gas for 10,526 lamps, at i 13*. 3 2'5 S'o 4'2 II s 3 -0 S'o 4'2 Lighting Streets. 175 preceding case, the rate of consumption and illuminating value remain unaffected. The variations of pressure shown in the table are those commonly occurring in most districts, and are often exceeded, and therefore the enormous im- portance of using governor burners of reliable make will be apparent. The above experiments were made with 21 -candle gas measured by "The Metropolitan Gas Referee's" Standard Flat-flame Burner. While referring to " The Referees," it may be of interest to note that, following their appointment in 1869, they made the most exhaustive experiments with the gas burners commonly in use in the metropolis, and calculated that over 5OO,ooo/. was annually wasted through the use of bad and unsuitable burners. This related to a period twenty-two years ago, when the gas consumption in the metropolis was very much less than it is to-day. The regulators which I have previously mentioned must be kept in good repair, the work being carried out by the authority which owns them (the local authority or the Gas Company), the other having access to them at all times either for examination or testing. A lever tap is indispens- able with the torch for lighting, as well as the trap door or opening in the lantern through which the torch is inserted. Each public lamp-post should be legibly numbered, and the surveyor should keep a register in his office of all the public lamps in his town. In order to determine the distance apart of the public lamps in a street, it must be remembered that the intensity of light is directly proportional to the illuminating power of the light, and inversely proportional to the square of the distance of the light if unreflected. For instance, the illumination of any point between lamps may be arrived at by adding all the quotients obtained by dividing the illuminating power in standard sperm candles of each lamp, by the square of its distance in yards from the point. SJ'C'S .*| O '-' ^ w oj S w n > ^ -2 ^ * a ^ .^H ro ^ tf^, >-< >> %*t ?* 4 g g ao g^ S> verage Balance imps throughout (exclusive of Co Passage Lam if , -i , M . rt " O oJ >> vo >-> a S S M S^O 'i ? S 'i ?.l J .J-, Tf cj .g COT3 O <^ vS 2 PH PL, PH 8 || 3 rf t < > w t>- ""o ^ o ""O t/3 c 1. O rt d ' n rt ~ - vo >-. > to >~ | 1 II & > ti o o ^3 o o o o 2 ^- w ^ * P < 1 S * O / A \ ^ -^ S3 m H-l y t3 8 8 vo vo 8N OQ fcJO'hVi VO co 5 o? S 'g S> S, vg 8 ll< CO co CO COCO>S^CO < ^-> ^ CO CO T? . xn^ d i2""S a 53 "o ri ^J 0) . Hourly rate of Cc umption of Ordin Street Lamp. o 3 |o 3 ^f -d xo S3 cj CO 1 = ^oS"l s = * : g'i'S ^ sK $ OH - 0? 6 'o -M SfllS o n !/3 "cuo 'a O O 3 ^ rt * * I M 8 JN & 1 -?JBg & PH *> JH a ^J : 6 ^ I < ""^r^ ^ -d 1 o c Is l"| 1 |*| 1 | '- | 4->- 3 ^"S>^ ^ ^^ ^^ ^3 M & -g S3 1 8 o *^ r^H -4-J ""< ^ ^^ t/3 ^^ H") ' p r^ ^-\ ^jTJ tl/J C-> O C ^jQ *^ O tlO T3) cf P^il f 25 ! I fl 3 "o w "^ O S3 o j^ ^ | S3 * ^ ^ ^ "5 g CL| 1. a o 2^3 2 9J Mi* * S ^ |0 <* *^ ^2 S ^ ^ ^ Hfcq HN O OO 00 m rf- 2 g, ggf .If 5 t->. ? io-^^ . 1 1 | 1 : -g : : "& 111 1 -H 1 * x : & 1 pq pq 42 o 2 'Go -r) pq pq pq W U W O W ffi About 50 yards. In business part of town about 25 yds. apart. -, O VO < Ordinary streets, 50 yds., main thoroughfares, 40 yards. Probably 70 yards. tn <*-i |K~| ^ ,r-| >. s|| tn 8 .S 3* f & a S - g g'-sl 3 .S tn o o Ln tn O in tn ! o t-H 8 tn C cJ H- 1 |ll I 1 ^ 0_ OO ^ N CO S into VQ g M R to o CO ^ *O ^"M 00 CO oo T}~ t^" o 00 HH \o CO co^ CO CO CO M CO CO * CO * 3 o CO **. lit! d > CO 1 t" J'O ^ s 1 t>^ rx, ""^ -4-* ^n . *j . m iff T! cr% )_Q 3 'Q' rt *"* 3 ^ o cd +5 o "S d S c5 Q^^"^ g ^ U < tn CO <* . 1-1 en Jr. fl h>T3 w S "-" c e JZ es * * * * "% * * rt g f^ P^H l/^ * n ^ a G C & i ney consuming per hour. Sugg's London Arj No. i. London Argand bi j; London Argand.. Sugg's Governor b King's Photometei London Argand Standard 2 M <3 . CO London Argand . . a i il CO burner. -d IT J 1 J- a S JL> T3 --. rt o tn g- cuS li g l a a vn ^g'c * - 8 'c ^ T N VO w 8 s >, 7 ci u S w ^"2 8 ^ M * ^ 13 ^ g 2" oo OO S ^- rt i i-- u C *j S i m CO D cr 3. VO > *^* ** : : V : : : : : : : g . . g i : ; fl 3 tw 0, tj (U Leicester Newcastle-o Nottingham Oldham Portsmouth Preston I CO Sheffield Southamptc J IS CO 5 co 1 Sunderland Wednesbur; Wolverham N 178 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. Thus, a point midway between two lamps of 1 5 candles each, 20 yards apart/would be reckoned : IOO 100 In this country, the rule has generally been adopted that public street lamps burning 5 cubic feet per hour of 1 5-candle gas should not be placed at a greater distance than 70 yards apart, the average distance in most English towns being about 50 yards. In conclusion, I have given, on the preceding pages, a table showing some particulars of street lighting in various towns in this country, which may be of interest to my readers. 179 CHAPTER XIV. STREET NAMING AND NUMBERING. IT was not until, the commencement of the present century that inconvenience was apparently felt from the want of any distinguishing names of streets, or numbers to houses, either in London or provincial towns ; and even then, for some con- siderable period afterwards, houses or premises were not marked with numbers, but with distinguishing trade signs or names. The Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847, however, contains the following clauses, which are incorporated with the Public Health Act, 1875, by the i6oth section of that Act:- " The commissioners shall from time to time cause the houses and buildings in all or any of the streets* to be marked with numbers as they think fit, and shall cause to be put up or painted on a conspicuous part of some house, building or place, at or near each end, corner or entrance of every such street, the name by which such street is to be known ; and every person who destroys, pulls down or defaces any such number or name, or puts up any number or name different from the number or name put up by the commissioners, shall be liable to a penalty not exceed- * " Street " includes any highway (not being a turnpike road), and any public bridge (not being a county bridge), and any road, lane, footway, square, court, alley or passage, whether a thoroughfare or not (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 4). There seems to be some doubt, however, whether " the commissioners" can alter the name of any street without the concurrence of the owners of the properties abutting on such street. N 2 i8o Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. ing 40s. for every such offence" (10 and n Viet. c. 34, s. 64). "The occupiers of houses and other buildings in the streets shall mark their houses with such numbers as the commissioners approve of, and shall renew such numbers as often as they become obliterated or defaced ; and every such occupier who fails within one week after notice for that purpose from the commissioners to mark his house with a number approved of by the commissioners, or to renew such number when obliterated, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 40^. ; and the commissioners shall cause such numbers to be marked or to be renewed, as the case may require, and the expense thereof shall be repaid to them by such occupier, and shall be recoverable as damages " (10 & II Viet c. 34, s. 65). Some difference even now exists as to the manner in which streets are named, there being considerable diversity in the sizes, colours and materials of the name plates, as well as in the spaces allowed for the letters. The following list is given to show how this diversity existed, in the metropolis in the year 1870. Table taken from a ' Memorandum by the Superintending Architect of the Metropolitan Board of Works, relative to the enforcement of the Law regulating the naming of Streets and numbering of Houses in the Metropolis' (1871) : Parish A. Parish B. Names on houses at corners of streets 237 28l on piers of railings 24 36 6 AA on wooden boards 18 { rr 36 on enamelled plates i 2 impressed in terra cotta 2 3 in cement letters 14 9 in Minton's china letters 2 i engraved on stone S 13 on porcelain plates I i with raised letters on iron girder I on board on posts ii 2 Street Naming and Numbering. 181 And to this table are added the words, " Some names are completely hidden by vines ; names given for ' streets ' are put up as ' roads.' " Since this table was prepared, however, the confusion has been rectified by the energetic action of the Metropolitan Board of Works, and subsequently by the London County Council. It is no doubt essential that for postal, telegraphic and social reasons, there should be uniformity in the manner in which the naming and numbering of streets is carried out, and the following particulars and suggestions may be of use. Names of streets should be marked up in such a manner as to be legible both by day and lamp-light, and the materials of which the name-plates are composed should be of sufficient strength to prevent any damage accruing to them from stone-throwing or other wilful or accidental injury, or from the action of changes of temperature or climatic influences of any kind, and the following list is given descriptive of some of the modern methods of effecting this : Minton's China Tiles. These are white glazed china tiles, 6 inches square, on which either blue or black letters are burnt in, one letter on each tile (except in the case of St., which is on one tile) ; they are fixed by chasing them into walls of buildings and setting them in cement. They are the best description of name-plate with which I am ac- quainted, their cost being only jd. each, with the additional advantages of being not easily broken ; they can be removed and re-used with facility, weather has no effect upon them, and they require no attention whatever after they are once fixed. Cast- iron Plates with Embossed Letters. These are gene- rally painted with a white ground and black letters ; they are liable to become broken, and as they are fixed with screws, these rust through in course of time, when the plate 1 82 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. may suddenly fall in a dangerous manner into the street ; another disadvantage is that they require to be painted about once every three years. Painted Names on Walls of Buildings. This method requires no special mention ; it is an economical plan, and is more adopted than any other, but the letters must be painted every three years at least, and they are apt to be defaced if the premises are painted by the owner or occupier. Enamelled Iron Plates. These look very well, but they are apt to get loose, and a blow from a stone will shiver them. Wooden or Metal Figtires cut out and fastened on to Boards or against Walls. The same objection holds good with this method as with others of the same description ; the fastenings fail in time, and the name disappears. Enamelled Glass Tablets in Street Lamps. This is an excellent method, of recent introduction, and has many advantages. The name can be seen very plainly either by day or night, no private premises have to be interfered with in fixing them, a uniformity of position or "where to look" for the name of the street is secured, and there is no limit to the number of times the name may be repeated.* Encaustic Tiles or Lettering on the Footpath, This is a very recent method, which consists in putting the names of streets in encaustic tiles or letters in concrete slabs, which form part of the footwalk. These slabs can be placed at the corners of streets, and in addition to the name of the street the slab can also contain information as to the north point, the direc- tion of certain public buildings, railway stations, &c., and their distance in yards and other matters. This invention * The law apparently gives the Sanitary Authority power to fix names of streets against any premises they may choose, without first applying for or obtain- ing any consent from either the occupier or owner of such premises. (Vide 10 & ii Viet. c. 34, 5.64.) Street Naming and Numbering. 183 has been patented by a Mr. Frank Wright, of Liverpool, and has certain merits. Where the names of streets are placed against buildings, the letters which compose the name should not be less than 4 inches in height by 2 inches in breadth, with a space between each letter of not less than I inch ; a light colour should always, where practicable, be used for the background, and black or blue for the letters. One great objection to painted letters is that they must be frequently repainted, and in order to do this, ladders have to be raised against the building, which the occupiers naturally object to with- out previous notice ; it is always very annoying to any citizen to have the head of a painter appearing outside his bed-room window at any time, and more especially at an inconvenient hour in the morning. In selecting names for streets it is very important that they should not be duplicated in a town, and also that there should be some sense in their nomenclature ; generally some local association can be found with a family or historical name which is suitable for the street. Nothing is more ridiculous than to see such names as Bath Street or York Road given to streets which have as much association with such places as with Jericho. The street having been properly and conspicuously named, the next point to consider is that of the manner in which it shall be numbered, there being three methods in vogue by which this can be effected. 1. By allotting even numbers on one side of the street and odd numbers on the other side. 2. By allotting consectutive numbers up one side of the street and down the other. 3. By allotting corresponding numbers to both sides of the street which are distinguished by a prefix of north and south, or east and west, as the case may require. 184 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. The first is by far the best method to pursue, for the following reasons : If the street is ever extended after being numbered, the sequence is in no way disturbed. By this method any house can be more easily found, as on reference to a directory it will at once be seen at which end of the street it is situated. If the second method had been adopted this would be im- possible except for the first few numbers, and where a street is of considerable length, with branch streets running into it, this is of the greatest importance. It is the best method also for the Post-Office officials, as it facilitates the district sorting of the letters. Giving each side of the street distinctive prefixes to its name, such as north and south, &c., is evidently a bad plan, and leads to much confusion. In allotting numbers to premises in a street, if it has been already numbered care should be taken to disturb existing numbers as little as possible, for an altered number involves considerable expense as well as inconvenience to the occupier of business or trade premises, owing to the necessity of altering billheads, letter-paper, &c., and sometimes even considerable trouble and expense in order to secure the validity of the title. Avoid numbering from right to left, and take care to allot sufficient numbers to vacant spaces which may eventually be built upon ; and to do this the length of frontage may be divided into such lengths as (in the surveyor's judgment) will represent the new frontages. In any case it is better to have too many numbers in a street than too few, and large premises, and any public or other buildings, which may be removed, and other buildings substituted, should have num- bers allotted to them, although it will not be necessary to serve the notices to have them affixed. Most large shops prefer to have more than one number, although I have heard Street Naming and Numbering. 185 the rather far-fetched contention urged, that more than one number means extra rating. Considerable care must be exercised to ensure that no separate premises are passed over in allotting the numbers, often only a door or side passage denoting the existence of another claimant for a number. Nothing looks worse in a freshly numbered street than to see such numbers as 3/A or 96^ placed upon premises that should have had a distinct numeral, and thus showing that they must have been left out. The manner in which streets are numbered is generally as follows. The town surveyor or one of his assistants walks through the street, and with a piece of chalk legibly marks each house with its correct number, taking care to observe the precau- tions I have enumerated ; having done this throughout its entire length, these numbers must be entered in a book, with the name of the occupier written opposite to the number. Upon returning to the office the surveyor must then fill up and serve the necessary notice upon each of these occupiers, the following being given as a specimen of such notice : Urban Sanitary Authority for the TOWN SURVEYOR'S OFFICE, 189 . I beg leave to give you notice, that the Town Council of , as the Urban Sanitary Authority, have approved of the number for the house in your occupation, in You are therefore required, within one week from the date of this notice [to obliterate the present number, and],* to mark the said house with the number so approved of, and to renew * If the premises have no existing number, these words can be left out. 1 86 Municipal and Sanitary Engineer s Handbook. the same from time to time in the case of its becoming obliterated. A penalty of 40^. will be incurred in the event of default in compliance with this notice. I am, Your obedient Servant, Town Surveyor. To No.. Curiously enough neither of the sections quoted at the beginning of this chapter requires an owner, in express terms, to obliterate his old number. It is conceived, however, that this is a necessary implication. In the event of the old number with which any premises were marked not being obliterated by the occupier, the following notice may be served : Urban Sanitary Authority for the TOWN SURVEYOR'S OFFICE, 189 . It has been reported to the Town Council that you have neglected to obliterate the old number of your premises, No. Street, after receiving notice of a new number being allotted to such premises by the Town Council, whereby you have incurred a penalty of 40-9. The duplication of numbers in the same street was found to be the occasion of so much inconvenience, that the Council were obliged to re-number the street in question, and it is manifest that if a number allotted to another house is retained by you, the inconvenience sought to be removed will still remain. I am therefore instructed to inform you, that unless the old number of your premises is obliterated within seven days Street Naming and Numbering. 187 from the date of this notice, proceedings will be taken against you for the recovery of the penalty incurred. Yours faithfully, Town Surveyor. Of course, if nothing is done after service of this second notice, it only remains to summon the offender for the penalties incurred under the sections of the Act, which I have given in the early part 9f this chapter. In some towns all this trouble is avoided by a local Act conferring powers on the corporation to fix street numbers to premises by means of the staff in their employment. 1 88 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. CHAPTER XV. BREAKING UP STREETS. IN nearly every city and town of the United Kingdom, except those where the gas and water undertakings are the property of the urban authority, the town surveyor is con- stantly annoyed by having some portions of his streets broken up and greatly damaged by the action of the gas or water companies of the district, and latterly by the Electric Supply Companies, and the National Telephone Company. With regard to the great and lasting character of the damage caused to the street by this disturbance of its surface, I shall have something to say in this chapter, but it is first necessary to see what legal powers the companies have to break up the streets, and what powers the surveyor has to enforce the work being properly carried out* It will be found that the sections bearing upon this point are almost precisely similar in their wording in the following Acts : The Gas Works Clauses Act, 1847 (io'& 11 Viet c. 15). The Water Works Clauses Act, 1847 (10 & 11 Viet c. 17). The Electric Lighting Act, 1882 (45 & 46 Viet. c. 56). * In some towns protective clauses in Local Acts have been obtained by the Local Authorities dealing with the conditions under which any undertaking shall be allowed to interfere with the streets, and providing for all the necessary work of opening and reinstatement being carried out by the Local Authority at the sole cost and charges of the persons promoting the undertaking. Breaking up Streets. 189 The last of these Acts, in fact, incorporates the provisions of the first with respect to the breaking up of streets. But with regard to the powers of the Government to lay telegraph and telephone wires, &c., the clauses are different, and are contained in The Telegraphs Act, 1863 (26 & 27 Viet. c. 112). As the clauses on this subject of The Water Works Clauses Act are those which are incorporated with the Public Health Act, 1875, I shall select the sections from that Act, the first of importance being as follows : " The undertakers, under such superintendence as is hereinafter specified, may open and break up the soil and pavement of the several streets and bridges within the limits of the special Act, and may open and break up any sewers, drains or tunnels, within or under such streets or bridges, and lay down and place within the same limits, pipes, conduits, service pipes, and other works and engines, and from time to time repair, alter or remove the same, and for the purposes aforesaid remove and use all earth and materials in and under such streets and bridges, and do all other acts which the undertakers shall from time to time deem necessary for supplying water * to the inhabitants of the district included within the said limits ; doing as little damage as can be t in the execution of the powers hereby or by the special Act granted, and making compensation for any damage which may be done in the execution of such powers" (10 & n Viet. c. 17, s. 28). The next clause deals only with the powers of laying * The corresponding sections in the other Acts of course apply to gas or electricity, as the case may be. t In a case under s. 26 of the Railways Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845 (which provides that in the exercise of their powers the company shall do "as little damage as may be "), it was held that these words apply only to the manner of doing the work the modus operandi and do not oblige the undertakers to adopt the less injurious of two alternative schemes (Reg. v. East and West India Dock Company, 22 L. J. Q. B. 380). 190 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. pipes, &e., in private property, and here it will be well to remark, that if the water undertaking is in the hands of the urban authority they have much more power of entry for these purposes than companies possess (Vide ss. 16, 18, 32 & 54, 38 & 39 Viet. c. 55), but this is a matter which does not affect the questions dealt with in this chapter. The next clause deals with the subject of giving the necessary notices, and is as follows : " Before the undertakers * open or break up any street, bridge, sewer, drain or tunnel, they shall give to the persons under whose control or management the same may be, or to their clerk, surveyor or other officer, notice in writing of their intention to open or break up the same, not less than three clear days before beginning such work, except in cases of emergency arising from defects in any of the pipes or other works, and then so soon as is possible after the beginning of the work or the necessity for the same shall have arisen " (10 & II Viet. c. 17, s. 30). The next clause is of great importance, as it gives the surveyor the necessary powers to dictate the manner in which the interference with his streets is to be conducted. " No such street, bridge, sewer, drain or tunnel shall, except in the cases of emergency aforesaid, be opened or broken up except under the superintendence of the persons having the control or management thereof, or of their officer^ and according to such plan f as shall be approved of by such persons or their officer, or in case of any difference respecting * In the Gas Works Clauses Act, 1847 (s. 8), the words "proceed to" are inserted before the word *' open," which is an obvious improvement. t It is incumbent upon the undertakers intending to break up a road to com- municate beforehand their proposed plan or method of executing the work to the road authority, and this in a sufficient manner to enable the road authority to judge whether what is proposed ought to be done without modification. The plan should, therefore, show the position on the road of the proposed excavation, and its depth. (Edgware Highway Board v. Colne Valley Water Company, 46 L. J. c. 889. And see East Molesey Local Board v. Lambeth Water Works Company [1892], 30. 289; 69 L. J. c. 82.) Breaking up Streets. 191 such plan, as shall be determined by two justices ; and such justices may, on the application of the persons having the control or management of any such sewer or drain, or their officer, require the undertakers to make such temporary or other works as they may think necessary for guarding against any interruption of the drainage during the execution of any works which interfere with any such sewer or drain : Pro- vided always, that if the persons having such control or management as aforesaid, and their officer, fail to attend at the time fixed for the opening of any such street, bridge, sewer, drain or tunnel, after having had such notice of the intention of the undertakers as aforesaid, or shall not propose any plan for breaking up or opening the same, or shall refuse or neglect to superintend the operation, the undertakers may perform the work specified in such notice without the super- intendence of such persons or their officer" (TO & n Viet, c. i/.s. 31). There are several points to which it is necessary to draw attention whilst considering the above clause. I am afraid that the " attendance " of the surveyor " at the time fixed for the opening," or even of one of his assistants, could not always be managed, nor would it be practicable to prepare a " plan " for every opening that might be made by a gas or water company for new services, leaks in mains, &c. ; but where it is proposed to carry out any extensive works, such as laying a considerable length of new main, or re- moving an old one, it is certainly necessary that there should be some " plan " of the manner in which such work is pro- posed to be carried out by the company. On considering the clause it is found to leave something to be desired in the matter of clearness and explicitness. The street is not to be broken up except under the superin- tendence of the local authority or their officer (i.e. the surveyor), and according to such " plan " as approved by him, or (in case of difference) determined by two justices ; and 1 92 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. then there is a proviso that if the authority or their officer shall not "propose any plan" the work may be performed without such superintendence. The case referred to in the footnote on page 190, shows that the original "plan" must be prepared by or on behalf of the company proposing to carry out the work, and must show the exact position on each street of the proposed excavations, and their depth, &c. The term "plan" as used in the proviso would seem rather to mean a specification of the manner in which the company shall proceed with the work, which must, of course, be pre- pared by the surveyor. This, if approved by the authority, could, it is conceived, be enforced, subject to the discretion of two justices to modify it at the instance of the company. In order to assist town surveyors who may be required to act under this clause, I now give a verbatim copy of a " plan " or specification, under which I compelled a gas company to work after they had given me the usual statutory notice of their intention to break up certain macadamised streets for the purpose of removing some disused mains. Plan of the manner in which the Gas Light and Coke Company shall take up and remove the old mains in Street, commencing at or near Street. A trench to be excavated of not greater width than inches and of no greater length than feet at a time. Great care must be taken to keep the top facing metal separate from the lower formation of the roadway, so that they may not become mixed together ; no metal is on any account to be removed from the street. The mains must be taken up with all possible speed, and instantly conveyed away, without being allowed to remain at the sides of the streets.* * This precaution was necessary, as the smell of the old mains was naturally very offensive and a nuisance. Breaking up Streets. 193 The trench to be then at once filled in, care being taken to replace all the materials of which the roadway is formed in their proper positions. All extra filling in that may be required owing to the removal of the mains shall be done on the surface with the best stone, broken so as to pass all ways through a ring of 2j inches internal diameter, the top of the trench being always kept flush with the surface contour of the roadway. No earth, rubbish or other material shall be allowed to be brought on to the ground by the gas company for the purpose of filling in, nor shall any material of any kind be allowed to be brought from any other excava- tions that may be being made by the gas company in other parts of the town for the purpose of laying or removing mains. The filling in to be done in the proportion of one man filling to two men ramming with punners of not less weight than Ibs. each. During dry weather a plentiful supply of water must be allowed to run into the trench, whilst the filling in is in progress, for the purpose of consolidating the ground. The traffic must not in any case be impeded, and planks must be placed across the excavations, where necessary, for the convenience of foot passengers. The work shall, if necessary, be suspended on market days, or any other days that the surveyor may deem proper for the convenience of the public. The next clause of the Act deals with the manner in which the companies shall reinstate and make good the road or pavement, and is as follows : "When the undertakers open or break up the road or pavement of any such bridge or street, or any sewer, drain or tunnel, they shall with all convenient speed complete the work for which the same shall be broken up, and fill in the O 194 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. ground and reinstate and make good the road or pave- ment, or the sewer, drain, or tunnel so opened or broken up, and carry away the rubbish occasioned thereby ; and shall at all times, whilst any road or pavement shall be so opened or broken up, cause the same to be fenced and guarded, and shall cause a light sufficient for the warning of passengers to be set up, and kept there against every night during which such road or pavement shall be continued open or broken up, and shall, after replacing and making good the road or pave- ment which shall have been so broken up, keep the same in good repair for three months thereafter, and such further time, if any, not being more than twelve months in the whole, as the soil so broken up shall continue to subside" (10 & ii Viet c. 17, s. 32). The conditions embodied in the above clause are easier written than carried out. It is well known that a trench, cut longitudinally or trans- versely through a street, takes a very long time to heal. Asphalte shows it the least, if there is a good backing of concrete, but all other pavements suffer considerably in the process, as it is almost impossible to maintain their strict contour, and with macadamised roadways the result is simply disastrous. Opening a macadamised roadway does it more harm than the heaviest and most persistent traffic, and it is surprising for what a length of time the surface will show the treatment it has received. It is unfortunately the practice generally for the men in the employ of a gas or water company, after laying a pipe, to try and ram into the trench all the material they have removed, without allowing for the cubical contents taken up by the pipe, or if they do condescend to cart anything away it is generally the metal, which they think will come in nicely for the repairs of the trench during their liability for such repairs. What ought to be done is, that no filling of ordinary'- Breaking up Streets. 195 earth, &c., should be allowed to come within at least six inches of the top of the trench, which should then be rilled in with good road metal, and as this wears down it should be brought up to the proper level with more metal. In the former plan a hump is seen over the trench, and this hump is a mass of mixed dirt and road metal, for which there is no cure but its entire removal to a depth of at least six inches and the substitution of good clean road metal, which would have been the best and most economical plan in the first place. The clauses following those I have quoted are " penalty clauses" for non-compliance with the provisions of the Act, and need not be here given, but there is one more clause of the Water Works Clauses Act, 1 847, dealing with the powers of private individuals to break up streets for the purpose of laying service pipes, which it is necessary to give in extenso. On the question of similar powers to private individuals to break up streets for drains, &c., I shall speak later on in this chapter. "Any such owner or occupier may open or break up so much of the pavement of any street as shall be between the pipe of the undertakers and his house, building or premises, and any sewer or drain therein, for any such purpose as afore- said, doing as little damage as may be and making compen- sation for any damage done in the execution of any such work ; provided always, that every such owner or occupier desiring to break up the pavement of any street or any sewer or drain therein, shall be subject to the same necessity of giving previous notice, and shall be subject to the same control, restrictions and obligations in and during the time of breaking up the same, and also reinstating the same, and to the same penalties for any delay in regard thereto, as the undertakers are subject to by virtue of this or the special Act" (10 & n Viet. c. 17, s. 52). It would also seem that the consent of the urban authority must be obtained (as well as notice given to them) before a o 2 196 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. street is broken up (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 149). But where a company has a special Act passed before this Act, this provision will not affect their powers.* Very often, however, the companies prefer to execute all this work themselves, as they do not like any one else to interfere with their mains or put in services which may be unfitted for the purpose ; consequently they give the neces- sary notices, execute the work themselves, and charge the owner or occupier with the expense. The powers under which streets are broken up for tele- graphic or telephonic purposes are, as I have previously stated, contained in the Telegraphs Act, 1863, the following being the clauses which refer to this subject : "The company shall not place a telegraph under any street within the limits of the district over which the authority of the Metropolitan Board of Works extends, or of any city or municipal borough or town corporate, or of any town having a population of thirty thousand inhabitants or up- wards (according to the latest census), except with the consent of the bodies having the control of the streets within such respective limits" (26 & 27 Viet. c. 112, s. 9). " Where the company has obtained consent to the placing, or by virtue of the powers of the company under this Act intends to proceed with the placing of a telegraph under a street or public road, the depth, course and position at and in which the same is to be placed shall be settled between the company and the following bodies : " The body having the control of the street or public road. " The body having the control of the sewerage or drainage thereunder. " But if such settlement is not come to with any such body the following provisions shall take effect : " I. The company may give to such body a notice, speci- * London and Blackwall Railway Company v. Lintehouse District Board of Works, 26 L. J. c. 164). Breaking up Streets. 197 fying the depth, course and position which the company desires. " 2. If the body to whom such notice is given does not, within 28 days after the giving of such notice, give to the company a counter-notice objecting to the proposal of the company, and specifying the depth, course and position which such body desires, they shall be deemed to have agreed to the proposal of the company. " 3. In the event of ultimate difference between the com- pany and such body, the depth, course and position shall be determined in England or Ireland by two Justices, and in Scotland by two Justices or the Sheriff" (26 & 27 Viet. c. 112, s. 10). "Subject to any special stipulations made with a company by the body having the control of a street or public road, and to any determinations, orders or directions of the Justices, or Sheriff, as aforesaid, where the company proceeds to open or break up a street or public road, the following provisions shall take effect : " I. The company shall give to the bodies between whom respectively and the company the depth, course and position of a telegraph under such street or public road are herein- before required to be settled or determined, notice of their intention to open or break up such street or public road, specifying the time at which they will begin to do so, such notice to be given, in the case of an underground work, ten days at least, and in the case of an aboveground work, five days at least before the commencement of the work, except in case of emergency, in which case notice of the work pro- posed shall be given as soon as may be after the commence- ment thereof. " 2. The Company shall not (save in case of emergency) open or break up any street or public road except under the superintendence of the bodies to whom respectively notice is by the present section required to be given, unless such 198 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers' Handbook. bodies respectively refuse or neglect to give such super- intendence at the time specified in the notice for the com- mencement of the work or discontinue the same during the work. "3. The company shall pay all reasonable expenses to which such bodies respectively may be put on account of such superintendence" (26 & 27 Viet. c. 112, s. 17). It will be seen by the above section that the time required before the work is commenced after service of the notice is considerably longer than that for gas or water mains or for electric lighting wires, and sub-section 3 authorises a payment for the services of the surveyor or other officer attending to superintend the work, which is not the case in the other Acts. The next clauses are as follows : " Subject to any such special stipulations as aforesaid, after the company has opened or broken up a street or public road they shall be under the following further ob- ligations : " I. They shall with all convenient speed complete the work on account of which they opened or broke up the same, and fill in the ground and make good the surface, and generally restore the street or public road to as good a condition as that in which it was before being opened or broken up, and carry away all rubbish occasioned thereby : "2. They shall in the meantime cause the place where the street or public road is opened or broken up to be fenced and watched, and to be properly lighted at night : " 3. They shall pay all reasonable expenses of keeping the street or public road in good repair for six months after the same is restored, so far as such expenses may be in- creased by such opening or breaking up ..." (26 & 27 Viet. c. 112, s. 18.) " Whenever the permanent surface or soil of any street or public road is broken up or opened by the company it shall Breaking up Streets. 199 be lawful for the body having the control of the street or road, in case they think it expedient so to do, to fill in the ground, and to make good the pavement or surface or soil so broken up or opened, and to carry away the rubbish oc- casioned thereby, instead of permitting such work to be done by the company ; and the cost and expenses of filling in such ground, and making good the pavement or soil so broken up or opened, shall be repaid on demand to the body having the control of the street or road by the company, and in default thereof may be recovered by the body having the control of the street or road from the company, as a penalty is or may be recoverable from the company " (26 & 27 Viet, c. 112, s. 19). "The company shall not stop or impede traffic in any street or public road, or into or out of any street or public road, further than is necessary for the proper execution of their works. They shall not close against traffic more than one-third in width of any street or public road or of any way opening into any street or public road at one time ; and in case two-thirds of such street or road are not wide enough to allow two carriages to pass each other, they shall not occupy with their works at one time more than fifty yards in length of the one-third thereof except with the special consent of the body having the control thereof" (26 & 27 Viet. c. 1 1 2, s. 20). It will be seen that these are much more elaborate clauses restricting the rights of the telegraph companies than those of the gas and water companies, &c., and as the Telegraphs Act containing these strict clauses was passed in the year 1863, and the Water Works Clauses Act in 1847, it is fair to assume that the clauses of the Telegraphs Act, 1863, were framed to meet certain objections to these clauses and upon experience of their working, and are consequently better and more adapted for the case in point. Since these Acts were passed, another Act has become 2OO Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. law, viz. the Telegraph Act, 1892 (55 & 56 Viet c. 59), and the powers under which the Telephone Company now lays its wires underground are under the Telegraphs Acts, 1863 and 1878, and under section 5 of this Act, which is as follows : " I. Where the Postmaster-General has, either before or after the passing of this Act, licensed any company or person to transmit any telegrams within the meaning of the Tele- graph Acts, 1863 to 1889, he may, by the same or any other licence, authorise such company or person (in this Act referred to as the licensee), during the time and within the area specified in the licence, to exercise the powers which are conferred on the Postmaster-General by the Telegraph Acts, 1863 and 1878, and by the provisions of this Act relating to Provisional Orders, or such of those powers as are specified in the licence, and thereupon the enactments conferring those powers or relating to the exercise thereof, including any penal provisions, shall apply accordingly : ff 2. Provided as follows : (a) A licensee shall not exercise any powers under the said enactments except in an urban sanitary dis- trict, or such area adjoining an urban sanitary district as is described in the licence : (b) Notwithstanding anything in the Telegraph Act, 1878, a licensee shall not exercise any powers under the said enactments without the consent, in London of the county council, and in any urban sanitary district outside London of the urban sanitary authority, and elsewhere of the county council, and shall be subject to any terms and conditions which the county council or urban sanitary authority may attach to any such consent, and shall comply with any regulations of such council or authority from time to time in force in relation to telegraphic lines. Under this section it is necessary for an urban sanitary Breaking up Streets. 201 authority to enter into an agreement with the company, of which the following may be taken as a model : sgemorantium of agreement made the day of 1896, between the MAYOR, ALDERMEN and CITIZENS of the City of (hereinafter called " the Corporation ") of the one part and the NATIONAL TELEPHONE COMPANY, LIMITED, Oxford Court, Cannon Street, London, E.C. (hereinafter called " the Com- pany") of the other part. QtyZW&& the Company have applied to the Corporation to sanction the exercise by the Company within the City of of the powers of the Postmaster-General under the Telegraph Acts, 1863 and 1878, conferred on the Company by the Postmaster- General under the powers of the Telegraph Act, 1892. #n& toljenag the Company are prepared if such sanction is given to con- vert the single wire system of telephones within the City of into what is known as the twin wire system. 3It ft Ijerebp agreed && follotog : 1. The Corporation consent to the exercise by the Com- pany of such of the powers of the Postmaster-General under the Telegraph Acts, 1863 to 1892, as may be conferred on the Company by the Postmaster-General under the powers of the Telegraph Act, 1892, subject to the restrictions, limitations and conditions hereinafter contained. 2. The Company undertake to lay the twin wire system in substitution for the single wire system throughout the City of with all reasonable despatch, subject to the pro- visions contained in this Agreement with regard to the carry- ing out of the works. 3. Any work the execution of which will involve the breaking up of a street or streets shall from time to time be executed either by the Corporation themselves or a Con- tractor employed by them or by the Company, or partly in one way and partly in another as the Corporation may decide. 2O2 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. 4. In any case where the Corporation agree that the works shall be executed by the Company, such works shall only be carried out in accordance with such plans and sections (showing the positions, lines, levels, and dimensions of the trenches, manholes, and junction boxes in the streets within which tubes are to be placed) as shall be approved of by the Corporation. The trenches shall be of such structure and strength as the Surveyor of the Corporation (hereinafter called the City Surveyor) shall require. The Company shall within one month after any such works have been completed pay the Corporation the salary paid to any Inspector or other official of the Corporation instructed by the City Surveyor to super- vise the carrying out of the said works, during the period occupied in the construction of the works. 5. If the Corporation decide to carry out any work them- selves or through a Contractor employed by them, such works shall only be carried out in accordance with such plans and sections (showing the positions, lines, levels, and dimensions of the trenches, manholes, and junction boxes, in the streets within which tubes are to be placed) as shall be approved of by the Corporation. The trenches shall be of such structure and strength as the City Surveyor shall require. The Com- pany shall provide at their own cost the iron socket tubes and junction boxes necessary to be laid down or constructed for the purposes of this Agreement, and the same will then be placed in position by the servants or Contractors of the Corporation. The laying of the tubes and the jointing thereof shall be under the immediate superintendence of the Engineer of the Company, and on the sole responsibility of the Com- pany. The Company will from time to time on demand pay to the Corporation the cost incurred by the Corporation in the execution of the works, including the making good of all flagging and paving, and reinstating the streets, and including the charge of 5 per cent, on the total cost of the work done and materials provided by the Corporation. Breaking up Streets. 203 6. No such work as aforesaid shall be carried out under this Agreement except in and across or along such streets as the Corporation may approve. 7. Notwithstanding any powers contained in the Tele- graph Acts, 1863 to 1892, to place or maintain posts in or upon any street or public road, no post or pole shall be placed in, upon, or hanging over any street without the consent of the Corporation, which consent may be given on such terms as the Corporation may think fit. Notwithstanding anything in the Telegraph Acts, 1863 to 1892, the decision of the Corporation on any application of the Company to lay or place telegraphic lines, posts or poles, in, under, upon, or over any street, or with respect to any other application of the Company affecting any street, shall be final and binding on the Company. Nothing herein contained shall be deemed to limit or interfere with the exercise by the Company of any right or power which prior to this Agreement they were by law entitled to exercise. 8. If at any time repairs or alterations to works executed under this Agreement are required, which will involve the interference with any street or the paving thereof, such altera- tions and repairs shall be carried out in manner hereinbefore provided with regard to any work to be executed under this Agreement in connection with the breaking up of streets. 9. The Company shall for the period of six months after the work has been completed in any street, repair and make good to the satisfaction of the City Surveyor any defects which may arise in the paving or flagging of such street, in consequence of the execution of the said work. 10. The Company will in consideration of the premises pay to the Corporation during the continuance of this Agree- ment a rental or annual payment made up and payable as follows, viz. (a) A charge of per annum for each subscriber to the Central Telephonic Exchange of the 2O4 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. Company, whose wires are carried through any tube to be laid under any street, the minimum number of subscribers to be charged for to be equal to a minimum rental of per annum. (b) A sum of per annum for and in respect of each large junction box, and a further sum of per annum in respect of each small junction box. (c) For the purpose of assessing and ascertaining the aforesaid annual payment or rental the Company shall from time to time upon demand furnish to the Corporation such full particulars, information and ac- counts as may from time to time be necessary for that purpose, and shall whenever so required by the Cor- poration afford the Corporation full opportunity and means of verifying such particulars, information and accounts respectively. (d) The aforesaid annual payment or rental shall be payable to the Corporation by equal quarterly pay- ments on every the 2 5th day of March, the 24th day of June, the 2Qth day of September, and the 25th day of December, the first of such quarterly payments to be made on the first of the said quarter days next after any wire placed in the said tubes has been first brought into use by the Company. 11. The Company shall obtain access to the said tubes, and place, remove and repair their wires therein only by means of the manholes and junction boxes and shall not in any way break up or interfere with the streets within the City, except subject to the provisions hereinbefore contained. The wires from the said tubes are not without the consent of the Corporation to be connected with the subscribers' premises save by means of any distributing standards to be erected on private property. 12. In order to diminish the number of overhead wires in the City all wires (other than distributing wires) capable Breaking up Streets. 205 of being placed in the aforesaid underground tubes shall be so placed, and such precautions shall be taken by the Company in the method of laying and encasing the wires, as shall be best calculated to resist leakage from other electrical wires. 13. The scale of charges for Telephone service at present applied to the Central Telephonic Exchange of the Company shall not be increased beyond the present amounts, as set out in the Schedule hereto, and such scale subject to any reduction that may be made as hereinafter mentioned shall be equal in its application throughout the City, and every citizen of prepared to pay the charge and to sign the Company's usual form of agreement for an exchange line, shall have the right to demand the telephonic service to his premises in and the service to be provided in pursuance of such demand shall be constant and continuous. 14. No monopoly is to be conferred by this Agreement but the Corporation reserve full right to make any arrange- ments they may think proper in regard to their placing or allowing to be placed telephone wires other than those of the Company under the streets of the City. 15. The Company shall hold the Corporation free from liability to any claim for compensation from the Company in respect of any damage or injury to the wires or telephone system of the Company, which may arise, from the existence in the said streets or any of them of the electric lighting mains or services of the Corporation. 1 6. The powers conferred on the Company under the Telegraph Acts, 1863 to 1892, and by this Agreement, shall in no way enable the Company to interfere with the rights of the Corporation their Lessees or Licensees to use electricity or electric energy for purposes of lighting, motor power, tram- ways, or electric traction or otherwise and there shall be no right on the part of the Company for an injunction, or to 206 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. claim damages in respect of leakage, induction or otherwise arising from or by reason of any present or future undertaking of the Corporation or their Lessees or Licensees, and the powers and rights of the Company under any of the Tele- graph Acts or this Agreement, shall not be exercised or enforced by the Company so as to prevent or interfere with the Corporation in laying, extending, altering or managing their sewers, water mains and Electric Lighting apparatus, or Tramways, or electrical or other apparatus in connection with Tramways belonging to the Corporation or their Lessees, and the works to be executed under this Agreement shall remain subject at all times to the requirements of the Corporation in regard to the said sewers, water mains, Electric Lighting apparatus and Tramways. 17. The Company shall indemnify the Corporation their Contractors, servants, and officers from and against any claim which may be made upon them, or any of them by reason of any accident, injury, loss or damage which may happen or arise in or during the construction, existence, reparation or removal of such trenches, manholes, tubes, wires or junction boxes in the said streets, or of any of the works provided for by this Agreement or in relation thereto, and from and against any costs, damages, and expenses occasioned thereby or which they may incur or have to pay or be put into by and in con- sequence thereof. 1 8. Nothing herein contained shall render the Corporation liable for any injury to the said trenches, manholes, tubes, junction boxes or wires which shall be caused in repairing or in laying down, repairing or maintaining other trenches, tubes, water mains or pipes or sewers in any of the said streets or any part thereof, or in repairing or paving the said streets or any part or parts thereof, or any other operations of the Corporation. 19. If the Corporation shall at any time hereafter require to lay down any water mains or pipes or Electric Lighting Breaking up Streets. 207 apparatus or construct any sewer or sewers or determine to repair or alter any existing mains, pipe, apparatus, or sewers in or under any of the streets within the City or to carry out any other works or operations in such streets or any part thereof and any trenches, manholes, junction boxes, tubes or works laid down or executed under the terms of this Agree- ment shall be found to obstruct or interfere with the works or operations proposed to be carried out by the Corporation, it shall be lawful for the Corporation, after giving to the Com- pany seven days' notice in writing of their intention so to do, to take up and remove any such trenches, manholes, junc- tion boxes, tubes and other works laid down or executed under and in pursuance of this Agreement, or such and so much thereof as shall be mentioned in any such notice, and the Corporation shall relay and construct such trenches, man- holes, junction boxes, tubes and other works so taken up as aforesaid, in such position or positions, lines or courses as the City Surveyor may think desirable, and any costs or expenses that the Corporation may be put to in consequence of the presence of such trenches, manholes, junction boxes, tubes or works laid down or executed under this Agreement, shall be paid by the Company to the Corporation. The Certificate of the City Surveyor as to the amount of any such costs or expenses shall be final and conclusive. 20. The Corporation may, after passing a special resolu- tion, of which due notice shall be given, and after hearing the Company, if the Company require to be heard, at any time determine this Agreement by giving to the Company six months' notice in writing of their intention to determine the same. Upon the expiration of the said notice the Company shall and will by means of the said manholes and junction boxes, withdraw and remove the said wires when twenty- eight days shall have elapsed from the expiring of the said notice, and whether or not the Company shall have removed the said wires as aforesaid, the Corporation may remove the 208 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. said manholes, tubes and junction boxes and the wires (if any) therein from underneath the streets. The Company shall remove from the surface of the street the said tubes, man- holes, junction boxes and wires as removed by the Corpora- tion from underneath the streets, and shall upon demand pay to the Corporation the cost incurred by the Corporation in the removal of the said tubes, manholes, junction boxes, and wires, including the making good of all flagging and paving and reinstating the streets. If the Company make default in the removal of the said tubes, manholes, junction boxes, and wires, or any of them, from the surface of the street as afore- said, it shall be lawful for the Corporation to remove the same to some convenient place and to sell or dispose of the same, and out of the proceeds of such sale to reimburse them- selves all costs incurred by them which may not be paid by the Company, handing the surplus to the Company. 21. The words "street" or "streets" in this Agreement shall have the same meaning as the word " street " in the Public Health Act, 1875. 22. If at any time the Company shall make an agreement with the Council of some other City or Borough to pay higher rentals for the wires carried under ground than those hereby reserved, then they shall, if required by the Corporation, pay the like rentals instead of those hereby reserved, and in the event of the Company reducing the present charges to sub- scribers in any City or Borough (other than those within the Metropolitan area) with an estimated population of 200,000 and upwards below those at present in operation in , then they shall, if required by the Corporation, reduce the charges to subscribers within the City of to similar amounts. 31 n toitttt00 whereof the Corporation and the Company have caused their Common Seals to be respectively hereunto affixed, the day and year first above written. Breaking up Streets. 209 THE SCHEDULE ABOVE REFERRED TO. For the first connection within one mile of any Exchange . . . per annum For each quarter-rriile or pdrtion of a quarter-mile beyorid the first mile . For the second connection and each additional connection within one mile of any Exchange . JFor each quarter-mile or portion of a quarter-mile beyond the first mile" . To obviate all the difficulties and co'mplications arising oiit of this constarit breaking up of streets, with the attendant incdnveniehce to the piiblic and damage to the surfaces of the roadways, it was suggested many years ago that Subways should be constructed undfer the surface of trie principal streets, iri which should be placed all the gas and water mains then existing. And there is no doiibt that such a scheme, if properly carried out, would have obviated the difficulties which I have enumerated. In the construction of these subways, hbwever, pro- vision would helve had to be made for the future, and it is doubtful if, twenty years ago, engineers would have foreseen the growth of the requirements of large cities. Gas mains are now four times as large ds they were then, and electric cables and hydraulic pressure mains were unknown. It is, however, " never too late to mend," and the sooner subways are provided in the principal streets the better, as, irrespec- tive of the damage caused to their surfaces by breaking them up, many of the streets of our large cities are absolutely full of pipes or mains of some description or other, and there is no space for any more, except at most inconvenient depths. I will now pass on to consider the powers of individuals p 2io Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. to break the surface of public streets for the purpose of putting new drains to their premises, or of repairing existing drains. With reference to the former" question, I have given full particulars with regard to new drains or connections with sewers in the chapter upon " House Drainage," but as to the latter question, it will be necessary to make a few remarks. There is no doubt that the public streets vest in the urban authority, and it is contended that the following clause of the Public Health Act, 1875, prevents any person from breaking up any street without their permission, although it is some- times questioned whether the words " wilfully displaces " do not mean the doing of an Illegal act, such as taking up a stone in a street to annoy or injure a neighbour, or from sheer mischief, rather than that of a legal act for a proper purpose. The clause in question is as follows : "All streets being, or which at any time become highways repairable by the inhabitants at large within any urban dis- trict and the pavement stones and other materials thereof, and all building implements and other things provided for the purposes thereof, shall vest in and be under the control of the urban authority. . . . Any person who, without the consent of the urban authority, wilfully displaces or takes up, or who injures the pavement stones, materials, fences, or posts of, or the trees in, any such street, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds, and to a further penalty not exceeding five shillings for every square foot of pavement stones or other materials so displaced, taken up or injured ; he shall also be liable, in the case of any injury to trees, to pay to the local authority such amount of compensation as the court may award" (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 149). Even, however, granting that application must be made before any individual can break up a street, the urban authority would not be likely to withhold their consent if it Breaking up Streets. 2 1 1 was for a legitimate purpose ; and having disturbed the street, a person must light and guard the openingj and the " hole," as it is called in the clauses following, must be " filled up or otherwise made secure " ; but it is very doubtful if he can be called upon to keep the surface of the road in repair for any length of time, as can be done In the case of water and gas companies, &c. The following are the clauses in question : " When any building materials, rubbish or other things are laid or any hole made in any of the streets, whether the same be done by order of the commissioners or not, the person causing such materials or other things to be so laid, or such hole to be made, shall at his own expense cause a sufficient light to be fixed in a proper place upon or near the same, and continue such light every night from sun-setting to sun-rising while such materials or hole remain. And such person shall at his own expensfe cause such materials or other things and such hole to be sufficiently fenced and enclosed until such materials or other things are removed, or the hole filled up or otherwise made secure ..." (10 & n Viet, c. 34,8.8 1.) " In no case shall any such building materials or other things or such hole be allowed to remain for an unnecessary time . . ." (10 & ii Viet. c. 34, s. 82.) " If any building, or hole, or any other place near any street be, for want of sufficient repair, protection or inclosure, dangerous to the passengers along such street, the commis- sioners shall cause the same to be repaired, protected or in- closed, so as to prevent danger therefrom, and the expenses of such repair, protection or inclosure shall be repaid to the com- missioners by the owner of the premises so repaired, protected or inclosed, and shall be recoverable from him as damages " (10 & ii Viet. c. 34, s. 83). These three sections are incorporated in the Public Health Act, 1875 (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55), by s. 160, and the last clause P 2 212 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. undoubtedly gives power to the urban authority to repair a " hole " which for want of " sufficient repair " is " dangerous to passengers/' but not otherwise, in however unsightly a manner the trench may have been repaired. The result of this uncertainty has been that a great many towns have inserted in their private improvement Acts, clauses making it compulsory upon all persons to give them from three to seven days' notice of their intention to break up the streets, specifying the manner in which the work shall be done, and also compelling them to deposit a sum of money in order to secure that the repairs of the street are properly executed.* A better method than this is to insert in any private improvement Act a clause giving powers to the urban authority to execute all drain work themselves and charge it upon the owners of the property, thus ensuring that any interference with the surface of the street shall be done in^ a proper manner by men accustomed to the work, and also that the drain itself shall be of perfect workmanship. Where the town surveyor has no private improvement Act dealing with this question, it is well to frame some regulations as to the manner in which the notice of inten- tion to break up the surface of the street shall be given to him by the person intending to do the work, and if possible to obtain a deposit of money as a guarantee that the surface of the street shall be kept in something like decent repair. Although this may not be strictly legal, it is a very universal practice amongst towri surveyors. The following forms are given as specimens of the de- scription of notice now in use, and are copied verbatim from those which are now enforced in a very large borough in this country : * In some towns it is the practice to give the builder a junction pipe or block for nothing, thus ensuring his calling to give notice, but this is only successful in the case of new attachments to sewers, in which case the law is much more strict. Breaking up Streets. 213 Borough of 4 To THE BOROUGH SURVEYOR, I hereby apply for permission to break up the footway or roadway, and make excavations in for the purpose of , and I hereby undertake to light, watch and fence the place during the progress of the works, to temporarily make good the surface of the footway or roadway, to remove all rubbish, and to execute and complete the work to the satisfaction of the borough surveyor. I also deposit the sum of for the repair of the surface, and agree to pay the balance if it should cost more than that sum. (Signature) (Address) Witness and receiver Received by accountant 189 . Surface repaired 189 . At a cost of Borough of 189 . To Mr. This is to certify that you have paid a deposit of , and that you are hereby permitted to take up the footway or roadway and make excavations in for the purpose of on the undertaking you have given to light, watch and fence the place during the progress of the works, to temporarily make good the surface of the footway or roadway, to remove all rubbish and to execute and complete the work to the satisfaction of the borough surveyor ; also that you 'will pay the balance if the surface repairs should cost more than the aforesaid sum of Borough Surveyor. NOTE. If the surface repairs should cost less than the 214 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. deposited sum, the balance will be returned to you by the accountant, who will notify you of the fact. Notice must be given to the Building Inspector when the work is ready for inspection, and no drainage work must be covered up until it has been examined by the Inspector. It may be well to add to this authority to break up the streets, the following words : " This authority may be revoked at any time if found necessary, and it does not in any way relieve the person to whom it is granted from any liabilities -he may incur in respect of accidents from anything done in pursuance thereof." In some towns the following custom prevails in regard to this question : The person desirous of opening the street for the execution of any work has to apply to the surveyor for a licence, and at the same time deposit a sum sufficient to cover the expense of the work, such sum being estimated and fixed by the surveyor. The corporation then supply one labourer whilst the job is in hand, who, whilst working, takes care that the soil is properly rammed and the surface made good ; a mason is also supplied to make any drainage or sewer connections. The deposit is kept for about three months, and the cost of the labourer and mason, and of any subsequent making good the surface of the street is then deducted, an4 the balance returned to the person who made the deposit. This arrangement seems an excellent plan, and is said to work remarkably well where it is in vogue, but whether it is strictly legal is open to considerable question, 215 CHAPTER XVI. OBSTRUCTIONS IN STREETS. FOR convenience, I propose to treat in this chapter some subjects which, strictly speaking, do not come under the head of " Obstructions," but they are all questions which have to be considered by the town surveyor ; temporary obstructions and other offences with which it is the province of the police to deal are omitted. The following subjects will therefore be discussed : 1. Improving the line of frontages of streets. 2. Removing projections. 3. Doors and gates opening outwards. 4. Vault or cellar coverings. 5. Rain-water shoots and down-pipes. 6. Blinds or awnings over footpaths. 7. Trees overhanging roadways. 8. Surface water from private premises running over foot- paths. 9. Hoardings and scaffolds. 10. Dangerous buildings. 1 1. Dangerous quarries. I. Improving the Line of Frontages of Streets. By the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847, certain powers were granted which enabled the commissioners to agree with owners of property to set back for the purpose of widening any street,* but this was often found to be difficult * Vide 10 & 1 1 Viet. c. 34, s. 67. 216 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. and wearisome of accomplishment, consequently in the Public Health Act, 1875, the following important clause bearing upon this point was inserted : " When any house or building situated in any street in an urban district, or the front thereof, has been taken down in order to be rebuilt or altered, the urban authority may pre- scribe the line in which any house or building, or the front thereof, to be built or rebuilt in the same situation, shall be erected, and such house or building or the front thereof shall be erected in accordance therewith. The urban authority shall pay or tender compensation to the owner or other person immediately interested in such house or building for any loss or damage he may sustain in consequence of his house or building being set back or forward, the amount of such compensation in case of dispute to be settled by arbitration in manner provided by this Act" (38 & 39 Viet. c- 55, s. 155). This clause gives, an excellent power to the sanitary authority, especially in older towns, to lay down improved building lines upon the plan of their town, and thus set back the line of buildings as opportunity offers. In assessing the value of compensation to be paid to the owner for setting back his property, the following points should be considered : (a) The value of the area pf the land given up to the public. (ft) The loss of available and useful space to the premises. (c) If any use is made by the owner of the land given up to the public by constructing cellars underneath, the amount of compensation should be less. (d) The amount the owner will have to expend to make good the sides of the neighbouring premises thus exposed by his setting back must be considered. A surveyor should be very careful to recollect if any building line has been laid down in any street when the plans Obstructions in Streets, 21 7 pf new buildings are deposited with him for approval. If these plans are approved without any notice being given to the owner to set back, it is questionable whether he can afterwards be called upon to cjo so.* 2. Removing Projections of Buildings. The Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847, made pro- vision for setting back any house or building, or any part which projected beyond the regular line of street when taken down, on payment of compensation,! and this and the fol- lowing sections were incorporated in the Public Health Act, 1875: t " The commissioners may give notice to the occupier of any house or building to remove or alter any porch, shed, projecting window, step, cellar, cellarrdoor, or window, sign, sign-post, sign-iron, show-board, window shutter, wall, gate or fence, or any other obstruction or projection erected or placed after the passing of the special Act, against or in front of any house or building within the limits of the special Act, and which is an obstruction to the safe and convenient passage along any street, and such occupier shall within fourteen days after the service of such notice upon him, remove such obstruction or alter the same in such manner as shall have been directed by the commissioners, and in default thereof shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings ; and the commissioners in such case may remove such obstruction or projection, and the expense of such removal shall be paid by the occupier so making default, and shall be recoverable as damages ; provided always, that except in the case in which such obstructions or projections were made or put up by the occupier, such occupier shall be entitled to deduct the * Vide Lumley's ' Public Health,' 5th edition, pp. 203, 204. t Vide 10 & 1 1 Viet. c. 34, s. 68. \ Ibid. ss. 69 and 70. Or Owner, see s. 160, 38 & 39 Viet. c. 55. 218 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. expense of removing the same from the rent payable by him to the owner of the house or building" (10 & n Viet. c. 34, s. 69). The wall of a garden in front of a house, and shrubs in the garden, which encroach on the street, come within the words " any other obstruction " in this section.* It is doubtful, however, if trade signs projecting at such a height as not to be " an obstruction to the safe and convenient passage along the street " can be removed under this section, however unsightly they may be ; nor does it appear that flag poles or flags can be ordered to be removed when at such a height as to cause no obstruction. The following clause, however, of the Public Heath Act, 1875, dealt with the question of new projections much more closely : " It shall not be lawful in any urban district, without the written consent of the urban authority, to bring forward any house or building forming part of any street or any part thereof, beyond the front wall of the house or building on eitherside thereof, nor to build any addition thereto beyond the front of the house or building on either side of the same. Any person offending against this enactment shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 40^. for every day during which the offence is continued after written notice in this behalf from the urban authority" (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 156). Difficulties having, however, arisen in connection with this clause, it was amended in 1888 by the Public Health (Buildings in Streets) Act, 1888, which repeals the above sec- tion and provides in place thereof as follows : " It shall not be lawful in any urban district without the written consent of the Urban Authority to erect or bring forward any house or building in any street, or any part of such house or building, beyond the front main wall of the house or building on either * Vide Bagshawe v. Buxton Local Board (L. R. I C. D. 220), per Jessel, M. R. Obstructions in Streets. 219 side thereof in the same street, nor to build any addition to any house or building beyond the front main wall of the house or building on either side of the same" (51 & 52 Viet, c. 52, s. 3). This Act is important, and has to be constantly put in force, although difficulties sometimes occur as to what is meant by the words " front main wall," and as to whether the house or building is " in the same street " and also as to the meaning of " house on either side thereof." The consent or otherwise of the urban authority is frequently guided by the wishes of the adjacent owners and occupiers of property, though of course this must be acted upon with due discretion, The object of the Act is not, however, for the purpose of effecting cheap improvements in the way of widening streets, as of course compensation has to be paid if land is given up, but it certainly assists in this direction for obvious reasons. With regard to obstructions erected before the passing of the special Act, the commissioners may cause the same to be removed or altered as they think fit " Provided that they give notice of such intended removal or alteration to the occupier * of the house or building against or in front of which such alteration or removal shall be, thirty days before such alteration or removal is begun ; and if such obstructions or projections shall have been lawfully made, they shall make reasonable compensation to every person who suffers damage by such removal or alteration." f Here the words " reasonable compensation " are difficult of construction and lead frequently to long litigation. 3. Doors or Gates opening outwards. Section 71 of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847, enacts that "All doors, gates and bars put up after the * Or Owner, see s. 160, 38 & 39 Viet. c. 55. t Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847,' s. 70. 22O Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. passing of the special Act within the limits thereof, and which open upon any street, shall be hung or placed so as not to open outwards, except when in the case of public buildings the commissioners allow such doors, gates or bars to be other- wise hung or placed ; and if (except as aforesaid) any such door, gate or bar be hung or placed so as to open outwards on any street, the occupier * of such house, building, yard or land shall, within eight days after notice from the com- missioners to that effect, cause the same to be altered so as not to open outwards ; and in case he neglect so to do the commissioners may make such alteration, and the expenses of such alteration shall be paid to the commissioners by such occupier,* and shall be recoverable from him as damages, and he shall in addition be liable to a penalty not exceeding 40^." Section 72 of the same Act further enacts, "If any such door, gate or bar was before the passing of the special Act hung so as to open outwards upon any street, the commis- sioners may alter the same so that no part thereof when open shall project over any public way." It is naturally necessary that doors or gates of all public buildings should hang so as to open outwards, so as to give a free and easy exit in case of panic, many serious accidents having arisen from a want of this precaution ; but with regard to private premises the case is altogether different, and if doors and gates were allowed to open outwards, they would soon become a dangerous and intolerable nuisance. It will be seen that there are two courses to be pursued in connection with this offence. The first is where the door, gate or bar has been placed before the passing of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act in 1847, m which case the "commissioners may alter the same, so that no part thereof when open shall project over any public way." This duty of course rests with the town surveyor, and in many cases it is not easy of execution, as * Or Owner, see s. 160, 38 & 39 Viet. c. 55. Obstructions in Streets. 221 structural difficulties may have to be encountered and over- come. In the second case, where the door, gate or bar has been placed since the passing of the Act in 1847, certain penalties are incurred by the occupier or owrier, and the commissioners may also alter the door, gate or bar at his expense. The following specimen form of notice to be served in connection with a case of this description may be of use : TOWN SURVEYOR'S OFFICE. Sir, I beg leave to give you notice that of the premises in your occupation opens outwards, and when open, projects into the street call or known as I have therefore to require that you will be good enough to have such altered so that it shall not open outwards into the said street, within eight days next after your receipt of this notice. I beg leave also to give you notice that if you neglect to make the alteration required within the period specified by this notice, you render yourself liable to a penalty of 40^., and I shall proceed to make the necessary alterations, and recover the costs and penalties from you as the law directs. I am, Sir, your obedient Servant, Town Surveyor. To 4. Vaidt or Cellar Coverings. Section 73 of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847, enacts, "When any opening is made in any pavement or footpath within the limits of the special Act, as an entrance into any vault or cellar, a door or covering shall be made by the occupier * of such vault or cellar, of iron, or such other * Or Owner, see s. 160, 38 & 39 Viet. c. 55. 222 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. materials, and in such manner as the commissioners direct, and such door or covering shall from time to time be kept in good repair by the occupier * of such vault or cellar ; and if such occupier * do not within a reasonable time make such door or covering, or if he make any such door or covering contrary to the directions of the commissioners, or if he do not keep the same when properly made in good repair, he shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceed- ing five pounds." Besides the penalty, the person negligently leaving the covering in a dangerous condition would be liable to an action for damages at the suit of any one who has sustained an injury in consequence of the covering being so kept ; f unless the opening had been made before the street was dedicated to the public and had not since been altered. J There is another clause incorporated in the Public Health Act, 1875, from the Town Police Clauses Act, 1847, upon this subject, which provides that " every person who in any street to the obstruction, annoyance or danger of the residents or passengers commits any of the following offences shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings for each offence, or in the discretion of the justice before whom he is convicted may be committed to prison, there to remain for a period not ex- ceeding 14 days." One of such " offences " is the following : " Every person who leaves open any vault or cellar, or the entrance from any street to any cellar or room underground, Without a sufficient fence or hand rail, or leaves defective the door, window or other covering of any vault or cellar ..." (10 & ii Viet. c. 89, s. 28.) In the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1890,5 these * Or Owner, see s. 160, 38 & 39 Viet. c. 55. t Vide White v. Hindley Local Board (L. R. 10 Q. B. 223), per Blackburn, J. \ Vide Fisher v. Prowse (31 L. J. Q. B. 212). It must be noted in connection with this Act, that, it is not compulsory like the Public Health Act, 1875, but it is permissive and can only be adopted by the Local Authority after they have complied with certain forms and regulations. Obstructions in Streets. 223 clauses are somewhat superseded, though they are not repealed, in the following manner : " All vaults, arches and cellars under any street, and all openings into such vaults, arches or cellars in the surface of any street, and all cellar-heads, gratings, lights and coal holes in the surface of any street, and all landings, flags or stones of the path or street supporting the same respectively, shall be kept in good condition and repair by the owners or occupiers of the same, or of the houses or buildings to which the same respectively belong. " Where any default is made in complying with the pro- visions of this section, the urban authority may, after twenty- four hours' notice in that behalf, cause anything in respect of which such default is made to be repaired or put into good condition, and the expenses of so doing shall be paid to the urban authority by such owner or occupier respectively, or in default may be recovered in a summary manner" (53 & 54 Viet-, c. 59, part III. s. 35). It will be seen by the above clause that not only is the owner or occupier responsible for the repair of the " door or covering " to the vault or cellar, but also for the structure of the vault or cellar itself and the " landings, flags or stones " in connection therewith, which is a great improvement upon the clauses of the parent Act. In accordance with the provisions contained in the section of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847, which I have quoted, that the " door or covering shall be made by the occupier of such vault or cellar of iron or such other materials, and in such manner as the commissioners direct," most towns in this country have prescribed the size and materials of which they shall be made, the size being often limited to 6 feet in length, by 20 inches projection, from the line of plinth of the building 1 , for cellar coverings or pavement lights as they are sometimes called, and 12 inches in diameter for coal plates. 224 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. Hayward's patent hexagonal and semiprismatic pavement lights, however, have obviated the danger of slipping upon this description of covering, and consequently little or no inconvenience is experienced, even if the greater portion of the foot pavement is covered by them.* Coal-hole plates should be so firmly fixed as to prevent the possibility of their shifting, even when the rebate of the flag stone into which thfey are dropped is worn, and also to prevent mischievous persons from raising them. Here let me state that no person can, without the written consent of the urban authority, cause "any vault, arch or cellar to be newly built or constructed under the carriageway of any street" (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 26); but from this section it does not appear illegal to construct a vault, arch or cellar under the footpath, which would generally be the extent to which such constructions would be extended. However, it is generally assumed that the more general powers con- tained in section 149 of the same Act, by which all " streets and the pavement stones and other materials thereof" vest in and are under the control of the urban authority, give the necessary powers to prevent the construction of cellars under any portion of the foot pavement without the consent of the urban authority, although it seems to be established that the subsoil of a street does not vest in the authority in any way whatever, beyond such right " as is essential to the mainten- ance and occupation and exclusive possession of the street, and the making and maintaining of the street for the use of the public." \ The usual practice adopted is for any person who requires * In the City of London these patent lights have been fixed in the pavement round the whole of the frontage of Mansion House Buildings, at the corner of Queen Victoria Street, and also over the whole of the pavements in Draper's Gardens, besides many other equally crowded thoroughfares, without the least inconvenience being experienced. t See James, L. J. in Rolls v. St. George the Martyr, Southwark ( Vestry of) 14 Ch. D. 785. Obstructions in Streets. 225 to construct a cellar under the foot-pavement or carriageway of any street, to apply to the urban authority for the neces- sary permission to do so. In granting the permission, the urban authority call upon the owner of the premises to which the proposed vault or cellar is attached, to enter into an agreement acknowledging that the cellar or vault is only an easement, and agreeing to remove the encroachment when- ever called upon by the urban authority to do so. These agreements and any other similar easements should be kept together in a book, which may be called the " Ease- ment Book," and indexed in such a manner that a reference can be easily made at any time to any easement that has been granted. 5. Rain-water from Shoots or Down Pipes. Water may not be allowed to drip on to the pavements of the streets from the adjoining houses, and the following clause from the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847, has been incorporated with the Public Health Act, 1875 : " The occupier * of every house or building in, adjoining or near to any street shall, within seven days next after service of an order of the commissioners for that purpose, fit up and keep in good condition a shoot or trough of the whole length of such house or building, and shall connect the same either with a similar shoot on the adjoining house, or with the pipe or trunk to be fixed to the front or side of such building from the roof to the ground, to carry the water from the roof thereof in such a manner that the water from such house or any portico or projection therefrom shall not fall upon the persons passing along the street or flow over the footpath ; and in default of compliance with any such order within the period aforesaid, such occupier * shall be liable to a penalty * Or Owner, see s. 1 60, 38 & 39 Viet, c, 55. 226 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. not exceeding 40^. for every day that he shall so make default" (10 & II Viet. c. 34, s. 74). In many private Town Improvement Acts, the cost of the repair necessary under an order to do so from the urban authority may be deducted by the occupier from the rent payable to the owner of the premises, thus ensuring the work being done more quickly. The following is a specimen notice to be served upon the occupier to repair or put new shootings to his house : I beg to give you notice that the eaves, shooting or pro- jecting cornice * to the house or building No. in your occupation, is out of repair. A penalty of 40^. will be in- curred if this shooting be not repaired within seven days from the date of this notice (and under the Special Improvement Act the cost of such repair may be deducted from the rent payable to the owner). f I am, your obedient Servant, Town Surveyor. To It is a common practice in most towns for the urban authority to provide and fix trunks or troughs across their footpaths into which the down pipes from the rain-water shoots can empty their contents. 6. Blinds or Awnings over Footpaths. These may be dealt with as obstructions under sec. 69 of the Towns Improvements Clauses Act, 1847, which I have already quoted, t but they are more particularly alluded to in the Town Police Clauses Act, 1847, in the section previously quoted, one of the offences thereunder being as follows : * In the Act the words used are "shoot " and "trough." t These words must be omitted if there is no special Improvement Act containing such a provision. J Vide p 205. Obstructions in Streets. 227 " Every person who . . . places any blind, shade, cover- ing, awning or other projection over or along any such foot- way, unless such blind, shade, covering, awning or other pro- jection is 8 feet in height, at least in every part thereof from the ground" . . . (10 & 11 Viet. c. 89, s. 28). Thus legalising the fixing of shop-blinds, &c., provided they are at least 8 feet in height, and consequently no obstruction to the traffic. In order to make the blinds or awnings sufficiently secure where they are of large dimensions, it is very usual for the owner or occupier of the premises to which the blind or awn- ing is to be attached, to seek and obtain the consent of the local authority to fix iron sockets in the curb of the footpath into which iron or wood standards are inserted for the pur- pose of supporting the outer part of the blind or awning, and there can be no objection to this practice provided that the work is efficiently performed and to the satisfaction of the town surveyor, although in some towns this is objected to on account of the obstruction to traffic these standards cause where the footwalks are narrow. 7. Trees overhanging Roadways. It used formerly to be considered by road surveyors and others * that great injury was caused to roadways by over- hanging branches of trees or bushes, which were supposed to exclude the light and air from the roadway and thus damage * Sir Fred. Parnell in his celebrated work upon roads has the following para- graph upon this subject : " The great advantage of having a road perfectly exposed to the action of the sun and wind will be more accurately conceived by referring to writers of science on evaporation. Dr. Halley states that one-tenth of an inch of the surface of the sea is raised per diem in vapour. He also says that the winds lick up the water somewhat faster than it exhales by the heat of the sun. Other writers say the dissipation of moisture is much accelerated by the agency of sweeping winds, the effects being sometimes augmented five to ten times. Trees are particularly injurious by not allowing the sun and wind to have free action on the surface of roads producing evaporation. Besides the benefit which a road receives from its drying rapidly by an open exposure to the atmosphere, Q 2 228 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. it, hence powers were given to local authorities, as surveyors of highways, to compel occupiers of premises adjoining the roadways to cut back and prune their trees or hedges in order to prevent this damage, and these powers were given either in Private Improvement Acts or the General Highway Act, l8 35 (5 & 6 William, chap. 50, sec. 65). The powers which by the last mentioned Act are vested in parish vestries are transferred to the urban authority by the Public Health Act, I ^75 (38 & 39 Viet c. 55, sec. 144). The following was the form of notice usually adopted for this purpose : To You are hereby required to cut, prune and trim your hedges adjoining the highway leading from to , and also to cut down, prune or lop the branches of trees, bushes and shrubs growing in or near such hedges and other fences adjoining thereto, in such manner that the said high- way shall not be prejudiced by the shade thereof, and that the sun and wind may not be excluded therefrom. And you will further take notice, that if you shall neglect so to do within five days of the delivery hereof, I shall proceed to have the said hedges, trees and bushes cut and pruned, according to the powers and provisions of the various Acts of Parliament relating thereto.* And further, that I shall also proceed to recover from you the penalties in this respect imposed by the said Acts of Parliament. Dated this day of Surveyor. there is another of great importance, namely, that of affording to horses the advantage of free respiration ; for it is well known that the power of a horse to perform work with ease, particularly when moving rapidly, depends upon the quantity of cool and fresh air that he can pass through his lungs. If the cause of horses tiring or becoming ill under their work be carefully examined into, it will often be found that it is not their muscles or limbs that fail them, but their wind : and therefore it is particularly important to have a road so circumstanced that a horse may on all parts of it have the benefit of a free current of air." * Referring to the Acts I have quoted. Obstructions in Streets. 229 It is, however, now very seldom that overhanging branches of trees or hedges cause any damage to the roadways within an urban district, and unless they are an actual obstruction to the traffic,* or interfere with the light from the public lamps, the growth of trees near urban roads and streets should be encouraged ; indeed it is now a common practice to plant trees close alongside the roadway, the branches of which must, of necessity, hang over it, and cause no damage if the roadway is properly formed and attended to. 8. Sitrface Water from Private Premises running over Footpaths. It frequently happens that the rain-water which falls upon a front garden or courtyard finds its way, for want of a sufficient drain, out of the gate and across or along the public footpath, thus causing annoyance to pedestrians, even if it does no injury to the path. There does not seem to be any clause in the Public Health Act, 1875, to meet this objection, for the section which I have given with reference to rain-water shoots and down-pipes (10 & n Viet. c. 34, s. 74), does not apply to such cases, as it only refers to water from the "roof or any portico or projection," and not to water falling upon the surface of a garden or courtyard, nor is there anything in the Highways Acts which can be brought to bear upon the subject. If, however, any injury is caused to the footpath, no doubt the cause of offence may be stopped, or the perpetrator prosecuted or indicted in default. 9. Hoardings and Scaffolds. When buildings are in course of erection, or repairs are being carried out to them, it is generally necessary that the * In the case of an obstruction caused by trees or shrubs they can be dealt with under section 69 of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847, vide ante^ p. 218 of this book. 230 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. person engaged in the work should construct either a hoarding or inclosure, or at all events a scaffold, so as to execute the work properly. Upon this point the following clause of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act has been incorporated with the Public Health Act, 1875 : "Every person intending to build, or take down any building within the limits of the special Act, or to cause the same to be so done, or to alter or repair the outward part of any such building, or to cause the same to be so done, where any street or footway will be obstructed or rendered incon- venient by means of such work, shall, before beginning the same, cause sufficient hoards or fences to be put up in order to separate the building where such works are being carried on from the street, with a convenient platform and handrail if there be room enough, to serve as a footway for passengers outside of such hoard or fence, and shall continue such hoard or fence with such platform and handrail as aforesaid, standing and in good condition, to the satisfaction of the commissioners, during such times as the public safety or convenience requires, and shall, in all cases in which it is necessary in order to prevent accidents, cause the same to be sufficiently lighted during the night.* And every such person who fails to put up such fence or hoard or platform with such handrail as aforesaid, or to continue the same respectively standing, and in good condition as aforesaid, or who does not, while the said hoard or fence is standing, keep the same sufficiently lighted in the night, or who does not remove the same when directed by the commissioners within a reasonable time afterwards, shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding 5/., and a further * No person can put up hoards or scaffolds in the streets without first obtaining the consent of the urban authority, vide sections 144 and 149 of the Public Health Act, 1875. Many towns also have private improvement Acts with very binding clauses on this subject, empowering the surveyor to demand a fee for a licence to erect a hoarding, and empowering him to remove these after notice, &c. Obstructions in Streets. 231 penalty not exceeding 40^. for every day while such default is continued" (10 & 11 Viet. c. 34, s. 80). Sec. 34 of the Public Health Ac'ts Amendment Act, 1890, to which allusion has already been made, repeals the above section where the Amendment Act has been adopted, and is as follows : " I. Every person intending to build or take down any building, or to alter or repair the outward part of any building, street or court, shall (a) before beginning the same, unless the urban authority otherwise consent in writing, cause close- boarded hoards or fences to the satisfaction of the urban authority to be put up in order to separate the building from the street or court ; (b) if the urban authority so require, make a con- venient covered platform and handrail to serve as a footway for passengers outside of such hoard or fence ; (c) continue such hoard or fence with such platform and handrail as aforesaid standing and in good con- dition to the satisfaction of the urban authority during such time as they may require ; (d) if required by the urban authority, cause the same to be sufficiently lighted during the night ; (e) remove the same when required by the urban authority. " 2. Every person who fails to comply with any of the provisions of this section shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds, and to a daily penalty not exceeding forty shillings. " 3. Where this part of this Act is adopted, the eightieth section of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847, shall be repealed, and this section shall be deemed to be substituted therefor." (53 & 54 Viet, c. 59, s. 34.) Hoardings and scaffoldings are now so scientifically erected as to be little or no inconvenience to foot-passengers. 232 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. Care must, however, be taken to see that in the erection of a hoarding the doors or gates in it shall not open outwards, and the police should be instructed to prevent carts being backed in and left standing across the footpath. The surveyor must exercise great discretion in the length of time he allows a hoarding to remain ; without undue hard- ship on the builder, he must study at the same time the more important question of the public convenience. Under the Advertising Stations (Rating) Act, 1889, the owner of land used for the exhibition of advertisements or for the erection of hoardings used for the exhibition of adver- tisements " but not otherwise occupied " is liable to be rated " in respect thereof to the relief of the poor and to all local rates according to the value of such use as aforesaid" (52 & 53 Viet. c. 27, s. 3), and where the local authority, under any power vested in them by any local or general Act, grant a license for" the erection of hoardings " upon or over any part of any highway," &c., they may include in such license conditions prohibiting advertisements or sanctioning them on such conditions as they determine." (Ibid., s. 5.) These powers give a much greater control over such obstructions, and are now very generally enforced. 10. Dangerous Buildings. This is the last, though by no means the least, of the series of "obstructions" I have enumerated. Here, again, very grave responsibility rests with the surveyor to determine what is a dangerous building, and in what manner it shall be rendered safe and secure. The following is the clause of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act which deals with ruinous or dangerous buildings : " If any building or wall, or anything affixed thereon, within the limits of the special Act, be deemed by the surveyor of the commissioners to be in a ruinous state, and Obstructions in Streets. 233 dangerous to passengers or to the occupiers of the neigh- bouring buildings, such surveyor shall immediately cause a proper hoard or fence to be put up for the protection of passengers,* and shall cause notice in writing to be given to the owner of such building or wall, if he be known and resident within the said limits, and shall also cause such notice to be put on the door or other conspicuous part of the said premises, or otherwise to be given to the occupier thereof, if any, requiring such owner or occupier forthwith to take down, secure or repair such building, wall or other thing, as the case shall require. And if such owner or occupier do not begin to repair, take down or secure such building, wall or other thing, within the space of three days after any such notice has been so given or put up as aforesaid, and complete such repairs or taking down or securing as speedily as the nature of the case will admit, the said surveyor may make complaint thereof before two justices, and it shall be lawful for such justices to order the owner, or in his default the occupier (if any) of such building, wall, or other thing, to take down, rebuild, repair or otherwise secure, to the satisfaction of such surveyor, the same, or such part thereof as appears to them to be in a dangerous state, within a time to be fixed by such justices. And in case the same be not taken down, repaired, rebuilt or otherwise secured within the time so limited, or if no owner or occupier can be found on whom to serve such order, the commissioners shall with all convenient speed cause all or so much of such building, wall or other thing as shall be in a ruinous condition, and dangerous as afore- said, to be taken down, repaired, rebuilt or otherwise secured in such manner as shall be requisite, and all the expenses of putting up every such fence, and of taking down repairing, rebuilding or securing such building, wall or other thing shall be paid by the owner thereof" (10 & n Vic. c. 34, s. 75). * This is scarcely ever feasible, or of the slightest use if done, but is evidently a necessity under the Act. 234 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. Great care must be observed in seeing that the notices are properly prepared and served in accordance with sections 266 and 267 of the Public Health Act, 1875, and the town clerk, as the legal adviser of the sanitary authority, should be consulted (in this, as in all cases requiring notices) by the surveyor. For a long time it was considered that the opinion of the surveyor as to whether the building was dangerous was sufficient if he could prove his case to the Magistrate, but it appears that evidence can be tendered on the other side to disprove the evidence of the surveyor. In this case, as in many others, the surveyor can only give his evidence to the best of his ability and knowledge, and trust to obtaining a verdict in his favour. It sometimes happens that a tall chimney shaft, wall or other erection may apparently be perfectly safe, whereas in a high gale of wind it may be blown down. Many tall chimney shafts rock in an alarming manner in a high wind,* but he would be a bold surveyor who would order some of these expensive structures to be pulled down in the face of the opposition he would receive.f A curious case of some difficulty in connection with dangerous buildings has come under my notice, where a house was built with the approval of the urban authority, and after completion and occupation, the attention of the surveyor was called to the fact that a large piece of rock at the back of the house, from which the site had been excavated for the * In the year 1844, Mr. E. A. Cowper stated, at a meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers, that "he had been on the top of a chimney which rocked an inch in a moderate wind ; some chimneys would vibrate as much as four inches at the top ; and he had known a large square chimney to move one-eighth of an inch at sixteen feet from the ground. ( Vide ' Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,' vol. xxvii. p. 100.) t Whilst the first edition of this work was in the press and the above words were being written, the terrible disaster arising from the falling of an immense chimney shaft at Bradford took place, the result of which was the death of upwards of forty persons and great destruction of property. Obstructions in Streets. 235 purpose of its erection, was in a dangerous condition, and likely to fall at any moment and cause great damage to property, or even loss of life. The clerk to the urban authority, when consulted, was of opinion that the surveyor could do nothing in the matter, as the case was not met in any way by the Act. Nor does it appear that an isolated building which might be dangerous to the occupants can be dealt with in any way, unless it is also dangerous to passengers. The following is given as a specimen notice to serve with reference to a dangerous structure : NOTICE. To (A) the Owner of the ruinous and dangerous (B) under- mentioned and the occupier thereof. Whereas a certain (B) situated at within the borough of , in the county of , is deemed by me, the undersigned, the surveyor of the mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the said borough of , acting by the council as the urban sanitary authority for the same, to be in a ruinous state, and dangerous to passengers or to the occupiers of neighbouring buildings : Therefore take notice, that you are hereby required, in pursuance of the provisions in that behalf of the Public Health Act, 1875, and the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847, to take down, repair or secure the said (B). And that if you do not or if neither of you does begin to take down, repair or secure the said (B) within the space of three days after this notice has been served upon you or put upon the said premises, and complete such taking down, repairing or securing as speedily as the nature of the case will admit, I shall cause complaint thereof to be made before 236 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. two justices in accordance with the provisions of the statutes aforesaid. Dated this day of 1 8 Surveyor of the said Urban Sanitary Authority. A. The name and description of the owner or occupier, or the names, &c., of both should be here inserted. B. Building, wall, or anything affixed thereon. Before closing this chapter upon " Obstructions in Streets," I give the following clause from the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847, which is the last of five sections of that Act, " with respect to precautions during the construction and repair of the sewers, streets and houses." The two sections which immediately precede it deal principally with building materials, rubbish or holes in streets ; and although in this clause the word " building " is used, it would appear that the section cannot be taken as referring to dangerous buildings generally (which are dealt with by the /5th section of the Act previously quoted) although it may undoubtedly be used where it is required on account of waste land, &c., being left in an unprotected and dangerous state : " If any building or hole or any other place near any street be, for want of sufficient repair, protection or inclosure, dan- gerous to the passengers along such street, the commissioners shall cause the same to be repaired, protected or inclosed so as to prevent danger therefrom ; and the expense of such repair, protection or inclosure shall be repaid to the com- missioners by the owner of the premises so repaired, pro- tected or inclosed, and shall be recoverable from him as damages" (10 & 11 Viet. c. 34, s. 83). Since writing the first edition of this book, the Quarry Fencing Act, 1887, has been passed, which provides as follows : " Where any quarry dangerous to the public is in open or uninclosed land, within fifty yards of a highway or place of Obstructions in Streets. 237 public resort dedicated to the public, and is not separated therefrom by a secure and sufficient fence, it shall be kept reasonably fenced for the prevention of accidents, and unless so kept shall be deemed to be a nuisance liable to be dealt with summarily in manner provided by the Public Health Act, 1875 " (50 & 51 Viet. c. 19, s. 3). And the Act further states that : " The term ' quarry ' includes every pit or opening made for the purpose of getting stones, slates, lime, chalk, clay, gravel or sand, but not any natural opening." I have purposely omitted any reference to temporary obstructions in streets, which are naturally subjects for the interference of the police, but I think I have enumerated all those which require the attention of the town surveyor. 138 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. CHAPTER XVII. IMPROVEMENT OF PRIVATE STREETS. PRIOR to the passing of the Public Health Act, 1875, the improvement of private roads and streets was dealt with under section 69 of the Public Health Act, 1848, but the clause which the town surveyor has worked under for many years is that which is so well known as the I5oth section of the Public Health Act, 1875, and is as follows : " Where any street within any urban district (not being a highway repairable by the inhabitants at large), or the carriageway, footway or any other part of such street is not sewered, levelled, paved, metalled, flagged, channelled and made good, or is not lighted to the satisfaction of the urban authority, such authority may, by notice addressed to the respective owners or occupiers of the premises fronting, adjoining or abutting on such parts thereof as may require to be sewered, levelled, paved, metalled, flagged or chan- nelled, or to be lighted, require them to sewer, level, pave, metal, flag, channel or make good, or to provide proper means for lighting the same within a time to be specified in such notice. Before giving such notice the urban authority shall cause plans and sections of any structural works intended to be executed under this section, and an estimate of the probable cost thereof, to be made under the direction of their surveyor ; such plans and sections to be on a scale of not less than one inch for eighty-eight feet for a horizontal plan, and on a scale of not less than one inch for ten feet for a vertical section, Improvement of Private Streets. 239 and, in the case of a sewer, showing the depth of such sewer below the surface of the ground : such plans, sections and estimate shall be deposited in the office of the urban authority, and shall be open at all reasonable hours for the inspection of all persons interested therein during the time specified in such notice ; and a reference to such plans and sections in such notice shall be sufficient without requiring any copy of such plans and sections to be annexed to such notice. If such notice is not complied with, the urban authority may, if they think fit, execute the works mentioned or referred to therein ; and may recover in a summary manner the expenses incurred by them in so doing from the owners in default, according to the frontage of their respective premises, and in such proportion as is settled by the surveyor of the urban authority, or (in case of dispute) by arbitration in manner provided by this Act ; or the urban authority may by . order declare the expenses so incurred to be private improve- ment expenses. The same proceedings may be taken and the same powers may be exercised in respect of any street or road of which a part is or may be a public footpath or repairable by the inhabitants at large, as fully as if the whole of such street or road was a highway, not repairable by the inhabitants at large" (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 150). One has only to look at the number of footnotes that follow this clause, both in ' Glen ' and ' Fitzgerald,' to see that it requires some considerable interpretation. In the nth edition of Glen's ' Law of Public Health,' no less than twenty- six pages of footnotes follow this clause ; but I propose in this chapter to endeavour to call attention to some of its engineering discrepancies, and to point out the duties of the town surveyor in connection with its enforcement. First, then, I conclude that it is the duty of the surveyor to call the attention of the urban authority to the fact that any street within his district (not being a highway repairable 240 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. by the inhabitants at large) is not " sewered, levelled, paved, &c." ; but there is no express order for him to do so, but with whoever this duty rests, it is no doubt the surveyor's duty to be certain that the street in question is not repairable by the inhabitants at large. The section applies to all streets, except when they are repairable by the inhabitants at large, and whether they have been dedicated to the public or not* Before proceeding to give the manner of putting the i5Oth section into force, it is necessary to draw attention to some of its wording. The word " sewered " no doubt is meant to include all drains both for house sewage and surface water falling on the street, &c., and may be used in the same comprehensive manner that the word " sewerage " is generally employed. " Levelled " is also rather a vague term, but it is conceived that it refers only to the level or cross section of the street itself, and is not to be interpreted as giving power to charge the adjacent owners with the expense of altering the level of the street so as to make it conform to a street with which it connects. The word " formed " would in this case have therefore been a more appropriate term. " Paved, metalled, flagged, channelled and made good " are very precise directions, but why both the words "paved " and " metalled " are used is not clear. Is the paving to be placed on the top of the metalling or vice versa ? It seems ludicrous to have used both words. The word " curbed " also ought no doubt to have been inserted, as no street either urban or suburban can be formed without this necessary adjunct. These very precise directions, if carried out in their entirety, would cause great injustice to the adjacent owners of the property who had to bear the expense, for although " paving " and " flagging " may be necessary for streets situated in a town itself, they would be perfectly unnecessary for a * Per Quain J. in St. Mary, Islington ( Vestry of) v. Burrett, 9 Q. B. 278. Improvement of Private Streets. 241 suburban road, and it is to this latter class of work that the section is more frequently applied. Inhere are generally very few badly maintained private streets iri the heart and busiest parts of a town, much difference of opiniort consequently exists in different localities as to what the requirements shall be* Some urban authorities insist that the roadways shall be 1 paved with granite setts or wood blocks, the footpaths being flagged or paved with asphalte, while others are content with ordinary macadamised roadways and gravelled paths. In districts where neither Part III. of the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1890, nor the Private Street Works Act, 1892, has been adopted, a Local Authority cannot adopt a street unless the whole of the very remarkable conditions, as set forth in the clause, have been carried out by, and at the cost of, the abutting owners ; if however, the Local Authority do not want to legally adopt the street, it appears that they are at liberty to specify what description of work they require.* And where either of the last mentioned enactments has been adopted the authority have a discretion 1 as to the works to be done before adopting a street. There can be no doiibt that the town surveyor must use considerable discretion in deciding what class of work should be demanded, and he must be greatly guided by the situation and requirements of the street in question and the description and value of the adjoining property. With reference to the words "or is riot lighted," my opinion is that nearly all private streets are at once lighted by the urban authority out of the rates, so soon as buildings are erected at its sides or it is found necessary for the public convenience to do so. A reference to section 161 of the * Upon this point and on many others in connection with this question, see Mr. Smith's paper on ' Private Streets and the l$2nd section of the Public Health Act 1875,' read at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers in London in 1882. (Vide ' Proceedings of the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors,' vol. viii. p. 123.) R 242 Mimicipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. Public Health Act, 1875, will show that there is no exclusion of private streets for that purpose, and for many obvious reasons it is better that the urban authority should themselves undertake this duty rather than throw it upon private indi- viduals. There would also be considerable difficulty in enforcing this portion of the clause, as although the lamp columns might be erected, it is exceedingly doubtful if the Gas Company would provide the gas unless they were sure of being paid for it quarterly by some one, and the Act does not prescribe who this " some one " is to be. Having thus far drawn attention to some of the wording of the clause, it is now necessary to discuss the duties of the town surveyor in connection with it. It will be seen that notice has to be addressed to the owners or occupiers of "premises fronting, adjoining or abutting, on such parts thereof as may require to be sewered, levelled, paved, &c." It is often found that although the greater portion of a certain private street may be in a shocking state of repair, perhaps just a small length here and there opposite portions of different frontages may not be so bad : for instance, the path may be well gravelled and curbed and a narrow channel gutter inserted against a wretchedly constructed roadway. It is often open to question if the owners of these properties against which these partial im- provements have been effected can expect to escape their liability. If they can, it complicates still more the working of an already greatly complicated clause. "Before giving such notice the urban authority shall cause plans and sections ... to be made under the direction of their surveyor." This order involves some considerable amount of work. Very accurate surveys must be made and plotted to a large scale, levels must be taken, and where sewers have to be included in the notice it is often necessary to extend the Improvement of Private Streets. 243 survey considerably, in order to make provision for future extensions of streets or buildings or for the existing sewerage system. The clause is very particular in stating that the " depth of such sewer below the surface of the ground " must be shown, but no mention is made about the size. The latter point being of quite as great importance it would be thought as the depth) the question also at once arises, whether the new sewer must be specified of such a size as only to meet the requirements of the street alone, or may it be made of such art area as will carry the sewage of a considerable district ? It would be most unjust to expect the owners of property to pay for a sewer larger than was required for the street in respect of which they were responsible, and if legal, the better plan would be for them to be charged with the cost of such a sewer as would be sufficient for their purpose, and let any extra size that the surveyor found was requisite be paid for out of the public rates. It should be noted that in addition to the plans and sections " an estimate of the probable cost " must also be prepared by the surveyor, and this must be very carefully prepared^ No mention is however made in the Act of a specification, which is of course absolutely essential. It may here be of use if I give a specimen form of notice to be served in connection with carrying out the duties involved by this clause ; of course each town surveyor must alter the work specified to meet the requirements of the case* To the Owner or Oivners of certain premises fronting^ adjoin* ing, or abutting upon a certain street, called iu the parish of in the borough of in the county of Whereas the said street is not levelled, paved, metalled, channelled and made good to the satisfaction of the mayor, R 2 244 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. aldermen and burgesses of , the urban sanitary authority of the above-named borough : And whereas your said premises front, adjoin or abut on Certain parts of the said street which requires to be levelled, paved, metalled, channelled and made good as aforesaid : Now therefore, the mayor, aldermen and burgesses of , the urban sanitary authority of the said borough as aforesaid, hereby give you notice (in pursuance of the statute in that case made and provided) to level, pave, metal, channel and make good the portion of the said street in which your said premises front, adjoin or abut as aforesaid, within the space of one month from the date hereof, in manner following that is to say ; (If a sewer is to be formed, fill in this first.} The carriage-way and water-tables thereof to be formed in the mode, according to the sections, and on the levels and at the rates of inclination shown upon the plan, sections, and in accordance with the specification of the work prepared by the surveyor to the said urban sanitary authority, and now open for public inspection at his office, during the usual office hours. The carriage-way to be bottomed, formed, and carefully levelled up to the form shown by the said sections ; and in the following manner ; (Here fill in specification method?) Construct gullies, fitted with five-bar cast-iron gratings and frames of the form and pattern to be seen at , these gullies to be placed in such positions as are shown on the aforesaid plan and sections ; each gully to have a six-inched glazed stoneware socket pipe drain connecting it with the sewer, to be laid on a solid bed, and at an uniform inclination from gully to sewer, with joints made of neat Portland cement. Improvement of Private Streets. 245 The existing curb to be taken up and replaced by inches by inches granite curb in lengths of not less than inches, to the lines shown on plan, and to the levels marked on sections. The water-tables or gutter to be channelled with properly laid, and bedded on fine gravel to the levels and inclinations marked on sections. The footpaths shall be properly formed, bottomed and drained where required ; the formation level made to the inclination shown" on section, and afterwards coated with The whole of the above-mentioned works to be executed by you in accordance with the plan and sections hereinbefore referred to and now open for inspection at the surveyor's office as aforesaid, and of the dimensions, widths and levels shown thereon, and to be done in a good workmanlike and substantial manner, to the satisfaction of the said urban sanitary authority and of their surveyor. An estimate of the probable cost of the said work, pre- pared under the direction of the surveyor to the said urban sanitary authority, is also lying for inspection at the office of the said surveyor, in manner required by section 150 of the Public Health Act, 1875. Dated this day of 18 . Town Clerk. The clause then goes on to say, M If such notice is not complied with." It would be a most difficult and costly proceeding for any individual owner of property to execute the work for half the width of the street opposite his length of frontage, and the result would be anything but satisfactory if the owners of the properties were to comply with the notices in this manner. If the owners do intend to comply with the notice, and carry out the work themselves, the best method for them to adopt is to hold a meeting and decide upon having it done, 246 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. then to appoint one of their number, or some other person to superintend or carry out the work, and afterwards collect the money ; but this is very seldom done, and the wisest course (which is generally adopted) is not to comply with the notice, but let the urban authority execute the work themselves. This again entails considerable labour upon the town surveyor, who has to superintend the work and see that all the details contained in the statutory notices are properly carried out, but his labour does not end here. Upon the completion of the work the amount expended has to be recovered u from the owners in default according to the frontage of their respective premises, and in such proportion as is settled by the sur- veyor of the urban authority, or (in case of dispute) by arbitration." It is scarcely necessary to point out what an immense amount of responsible work this involves. In the Borough of Portsmouth (where I was engineer for nearly 8 years) separate accounts particularising each item in front of each separate property are prepared, which naturally involves an enormous amount of labour and responsibility upon the officials, as any single item of the account, such as whether a flagstone is new or only redressed, &c., can be, and often is, disputed. This entails a constant supervision being kept over the work and most careful measurements being afterwards made. I am not aware of any other Local Authority where the work is carried out in such minute details, the usual method of procedure being as follows : First, a separate account of all the labour and materials employed on the street must be most carefully kept and totalled at the end of the work, with such additional sum for supervision, &c., as the urban authority may think necessary.* The exact length of each * In some districts the urban authority make an additional charge of 5 per cent, upon the 1 total outlay to cover the cost of preliminary surveys and supervision of the work by their surveyor ; this 5 per cent., however, is not paid to him, but is paid to the city treasurer, and thus becomes a set off against his salary. Improvement of Private Streets. 247 property " fronting, adjoining or abutting " on the street, must be most carefully measured. A proportionate sum has then to be calculated for each of these, and this sum is often com- plicated by cross roads, culs de sac, narrow passages, strips of land intervening between the street and the properties, and many other perplexing intricacies, in addition to those persons who are legally exempted from any payment under the following clause of the Public Health Act, 1875 : " The incumbent or minister of any church, chapel or place appropriated to public religious worship, which is now by law exempt from rates for the relief of the poor, shall not be liable to any expenses under the last preceding section as the owner or occupier of such church, chapel or place, or of any church- yard or burial ground attached thereto, nor shall any such expenses be deemed to be a charge on such church, chapel or other place, or on such churchyard or burial ground . . ." (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 151). The town surveyor, having ascertained what is the amount of the sum due from each owner, shall proceed to fill in the amount upon a form, a specimen of which is now given : To tfie Owner of certain premises fronting, adjoining or abut- ting upon a certain street called in the parish of in the borough of in the county of Whereas the mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the urban sanitary authority for the said , by a notice in writing pursuant to the statute in that behalf made and pro- vided, dated the day of , 1 8 , required you, being the owner of certain premises fronting, adjoining or abutting upon a street or highway called , within the said (and not being a street or highway repairable by the inhabitants at large) to level, pave, metal, channel and 248 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handboo k make good the said street or highway within the time and in the manner specified in the said notice, and according to the plans and sections deposited at the office of the surveyor to the said urba.n sanitary authority at : And whereas the said notice not having been complied with by you within, the time limited by the said notice, the said urban sanitary authority have executed the works men- tioned or referred to therein : And whereas the expenses incurred by the said urban sanitary authority in levelling, paving, metalling, channelling and making good the said street, amount to pounds shillings and pence : Wherefore take notice that I the undersigned, being the surveyor of the said urban sanitary authority, in pursuance of the statutes in that case made and provided, do hereby appor- tion the sum of pounds, shillings and pence as the proportion of the said sum of pounds, shillings a.nd pence, to be paid by you as such owner aforesaid, such apportionment being according to the frontage of your said premises, fronting, adjoining or abutting upon the said street or highway. Further take notice that the aforesaid apportionment will be binding and conclusive upon you unless within the period of three months from the day of the date of this notice you shall by written notice to the said urban sanitary authority dispute the same. Dated this day of , 18 . Surveyor to the said Urban Sanitary Authority. Clerk of the said Urban Sanitary Authority. There seems to be no power on the part of any owner to dispute the question as to, whether the works carried out have been necessary or not, or whether the cost of the works have been excessive ; the only point upon which they can go to Improvement of Private Streets. 249 arbitration is that as to whether the proportion settled by the surveyor is accurate or not, and this point the arbitrator is left to decide. It must not be lost sight of that there is a clause in the Public Health Act, 1875, which makes the expenses so settled by the surveyor very binding upon the owner of the property in question, unless he appeals within three months from the service of the notice, as the following extract from the clause will show : "... Where such expenses have been settled and appor- tioned by the surveyor of the local authority as payable by such owner, such apportionment shall be binding and con- clusive on such owner, unless within three months from service of notice on him by the local authority or their surveyor of the amount settled by the surveyor to be due from such owner, he shall by written notice dispute the same" ... (38 & 39 Viet c. 55, s. 257),* and it must also be borne in mind that the person from whom these expenses may be recovered " is the owner of the premises at the time when the work was done, not the owner to whom notice requiring the work to be done may be given " (vide Fitz- gerald's Public Health Act, p. 301, 3rd edition) ; so that the town surveyor must be very careful to make sure that any of the property abutting on the street has not changed hands before he commences the work. After the isoth section of the Public Health Act has been carried out and a private street has been thus put into thorough repair, the urban authority may take possession of it and declare it to be a highway repairable by the inhabitants at large ; the following section of the Act gives the modus operandi necessary to effect this : " When any street within any urban district, not being a highway repairable by the inhabitants at large, has been * See also 38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 268, where a person who deems himself Aggrieved may memorialise the Local Government Board, &c. 250 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. sewered, levelled, paved, flagged, metalled, channelled and made good and provided with proper means of lighting to the satisfaction of the urban authority, such authority may if they think fit, by notice in writing put up in any part of the street, declare the same to be a highway, and thereupon the same shall become a highway repairable by the inhabitants at large, and every such notice shall be entered among the proceedings of the urban authority. " Provided that no such street shall become a highway so repairable if within one month after such notice has been put up, the proprietor or the majority in numbers of proprietors of such street, by notice in writing to the urban authority, object thereto, and in ascertaining such majority, joint proprietors shall be reckoned as one proprietor" (38 & 39 Viet c. 55, s. 152). The necessary notices in conformity with this section are usually prepared by the town clerk, so that the town surveyor has nothing to do with this proceeding except to maintain the street after it has been declared a highway repairable by the inhabitants at large, in the same manner as he does the rest of the public streets within his district. There is still one other clause of the Public Health Act, 1875, which deals with the question of private roads, and it is as follows: " Any urban authority may agree with any person for the making of roads within their district for the public use through the lands and at the expense of such person, and may agree that such roads will become and the same shall accordingly become on completion, highways maintainable and repairable by the inhabitants at large within their district ; they may also with the consent of two-thirds of their number agree with such person to pay and may accordingly pay any portion of the expenses of making such roads" (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 146). This clause is very explicit and requires no comment ; it Improvement of Private Streets. 251 would, however, be much better for the urban authority, in contemplating a case of this description, to execute the necessary works themselves and agree with the person about the expense ; for if they are intended to be afterwards taken over, it is to be feared that the roads would be very improperly constructed in the first place by the person intending to hand them over. It must be noted that the word " roads " is used in the above clause instead of "streets" as in the other clauses I have quoted, and also that the word " maintainable " is added to repairable. Street is the term generally used in the Public Health Act, 1875, and is thus defined : " Street includes any highway (not being a turnpike road) and any public bridge (not being a county bridge), and any road, lane, footway, square, court, alley or passage, whether a thoroughfare or not " (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 4), so that whereas in the i5Oth section of the Public Health Act, 1875, any of the above can be dealt with, it is only open for the urban authority to deal with roads under the I46th section of the Act, and it is sometimes rather difficult to define a road for the purposes of the latter section. For further information upon this debatable question of dealing with Private Streets under the i5Oth section of the Public Health Act, 1875, I cannot do better than refer my readers to the footnotes thereon in Glen's "Law of Public Health," and also to Mr. Spink's paper upon the subject which he read at a District Meeting at Rochester of the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Sur- veyors, in the year 1886. (Vide Minutes of Proceedings of the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors, vol. xiii. pages 8 and 1 1 1 .) Since the second edition of this book was written the law has been further amended by the introduction of The Private Street Works Act, 1892 (55 & 56 Viet. c. 57), which is an Act to amend the Public Health Acts in relation to Private Street 252 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. Improvement expenses, and is in many ways much better to work under than the I5oth section of the Public Health Act, 1875. It nas to be construed as one with the Public Health Acts, and only applies to England. It is what is known as a permissive Act, and may or may not be adopted by an urban sanitary authority, the procedure for its adoption being fully set forth in the early clauses of the Act. The words " paving, metalling and flagging," which were so puzzling in the Act of 1875, are nere defined to include "macadamising, asphalting, gravelling, curbing and every method of making a carriage- way or footway," thus throwing light upon the obscurity of the Act of 1875. The mode of procedure is somewhat similar, though much more comprehensive than that of the Act of J ^75 J when a street (not repairable by the inhabitants at large) is not sewered, levelled, paved, &c., to their satisfaction, the Authority may resolve to do the necessary wants, and any such resolution may include several streets or parts of streets, or may be limited to any part or parts of a street. Upon this resolution the surveyor must prepare : (a) A specification of the necessary works with plans and sections. (b) An estimate of the probable expenses of the works. (c) A provisional apportionment of the estimated ex- penses among the premises liable to be charged. These have then to be approved by the urban authority, and the resolution approving has to be published in manner provided in the Act. During one month from the first pub- lication any owner may object to the proposals : (a) That the street is not or does not form part of a street within the meaning of the Act. (b) That it is repairable by the inhabitants at large. (c) That there has been a material informality, &c,, in the proceedings. (d) That the proposed works are insufficient or unreason- able or the estimated expenses excessive. Improvement of Private Streets. 253 (e) That any premises ought to be excluded from or inserted in the provisional apportionment. (/) That the provisional apportionment is incorrect in some matter of fact to be specified in the objection, " or (where the provisional apportionment is made with regard to other considerations than frontage as hereinafter provided) in respect of the degree of benefit to be derived by any persons, or the amount or value of any work already done by the owner or occupier of any premises." The urban authority may, after the expiration of the month, apply to a court of summary jurisdiction to hear the objections and the manner of the hearing, &c., is fully set forth. The following sections are so important, that I set them out in full : "The urban authority may include in any works to be done under this Act, with respect to any street or part of a street, any works which they think necessary for bringing the street or part of a street, as regards sewerage, drainage, level or other matters, into conformity with any other streets (whether repairable or not by the inhabitants at large), in- cluding the provision of separate sewers for the reception of sewage and of surface water respectively. " The urban authority in any estimate of the expenses of private street works may include a commission not exceeding five pounds per centum (in addition to the estimated actual cost) in respect of surveys, superintendence and notices, and such commission when received shall be carried to the credit of the district fund (55 & 56 Viet. c. 57, s. 9). " In a provisional apportionment of expenses of private street works, the apportionment of expenses against the premises fronting, adjoining or abutting on the street or part of a street in respect of which the expenses are to be incurred shall, unless the urban authority otherwise resolve, be appor- tioned according to the frontage of the respective premises ; 254 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. but the urban authority may, if they think just, resolve that in settling the apportionment regard shall be had to the following considerations ; (that is to say,) (a] The greater or less degree of benefit to be derived by any premises from such works ; (b) The amount and value of any work already done by the owners or occupiers of any such premises. "They may also, if they think just, include any premises which do not front, adjoin or abut on the street or part of a street, but access to which is obtained from the street through a court, passage or otherwise, and which in their opinion will be benefited by the works, and may fix the sum or proportion to be charged against any such premises accordingly" (55 & 56 Viet c. 57, s. 10). The urban authority may from time to time amend the specifications, plans, &c., and apportionments, but if the estimates are increased thereby, the whole procedure must be gone through again (sec. 11). On completion of the work, the surveyor must make his final apportionment, "and such final apportionment shall be conclusive for all purposes." Notice is served upon the owners and the amounts are recoverable as provided by the Act or in the same manner as private improvement expenses are recoverable under the Public Health Act, 1875. Within one month of the notice, the owner may by written notice object to such final apportionment on the following grounds or any of them : (a) That the actual expenses have, without sufficient reason, exceeded the estimated expenses by more than 15 per cent. (b) That the final apportionment has not been made in accordance with the Act. (c) That there has been an unreasonable departure from the specification, plans and sections. Improvement of Private Streets. 255 Such objections are to be determined in the same manner as objections to the provisional apportionment (sec. 12). The remainder of the Act deals principally with the recovery of the expenses, contributions by urban authorities, of the whole or a portion of the expenses, exempted premises, the adoption of the streets and other matters which are more in the Town Clerk's department than that of the sur- veyor. The Act is a great improvement on the Act of 1875, and I strongly urge its adoption by all urban authorities in place of the Act of 1875. The following are specimen forms to be used by the Sur- veyor under this Act. The first is the necessary form of report of the Surveyor to his committee : PRIVATE STREET WORKS ACT, 1892. The Surveyor begs to report that in the City of is not satisfactorily levelled, paved, metalled, flagged, channelled and made good in accordance with the provisions of the said Act, 55 & 56 Viet. c. 57. The Surveyor begs to report further that in connection with this it will be expedient to make out the provisional apportion- ment having regard to the amount of work already done by the owners or occupiers of certain premises for which purpose, under section 10 of the Private Street Works Act, 1892, it will be necessary for the urban sanitary authority to pass the following resolution, viz. : That the urban authority think it just and accordingly resolve that in settling the apportionment of expenses 256 Mitnicipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. against the premises fronting, adjoining or abutting itpon regard shall be had to the following consideration, viz. : The amount and value of any work already done by the owners or occupiers of such premises.* Surveyor to the Urban Sanitary Authority. The next form is the official resolution to be passed by the Committee and is as follows : Whereas the following street in the City of , viz. : not levelled, paved, metalled, flagged, channelled and made good to the satisfaction of the Council of the said City (such Council being the Urban Sanitary Authority under the Public Health Acts for the district of the said City) the Council as such Urban Sanitary Authority, as aforesaid, do therefore, pursuant to the Private Street Works Act, 1892, resolve, with respect to such streets, to do the following private street works, that is to say, to level, pave, metal, flag, channel and make good such street, and that the expenses incurred by such Urban Sanitary Authority in executing such private street works shall be apportioned (subject as in the Private Street Works Act, 1892, mentioned) on the premises fronting, adjoining or abutting on such street. * The section provides that unless otherwise resolved the expenses are to be apportioned according to the frontage of the respective premises, but that the authority may resolve that regard shall be had to the following considerations, viz. : (i) the greater or less degree of benefit to be derived by any premises ; (2) the amount and value of any work already done by the owners or occupiers of any such premises. From the wording of the section it appears somewhat doubtful whether the authority can legally resolve that regard shall be had to one of these considerations only, exclusively of the other, but it has been the practice to assume that they have such power, and to adopt the above form accordingly, when applicable. Improvement of Private Streets. 257 Resolved That the City Surveyor, as the Surveyor of the Urban Sanitary Authority for the District of the City of do prepare and submit to such Urban Sanitary Authority, as respects such street and the private street works referred to in the foregoing resolution : (a) "A specification of the Private Street Works referred to in the resolution, with plans and sections (if applicable). (b) "An estimate of the probable expenses of the works. (c) "A provisional apportionment of the estimated expenses among the premises liable to be charged therewith under the Private Street Works Act, 1892. and that such specification, plans, sections, estimate and provisional apportionment comprise the particulars pre- scribed in Part I. of the Schedule to the Private Street Works Act, 1892. Also Resolved * "That the Urban Authority think it just, and ac- cordingly resolve, that, in settling the apportionment of expenses against the premises fronting, adjoining, or abutting upon regard shall be had to the following consideration, viz. : the amount and value of any work already done by the owners or occupiers of such premises." The Surveyor then proceeds to make the following report : * The latter part of this form must be omitted if the appointment is to be on "frontage" only. 258 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. PRIVATE] STREET WORKS ACT, 1892. In accordance with the resolution of the Committee of the confirmed by the Council of the viz. : "That the City Surveyor, as the Surveyor of the Urban Sanitary Authority for the District of the City of , do prepare and submit to such Urban Sanitary Authority, as respects and the private street works referred to in the foregoing resolution : (a) "A specification of the Private Street Works referred to in the resolution, with plans and sections (if applicable)." (b) " An estimate of the probable expenses of the works." (c) "A provisional apportionment of the estimated expenses among the premises liable to be charged therewith under the Private Street Works Act, 1892," and that such specification, plans, sections, estimate and provisional apportionment comprise the particulars pre- scribed in Part I. of the Schedule to the Private Street Works Act, 1892, the City Surveyor now begs to lay before the Committee : (a) A specification of the Private Street Works referred to in the resolution, with plans and sections, showing the constructive character of the works. (b} An estimate of the probable expenses of the works, showing the particulars of the probable cost of the whole of the works, Improvement of Private Streets. 259 including the commission of 5 per centum as provided for in the Act. (c) A provisional apportionment of the estimate of expenses amongst the premises liable to be charged the probable expenses of the works required to be done in levelling, making, paving, metalling, flagging, channelling and making good the street in question. City Surveyor, and Surveyor to the Urban Sanitary Authority. Or he reports as follows : PRIVATE STREET WORKS ACT, 1892. In accordance with the resolution of the Committee of the confirmed by the Council of the viz. : "That the City Surveyor, as the Surveyor of the Urban Sanitary Authority for the District of the City of , do prepare and submit to such Urban Sanitary Authority, as respects and the private street works referred to in the foregoing resolution : (a) "A specification of the Private Street Works referred to in the resolution, with plans and sections (if applicable). (b) "An estimate of the probable expenses of the works." (c) " A provisional apportionment of the estimated expenses among the premises liable to be charged therewith under the Private Street Works Act, 1892." S 2 260 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. " and that such specification, plans, sections, estimate and provisional apportionment comprise the particulars pre- scribed in Part I. of the Schedule to the Private Street Works Act, 1892. and in accordance with the resolution of the Council, as the Urban Authority, on the > viz. : " That the Council as the Urban Authority think it just, and accordingly resolve that in settling the appor- tionment of expenses of Private Street Works against the premises fronting, adjoining or abutting upon regard shall be had to the following con- siderations, viz. : "The amount and value of any work already done by the owners or occupiers of such premises." the City Surveyor now begs to lay before the Committee: (a) A specification of the Private Street Works referred to in the resolution, with plan and sections, showing the constructive character of the works. (b) An estimate of the probable expenses of the works, showing the particulars of the proba- ble cost of the whole of the works, including the commission of 5 per centum, as provided for in the Act. (c) A provisional apportionment of the estimate of expenses amongst the premises liable to be charged the probable expenses of the works required to be done in levelling, making, paving, metalling, flagging, channelling and making good the street in question. City Surveyor, and Surveyor to the Urban Sanitary Authority, Improvement of Private Streets. 261 Upon either of the previous reports being presented by the Surveyor the following resolution must be passed : Resolved, That the Council of the City of , as the Urban Sanitary Authority under the Public Health Acts for the District of the said City, do, pursuant to the Private Street Works Act, 1892, approve of the undermentioned specification, plan, sections, estimate and provisional apportion rrfent, prepared and submitted by the City Surveyor, as the Surveyor of such Urban Sanitary Authority, as respects in the City of , and the Private Street Works referred to in the resolution of the Committee of the confirmed by the Council on the viz. : (a) " The specification of the Private Street Works referred to in the resolution with plan and sections signed by the City Surveyor and dated (b) "The estimate of the probable expenses of the work signed by the City Surveyor and dated (c) " The provisional apportionment of the estimated expenses among the premises liable to be charged therewith under the Private Street Works Act, 1892, signed by the City Sur- veyor, and dated Upon this final resolution being passed by the Council it is necessary to post notices in or near the streets once at least in each of three successive weeks and to advertise in a local paper once in each of two successive weeks to the following effect : 262 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. City of. THE PRIVATE STREET WORKS ACT, 1892. Street. Notice is hereby given, that the Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens of the City of , being the Urban Sanitary Authority under the Public Health Acts, for the District of the said City, did on the day of , 189 , pass the following resolution : "That the Council of the City of , as the Urban Sanitary Authority under the Public Health Acts for the District of the said City, do, pursuant to the Private Street Works Act, 1892, approve of the undermentioned specification, plan, sections, estimate and provisional apportionment prepared and submitted by the City Surveyor as the Surveyor of such Urban Sanitary Authority, as respects the following street, viz. : Street from to its termination, 40 yards west of , in the City of , and the Private Street Works referred to in the resolution of the Committee of the ,189 , confirmed by the Council on the ,189 , viz. : (a) "The specification of the Private Street Works referred to in the resolution, with plan and sections, signed by the City Surveyor, and dated , 189 . (b) "The estimate of the probable expenses of the work, signed by the City Surveyor, and dated , 189 . (c) " The provisional apportionment of the estimated expenses among the premises liable to be charged there- with under the Private Street Works Act, 1892, signed by the City Surveyor, and dated ,189 Improvement of Private Streets. 263 Notice is hereby further given, that during one month from this date the documents referred to in the above resolu- tion will be kept deposited at the City Surveyor's Office, at the Town Hall, Street, and will be open to inspection, at all reasonable times. Dated this day of 189 . Town Clerk. TOWN CLERK'S OFFICE, Copies of the notice must also be served on the owners of premises liable to be charged within seven days after the first publication. If no objections are raised under the Act during the statutory month the Surveyor will proceed to execute the work and apportion the expenses in the manner already described under the Act. 264 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. CHAPTER XVIII. NEW STREETS AND BUILDINGS. ONE of the most important duties devolving upon a "town surveyor " is that of exercising control over any new streets that may be constructed, or any new buildings that may be erected, within the limits of his jurisdiction. This duty is in most Towns largely determined by the following section of the Public Health Act, 1875 : " Every urban authority may make byelaws with respect to the following matters ; (this is to say), " I. With respect to the level, width and construction of new streets, and the provisions for the sewerage thereof ; " 2. With respect to the structure of walls, foundations, roofs, and chimneys of new buildings, for securing stability and the prevention of fires, and for purposes of health ; " 3. With respect to the sufficiency of the space about buildings to secure a free circulation of air, and with respect to the ventilation of buildings ; "4. With respect to the drainage of buildings, to water- closets, earth-closets, privies, ashpits and cesspools, in con- nection with buildings, and to the closing of buildings or parts of buildings unfit for human habitation, and to prohibition of their use for such habitation ; "And they may further provide for the observance of such byelaws by enacting therein such provisions as they think necessary as to the giving of notices ; as to the deposit of plans and sections by persons intending to lay out streets or to construct buildings ; as to inspection by the urban New Streets and Buildings. 265 authority, and as to the power of such authority (subject to the provisions of this Act) to remove, alter or pul) down any work begun or done in contravention of such byelaws. Provided that no byelaw made under this section shall affect any building erected in any place (which at the time of the passing of this Act is included in an urban sanitary district) before the Local Government Acts came into force in such place, or any building erected in any place (which at the time of the passing of this Act is not included in an urban sanitary district) before such place becomes constituted or included in an urban district, or by virtue of any order of the Local Government Board subject to this enactment. " The provisions of this section, and of the two last pre- ceding sections, shall not apply to buildings belonging to any railway company, and used for the purposes of such railway under any Act of Parliament" (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 157). The Powers of the Public Health Act, 1875, with respect to new streets and buildings have been further extended by the Public Health Amendment Act, 1890 (53 & 54 Viet c 59) to which attention has already been drawn. Sec. 23 of this Act is an extension of the powers contained in sec. 157 of the Public Health Act, 1875, which I have quoted above in extenso, and enables the authority to make byelaws with respect to the following additional matters, viz : the keeping water-closets supplied with sufficient water for flushing ; the structure of floors, hearths and staircases, and the height of rooms intended to be used for human habitation ; the paving of yards and open spaces in connection with dwelling-houses ; and the provision in connection with the laying out of new streets of secondary means of access where necessary for the purpose of removal of house refuse, &c. It must not be forgotten, however, that these provisions of the Amendment Act, 1890, are not in force until they have been "adopted " by the authority under section 3 of the Act. " The result of the above powers having been given by the 266 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. Acts of 1875 and 1890 to urban authorities is that many of them have framed sets of byelaws, which have received the sanction of the Local Government Board, and are now in force in the several districts. In the year 1877, it being found that considerable variation existed in the requirements set forth in the byelaws, according to the districts from which they emanated, and experience having shown that the forms of byelaws previously issued by the Local Government Board were inadequate, that Board, in order to assist urban authorities, issued a series of model byelaws ; amongst the series being a set of byelaws regulating the manner in which new streets should be constructed and buildings erected.* These model byelaws are too extensive to give in detail, as they contain 99 clauses, but every town surveyor should at once procure a copy, even if his corporation have not adopted them, nor intend to do so. One of the first difficulties that often presents itself to those who have to enforce the observance of the necessary "giving of notices and deposit of plans and sections by persons intenting to construct new buildings" is to prove that the building is " new " so as to bring it under the opera- tion of the Act. In many cases, of course, there can be no doubt ; as for instance where bare land is being built upon ; but often after buildings have been partially destroyed by fire, or where extensive alterations are being carried out, some considerable elements of uncertainty as to what is a " new building " are introduced. The Public Health Act, 1875, attempts to settle the question as follows : " For the purposes of this Act, the re-erecting of any * ' Model Byelaws issued by the Local Government Board for the use of Sanitary Authorities. IV. New Streets and Buildings.' Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode, 1877. New Streets and Buildings. 267 building pulled down to, or below the ground floor, or of any frame-building of which only the framework is left down to the ground floor, or the conversion into a dwelling house of any building not originally constructed for human habitation, or the conversion into more than one dwelling house of a building originally constructed as one dwelling house only, shall be considered the erection of a new building " (38 & 39 Viet c. 55, s. 159). But the difficulty at once presents itself as to what is meant by the words " ground floor." Does this mean the actual floor level, or the cubical space contained by the walls, floor and ceiling of the " ground floor " (or as it is sometimes called " ground story ") of the building ? The latter may be fairly assumed to be a correct interpretation, for if we order a man to hang a picture, or to fix a chandelier on the " ground floor," we certainly do not expect to find them placed upon the floor. It is important that this point should be settled definitely, or some more explanatory term employed in the Act in order to determine what is a new building ; for in the present state of uncertainty it may be urged on the one hand that the whole building must be razed to the ground, and on the other that if the more extended meaning of "ground floor" is taken, the removal of the superstructure and destruction of the ceiling only of the " ground floor " would bring the new work under the definition of a new building and within the operation of the byelaws. This uncertainty is now taken advantage of by builders and others, who sometimes find it irksome and inconvenient to be obliged to construct a building in accordance with the byelaws of any town. Somewhat sharp practices are conse- quently resorted to in order to evade the law, and old buildings are converted into new ones without any powers of interference by the urban authority or their surveyor. This is greatly to be regretted, as unless the building comes 268 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. within the operation of the byelaws, it is frequently erected without any sanitary precautions, or even stability. Sometimes a so-called repair of a building is commenced by adding a new roof, perhaps at a higher level than the old one ; when sufficient time has elapsed to allay suspicion, a new front is erected, and then new back and side walls in due course, the alteration of the interior floors not attracting much attention. Cases of this description are very troublesome to the town surveyor, as if legal proceedings are to be taken against the offender, it may be requisite for the surveyor to make surveys and drawings of the works as they are in progress in order to prove his case, and these might extend over a considerable period of time.* In order to make these sur- veys it would be necessary for him to enter the premises whilst the works were in progress ; but there does not seem to be any power conferred on him by any Act of Parliament for such a purpose, as it is doubtful whether section 305 of the Public Health Act, 1875, applies, so that really he has no power to prevent the occurrences I have mentioned. It must also not be forgotten that what may sometimes * In the case of an old building being gradually altered into a new one, the following limitation as to proceedings in the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1848, should be noted. " In all cases where no time is already or shall hereafter be specially limited for making any such complaint or laying any such information in the Act or Acts of Parliament relating to such particular case, such complaint shall be made and such information shall be laid within six months from the time when the matter of complaint or information respectively arose" (n & 12 Viet. c. 43, s. n). A similar provision was contained in s. 2^2 of the Public Health Act, 1875. but has since been repealed as superfluous. The complaint could not be made when the work was first commenced, as no offence would have been com- mitted, and if made after the work was finished, it mi.uht be urged that the offence was commenced more than six months previously, and that the complaint should have been made " when the matter of such complaint or information respectively arose." It would be prudent, therefore, for the surveyor, if he wishes to avoid taking upon himself the responsibility of allowing the work to proceed, to give a warning notice to the builder at the first ; and when the alterations have reached a point where in his judgment, the law has been broken, to commence proceedings by Notice and Summons, based on the assumption that the work done constitutes a ' new building.' New Streets and Buildings. 269 appear to be an entirely new building, may only be an addi- tion to one that existed before the passing of the Act, and although the new work may be ten times as large as the old still much conflicting evidence may be brought to bear before it can be proved to be a "new building" within the meaning of the Act. It is also to be observed that the definition of a " new building " contained in the above section is not ex- haustive, the question of new building or not being a question of fact for the magistrates to decide in each particular case.* Turning again to section 159 of the Public Health Act, 1875, these words will be found as part of the definition of what is a new building : " or the conversion into a dwelling house of any building not originally constructed for human habitation." It would have been better in the interests of sanitation if the Act had prohibited the conversion of any building at all into a dwelling house without the approval of the urban authority, for as the law stands at present, it is open for an owner of property to convert stables or warehouses, &c., into dwelling houses, by simply asserting and bringing witnesses or other evidence to prove that they were "originally con- structed for human habitation," irrespective of whether they are adapted for the purpose or not, thus defeating the inten- tion of the Public Health Act to secure a better description of dwellings than those that were erected before the passing of the Act ; and although this defect is partially remedied by section 33 of the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1890, it still does not touch buildings that were erected before the passing of the Public Health Act, 1875. When a dispute does arise with anyone as to whether a building comes within the definition of "new" or not, it is well, if possible, to agree upon certain points of fact and upon plans, &c., before the case comes into court, and then to * See James v. Wyvill, 51 L. T. (N.S.) 237 ; 48 J. P. 725. 270 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. endeavour to get the magistrates to " view." This course, if pursued, often saves lengthy litigation, and a great waste of time and money. With reference to the deposit of plans of new streets or buildings, the following clause of the Public Health Act, 1875, provides that this shall be done : "Where a notice, plan or description of any work is required by any byelaw made by an urban authority to be laid before that authority, the urban authority shall, within one month after the same has been delivered or sent to their surveyor or clerk,* signify in writing their approval or dis- approval of the intended work to the person proposing to execute the same ; and if the work is commenced after such notice of disapproval, or before the expiration of such month without such approval, and is in any respect not in con- formity with any byelaw of the urban authority, the urban authority may cause so much of the work as has been executed to be pulled down or removed ..." (38 & 39 Viet c. 55, s. 158). The result of these clauses of the Act with reference to new streets and buildings is, that some of the most arduous and irksome duties of the town surveyor are embodied in the few words they contain. These duties consist of, first, the careful examination of, and reporting upon, all plans of new streets and buildings ; secondly, the constant supervision of these streets and buildings whilst the works are in progress ; and each of these duties will be considered in the course of this chapter. First then, as to the deposit and examination of the plans of new streets or buildings. The byelaws of which I have already made mention should contain some such clauses as the following : " Every person who shall intend to make or lay out any * Plans are usually deposited with the surveyor, as being the officer who would be most likely to understand them. New Streets and Buildings. 271 new street, whether the same shall be intended to be used as a public way or not, shall give notice to the urban authority of such intention, by writing delivered to them at their office, or at the office of their surveyor, and shall at the same time leave or cause to be left at the office of the urban authority, or of their surveyor, a plan and section of such intended new street, drawn to a scale of not less than I inch to every 44 feet, and shall show on every such plan the names of the owners of the land through or over which such street shall be intended to pass, the level, width and direction, the pro- posed mode of construction and the proposed name of such intended new street, and its position relatively to the streets nearest thereto ; the size and number of the intended build- ing lots, and the proposed sites, height, class and nature of the buildings to be erected therein, and the proposed height of the division and fence walls thereon ; and the name and address of the person intending to lay out such new street, and he shall himself sign such plan, or cause the same to be signed by his duly authorised agent. " Such person shall show on every such section the level of the present surface of the ground above some known fixed datum, the level and rate or rates of inclination of the intended new street, the level and inclination of the streets with which it will be connected, and the level of the lowest floors of the intended new buildings. " Every person who shall intend to erect any new building shall give notice to the urban authority of such intention by writing delivered to them at their office, or at the office of their surveyor, and shall at the same time leave or cause to be left at the said office detail plans and sections of every floor of such intended new building, drawn to a scale of not less than I inch to every 8 feet, showing the position, form and dimensions of the several parts of such building, and of the water-closet, earth-closet, privy, cesspool, ashpit, well, and all other appurtenances ; and together with such 272 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. plans and sections he shall leave or cause to be left at the office of the urban authority, or of their surveyor, a descrip- tion of the materials of which the building is proposed to be constructed, of the intended mode of drainage, and means of water supply. " Such person shall at the same time leave or cause to be left at the office of the urban authority, or of their surveyor, a block plan drawn to a scale of not less than I inch to every 44 feet, and shall show the position of the buildings and appurtenances of the properties immediately adjoining, the width and level of the street in front, and of the street, if any, at the rear of such building, the level of the lowest floor of such building, and of any yard or ground belonging thereto. " Such person shall likewise show on such plan the intended lines of drainage of such building, and the intended size, depth and inclination of each drain ; and the details of the arrangement proposed to be adopted for the ventilation of the drains." With reference to the deposit of plans as required by the above byelaw, the following suggestions as to the best manner of effecting this may be of some use : I. The town surveyor should see that the person, or his agent, intending to carry out the work, deposits tracings of the proposed street or building signed by himself, so that there should be no after dispute as to what really has been deposited ; these tracings should be on good paper properly inked in and "coloured so as to be indelible. In some towns it is the practice for original plans to be deposited tempo- rarily with the surveyor, who is expected to have them traced and then returned to the owner ; but this not only tends to the possibility of dispute as to the correctness of the tracings but it also takes up a large amount of the surveyor's time, or of such other officer as may have charge of this branch of the duties. New Streets and Buildings. 273 In order to insure that the plans deposited shall not be afterwards claimed by the person making the deposit, it might be well to add these words to the clause of the byelaws which I have quoted : "All such plans and sections so left at the office of the urban authority or of their surveyor, shall remain the property of the urban authority." 2. It is advisable for the town surveyor to have in his possession a number of printed forms on which notice should be given by the- person intending to erect a new building, and filled in and signed by him or his duly authorised agent. The following is given as a specimen form for this purpose, which can be altered to suit the byelaws in force within the district : To the Surveyor of the Urban A tithority of I hereby give you notice that it is my intention to erect certain buildings in street, and that the following par- ticulars relate thereto : No. Questions. No. Answers. I Christian and Surname in full, Address and occupation of persons for whom buildings to be erected. I 2 Number of drawings deposited. 2 3 Name of architect, if any. 3 4 Description of buildings and of the materials to be used in construction of same. 4 5 Situation of buildings. 5 6 Level, or intended level of cellar, or ground floor, with reference to surface of street. 6 7 Thickness of walls. 7 8 Height of building in stories. 8 * 274 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. TABLE continued. No. Questions. No. Answers. 9 Area of clear open space at rear or side of buildings exclusively belonging thereto. 9 10 Distance across such open space. 10 ii Description of ventilation. ii 12 Width of street or open space opposite buildings. 12 13 Size and description of drains, and traps, and if ventilated. 13 14 Inclination of drains. 14 15 Description of outlet to drains. 15 16 How supplied with water. 16 17 Situation, dimensions and par- ticulars of apparatus of w.c.'s. 17 And I herewith leave detail plans and sections of every floor of such intended new buildings, drawn to a scale of not less than I inch to every 8 feet, showing the position, form and dimensions of the several parts of such buildings, and of the water-closet, privy, cesspool, earth-closet, ashpit, well and all other appurtenances ; and also, a block plan drawn to a scale of not less than I inch to every 44 feet, showing the position of the buildings and appurtenances of the properties immediately adjoining, the width and level of the street, the level of the lowest floor of the intended building, and of the yard or ground belonging thereto. Dated this day of 18 Signature in full, Address, Occupation, A similar form may be prepared relating to plans of pro- New Streets and Buildings. 275 posed new streets, but of course the number of the questions contained in it will be less. 3. When the necessary notices have been given and the tracings properly deposited with the surveyor, he should care- fully examine them to see if they are in accordance with the enactments and byelaws which are in force in his district. They should then be folded and placed in a large envelope, which should be endorsed with the name of the person proposing to carry out the work, the description of the work proposed, the name of the architect, if any, the name of the builder, if any, the date of the deposit, and a blank left for the date of approval. Eaeh envelope should also have a large number stamped upon it. 4. These particulars should be entered in a book of refer- ence against a corresponding number, so that at any future date it may be easy to find and refer to any plans that have been deposited by means of an index and the number on the envelope. 5. If on examining the plans the surveyor finds anything in them which does not conform to the byelaws, it may be well in many cases to return them at once to the person depositing them, without having to wait to lay them before a committee, as this is a great saving of time. In returning the plans the surveyor should write a letter setting forth his objections and the particulars in which the plans and sections fail to comply with the requirements of the byelaws. 6. If the plans are redeposited unaltered or showing still some non-compliance with the byelaws, the surveyor must lay them before his committee and explain in what respects they are defective, and the committee can then proceed to formally disapprove of them. 7. If the plans are in accordance with the byelaws, the surveyor reports the fact to the committee, whereupon the plans should be approved in writing by the chairman of the committee. T 2 276 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers' Handbook. 8. A notification in writing should be sent to the person who has deposited the plans when they have been approved by the urban authority ; and in sending this notification it is well to draw his attention to the fact that notice must be given to the surveyor of the commencement of the work, in order that the foundations, drains, &c., may be examined by him before the ground is filled in. 9. All plans which the committee decline to approve of may be returned to the person who deposited them, with a written notification of disapproval. 10. Plans which are approved of by the committee and afterwards ratified by the general meeting of the urban authority, should be carefully put away, so that by means of the reference book previously described they can be easily found at any future time. The importance and necessity for the deposit of plans with a sanitary authority cannot be over-estimated, but this deposit is of but little practical good unless it can be insured that all the buildings are erected strictly in conformity with these plans, and this is apparently the duty also of the town surveyor, although no mention is made in any of the Acts bearing upon this subject as to whose duty it is to see that the byelaws and other enactments are enforced. As a matter of fact, it is quite impossible for any single person in any large town to perform this duty, and a staff of assistants is consequently necessary if the sanitary authority really wish their byelaws to be enforced. Anyone who is practically acquainted with the difficulties that even architects experience in superintending buildings they have themselves designed, and how much they have to trust to the clerk of works (of which there is generally one to every building), will readily see what an absurdity it is to sup- pose that a town surveyor, with his multitude of other duties and attendances at committees and meetings, can even pretend to see that the 99 detail clauses of such byelaws as those New Streets and Buildings. 277 emanating from the Local Government Board Office, or even those of a less stringent character, can possibly be enforced ; especially when it is remembered that many of the buildings he has to inspect have no superintending architect, but are being erected for purposes of speculation by small builders, who design and carry out their own work. Laws may be passed, books on sanitary questions may be written, but unless a large staff of inspectors or sanitary police or some such officials are kept by a sanitary authority, very little real advancement will be made with the poorer classes of buildings. It must in fairness to the builder be stated that to erect houses in strict accordance with the model byelaws would probably mean loss of money to him, as they could not possibly be built with any prospects of a reasonable return upon the outlay, unless much higher rents were charged than can usually be paid by the class who occupy them. This partly arises from the stringent clauses inserted with respect to the structure of walls and other precautions for the pre- vention of fires.* I cannot help thinking that too much inter- ference is now made by sanitary authorities for the protection of property from fire. It is not a sanitary question, and is certainly one which chiefly affects insurance companies. Everyone should be able to pay his small insurance premium, and the companies should look after their own interests, and not expect it to be done by others. If the sanitary authority wish to interfere in the question of fire why should not the protection of life be considered as much as property. Yet no clause can be discovered in the model byelaws rendering it compulsory to make some provision in dwelling-houses for the easy escape of the * Nothing can be more vexatious than the byelaw compelling the party-walls of new buildings to be carried up above the roof to at least twelve inches ; not only does this frequently spoil the architectural appearance of a building, but it causes great expense in order to keep the wet out : a_very difficult thing with a wall treated in this manner. 278 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. inmates in case of fire. Indeed, as the Public Health Act does not authorise the enactment of a byelaw for such a purpose, such a clause would most probably be held to be ultra vires. Another cause of expense to builders is the necessity im- posed on them to provide a comparatively large open space at the back or sides of new dwelling-houses, thus sacrificing land, and sometimes making it almost impossible to build at all. This requirement of open gardens or yards at the back of even small labourers' dwellings is in some towns pushed to an extreme. If such houses are erected in a thoroughly sanitary manner in all points of detail, it is questionable if a large open space is really beneficial. My experience has shown me that this space is often misused ; animals, such as rabbits, chickens, pigeons, &c., being kept there ; or it is made into a so-called garden, really a refuse heap which is a receptacle for all the garbage and filth of the house, soon be- coming a fruitful source of disease to the occupants of the house itself and the neighbours. It is also difficult to ensure, without a considerable amount of inspection, that the space thus provided and approved of in the deposited plans shall not be built upon at some future period without the consent of the local authority. It would be better if the streets in fronts of such dwellings were wide, and a narrow street or passage constructed at the back for the dust-cart service, supply of coals, &c. The houses themselves should have their rooms properly and thoroughly ventilated ; underground kitchens or living rooms should be prohibited. The drainage, water-supply, and all the apparatus in connection with them, should be perfect but simple. At the back of the house should be a small yard or court well paved with asphalte or other impervious material, in which should be placed the wash- house, W.C., &c. These, and public parks, and plenty of fresh air in the streets and in the dwelling-houses themselves, should take the place of the large open spaces at the back of small New Streets and Buildings. 279 dwelling-houses, which, as I have already stated, are generally so much misused. The model byelaws with regard to new streets and buildings issued by the Local Government Board contain most admirable clauses valuable suggestions which should receive attention from any town surveyor who has to advise his corporation upon the subject of framing a set of byelaws for his district but they necessarily contain many clauses which are not suitable equally well for towns in the north, south, east and west of England. Many of the clauses are too stringent to be enforced, but this arises not from any fault in the byelaws themselves, but rather from the machinery employed in carrying them into effect. To secure all that they require, adequate inspection is needed, and this might be effected if there was a fee charged by the urban authority of any town for the purposes of proper inspection of buildings in course of construction ; and although it must be admitted that any provision which increases the cost of construction of small dwelling-houses which shall be complete in all sanitary requisites is undesirable, the extra cost of such inspection would be too small to be appreciable, while the advantages arising from such improved supervision would, even from a pecuniary point of view, be of immense advantage not only to the community as tending to improve the public health, but also to the owner as ensuring good honest work in return for his money. In larger and more expensive buildings this supervision is exercised by the archi- tect, but as a rule there is no architect employed in the case of small houses, and the builder is accordingly left to his own devices, with frequently unfortunate results. 280 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers' Handbook. CHAPTER XIX. SCAVENGING. j IN a great number of towns in this country the town surveyor has charge of the unostentatious, though very necessary, sani- tary work of the scavenging of the district over which he has charge,* and the following are the clauses of the Public Health Act, 1875, under which he carries out his duties : " Every local authority may, and when required by order of the Local Government Board shall, themselves undertake or contract for " The removal of house refuse from premises : " The cleansing of earth-closets, privies, ashpits, and cess- pools, either for the whole or any part of their district : Moreover every urban authority and any rural authority in- vested by the Local Government Board with the requisite powers may, and when required by the said board shall, themselves undertake or contract for the proper cleansing of streets, and may also themselves undertake or contract for the proper watering of streets for the whole or any part of their district. " All matters collected by the local authority or contractor in pursuance of this section may be sold or otherwise disposed * Sir Robert Rawlinson, when speaking at a district meeting of the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors at Stratford-on-Avon, said, " There is one thing that I wish to say to the governing people of Stratford-on-Avon, and that is, that the foundation of all sanitary science is scavenging ; and if I were asked what is the most important feature in sanitary science, I would repeat again, scavenging. Your sewers, your drains and water supply are all secondary considerations if scavenging is neglected." ( Vide Minutes of ' Proceedings of the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors,' vol. xii. page 64.) Scavenging. 281 of, and any profits thus made by an urban authority shall be carried to the account of the fund or rate applicable by them for the general purposes of this Act ; and any profits thus made by a rural authority in respect of any contributory place shall be carried to the account of the fund or rate out of which expenses incurred under this section by that authority in such contributory place are defrayed. "If any person removes or obstructs the local authority or contractor in removing any matters by this section authorised to be removed' by the local authority, he shall for each offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds : Provided that the occupier of the house within the district shall not be liable to such penalty in respect of any such matters which are produced on his own premises and are intended to be removed for sale or for his own use, and are in the meantime kept so as not to be a nuisance " (38 & 39 Viet c. 55, s. 42). The next clause imposes a penalty on a local authority who have themselves undertaken or contracted for the re- moval of house refuse, if they fail " without reasonable excuse after notice in writing from the occupier of any house " to cleanse the ashpit, &c., within seven days (38 & 39 Viet, c. 55, s. 42), and the next clause is as follows : " Where the local authority do not themselves undertake or contract for "The cleansing of footways and pavements adjoining any premises ; " The removal of house refuse from any premises ; " The cleansing of earth-closets, privies, ashpits, and cess- pools belonging to any premises ; "They may make byelaws imposing the duty of such cleansing or removal, at such intervals as they think fit, on the occupier of any such premises. " An urban authority * may also make byelaws for the * A rural authority cannot apparently make any byelaw with regard to the prevention of such nuisances. 282 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. prevention of nuisances arising from snow, filth, dust, ashes and rubbish, and for the prevention of the keeping of animals on any premises so as to be injurious to health" * (38 & 39 Viet c. 55, s. 44). There is also another clause in the Public Health Act 1875, which is as follows : "Any urban authority may, if they see fit, provide in proper and convenient situations receptacles for the temporary deposit and collection of dust, ashes, and rubbish ; they may also provide fit buildings and places for the deposit of any matters collected by them in pursuance of this part of this Act " (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 45). The result of the above comprehensive clauses upon the subject of scavenging is that the following duties fall upon the town surveyor where that officer is responsible for such work : 1. "The removal of house refuse from premises." This work, like all the rest which follows, can be done either by the local authority themselves or by contract, the former method, as I hope presently to show, being much the best system. In connection with this first duty of the removal of house refuse, the following points will have to be considered : (a) What is house refuse ? (b) What is the best manner of storing it on the premises pending the visit of the scavenger ? (c) Which are the best methods for its collection ? (d) Which are the best methods for its disposal ? 2. "The cleansing of earth-closets, privies, ashpits, and cesspools." * A byelaw under this section "must be limited to imposing upon the occupier the duty of cleansing or removal at such intervals as the sanitary authority may think fit. The mode of cleansing or removal and the precautions to be observed in connection with the process are not matters within the range of such byelaws." Vide * Memorandum to the Model Byelaws issued by the Local Government Board for the use of Sanitary Authorities, No. I, Cleansing of Foot- ways and Pavements, &c.,' 1877. Scavenging. 283 This work where necessary (owing to the want of a system of sewerage) can be carried out simultaneously with the collection of house- refuse and in almost the same manner. 3. " The proper cleansing of streets." In connection with this duty the following points must be considered : (a) The best methods for sweeping and cleansing streets. (U] If machinery effects such work better and more economically than hand labour. (V) The extra work involved by the bad construction of streets, or the ill chosen materials of which they are formed. (d) Whether private streets, courts and alleys, "not re- pairable by the inhabitants at large," should be swept and cleansed by the local authority ? (e) The ultimate disposal of excessive accumulations of mud. (/) The removal and disposal of snow. 4. " The proper watering of streets for the whole or any part of their district." In considering this question it is necessary to note : (a) The best form of vehicle for carrying and spreading the water. (b) The number, position, and description of standpipes. (c) Whether vehicles, or fixed standpipes and hose are best. 5. If the local authority do not impose a byelaw they must themselves cleanse the "footways and pavements adjoining any premises ; " and this in excessively muddy weather, or after a heavy fall of snow, is no inconsiderable work. 6. An nrban authority may make provision for the " temporary deposit and collection of dust, ashes and rubbish." This involves public dustbins being placed in suitable 284 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. positions in the town, the points in connection with this work being (a) The most suitable sites for such accommodation. (b) The materials and form of which they shall be con- structed. Having thus stated all the heads under which the work of scavenging may be grouped, it is necessary to decide what is " house refuse ; " for unless this is satisfactorily settled, con- siderable onus and expense will be put upon the local authority if they are to include in the removal trade, garden and other similar refuse.* It may be assumed that all house refuse which it is the duty of the scavenger to remove, is really so removed by the direction of the local authority without dispute, but that the following articles, which frequently find their way into a domestic dustbin, are not in the strict terms of the Act expected to be removed by him. (i) Plaster from walls and brick bats, (2) Large quantities of broken bottles and flower- pots, (3) Clinkers and ashes from foundries and green-houses, (4) Wall paper torn from the rooms of a house, (5) Scrap tin (but not old tins which have contained meats, &c., and which, although very useless and bulky, may be fairly assumed to be house refuse), (6) All garden refuse such as grass cuttings, dead leaves, and the loppings from trees and shrubs, f * In Glen's ' Law of Public Health and Local Government,' nth edition, in a note to section 43, p. 105, several cases are cited to illustrate what substances may not be considered refuse within the meaning of the Act, but no attempt is made to define what is refuse. t The Bromley Local Board issue a card on which is printed, amongst other information with reference to the contract for the removal of house refuse, the following suggestions: "It is hoped that householders will as far as possible facilitate the systematic removal of refuse by providing suitable dustbins, and directing their servants that ordinary house refuse only shall be deposited in such receptacles. The following are some of the items of refuse which the contractors are bound to remove, viz. : cinder ashes, potato peelings, cabbage leaves, and kitchen refuse generally. But the contractors are not required to remove the refuse of any trade, manufacture or business, or of any building materials or any garden cuttings or sweepings." Scavenging. 285 As a matter of fact, out of ninety towns with which I communicated on this subject only thirteen of them directed the removal of both trade and garden refuse without any special extra payment being made by the householder, and this is only done when these materials are placed in the ordinary dustbin or ashpit attached to a house. Several towns, however, it appears, remove such materials on special payments being made of sums varying from is. 6d. to $s. per load. Disputes frequently arise between the men employed in scavenging and the householder on these vexed questions as to the difference between house, trade or garden refuse : a dispute often raised by the scavengers themselves, in the hope of obtaining a gratuity or reward for the clearance of a dustbin, which no doubt, legally, they are perfectly justified in refusing to empty ; and in order to lessen the chance of such disputes and to attempt to settle this question, the following suggestions may be of value. It would no doubt be vexatious if any sanitary authority were to absolutely refuse to remove the " garden " refuse from those houses to which a small flower garden was attached ; whilst it would on the contrary be an unfair tax upon the general community if the refuse of large gardens was removed without payment. A good rule would therefore be to remove only such garden refuse as was contained in the ordinary dustbin or ashpit attached to a house, and that as the removal of any kind of trade refuse would no doubt lead to abuses if done gratuitously by the sanitary authority, this material should only be removed on payment of some sum, which should be previously fixed by the local authority, and each case should be reported to the officer superintending the work before it was removed, The next question is the important one of the manner and place in which house refuse shall be temporarily stored pending the visit of the scavenger. 286 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. The Public Health Act of 1875 enacts that : " Every local authority shall provide that all drains, water-closets, earth- closets, privies, ashpits,* and cesspools within their district be constructed and kept so as not to be a nuisance or injurious to health " (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 40). And section 35 of the above Act states, "it shall not be lawful newly to erect any house or to rebuild any house pulled down to or below the ground floor without a sufficient water-closet, earth-closet, privy, and an ashpit furnished with proper doors and coverings. Any person who causes any house to be erected or rebuilt in contravention of this enact- ment shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds" (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 35). The same Act also gives power to local authorities to enforce provision of ashpit accommodation for houses where such accommodation does not already exist, and to frame bye- laws with respect to ashpits in connection with buildings. There can be no doubt that the position of the dustbin or ashpits, as regards its site with reference to the main dwelling- house, is of primary sanitary importance, for if the garbage and domestic accumulations therein are allowed to remain for a few days, especially when the weather is close, damp and warm, they become very offensive, and the emanations there- from may even be highly deleterious and dangerous to health ; this effect is aggravated by persons emptying vegetable refuse and other matters which are wet into the dustbin, as decom- position of these matters is greatly assisted by this addition ; and it would be well that all such matters should be burnt on the kitchen or scullery fire along with a large percentage of the ashes which could be sifted and saved from those which too readily find their way into the dustbin, and are thus wasted. * " The expression * ashpit ' in the Public Health Acts and in this Act shall for the purposes of the execution of those Acts and of this Act include any ashtub or other receptacle for the deposit of ashes, faecal matter or refuse." (53 & 54 Viet. c. 59, section n, sub-section i.) Scavenging. 287 Care would of course have to be taken in this process that no smell or nuisance was caused by the process of burning. It is open to considerable doubt if the fixed dustbin or ashpit is the best or most sanitary receptacle for the house refuse ; they may be necessary and suitable for public institutions, or for large isolated private dwellings, or for schools or any places where excessive quantities of refuse may accumulate ; but where this refuse is systematically and properly removed by the order of the local authority, at such times and in -such manner as will be hereafter pointed out, movable or portable dustbins, boxes or baskets are far pre- ferable to the large immovable, inconvenient fixed ashpit, recommended and enforced under the Act* The next point to consider is that of the collection of the house refuse, which should be effected satisfactorily, economi- cally and expeditiously. The following are the three methods by which this is attempted : 1. By a house-to-house call at intermittent periods. 2. By the scavengers giving notice of their approach by ringing a bell, or by other signal, and requiring the house- holder to bring out the refuse to the cart. 3. By placing public dustbins in different localities, and expecting householders in their vicinity to place the house refuse in these dustbins, which are then cleared from time to time by the local authority. Experience alone can teach which of . these is the best method to adopt in any district, and it is usually found that some modification of all three is necessary. It is, however, difficult sometimes to adopt public dustbins, not only on account of their first cost, but from the objections * The large open ashpit is especially to be avoided ; in districts where these are plentiful it is surprising what a large area of ground they collectively cover, and their effect upon the surrounding air, especially under certain conditions of the atmosphere, cannot but be detrimental to the health of the inhabitants. 288 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. raised by the occupiers of adjacent houses to their being fixed in their neighbourhood. If these dustbins were constructed with properly balanced self-closing lids, these objections might be overcome, and their first cost would be but trifling when compared with the benefit to be derived by placing them in some of the thickly populated courts and alleys which are unfortunately to be found in nearly every town. Where there are no public dust- bins the inhabitants of these courts throw their waste products upon the surface of the streets or courts from time to time throughout the day, as it cannot be expected nor desired that such materials should remain, even for twenty-four hours, in their one living room, which is frequently over-crowded, and has but little spare space even for the common necessities of life ; but that these waste products should be thus strewn over the surface of the street or court is almost equally objection- able, and points to the advantage to be gained by placing in convenient situations covered dustbins which could be easily emptied once a day. Undoubtedly the best method for the removal of refuse is the house-to-house call ; but except in suburban districts and for the collection of refuse from the better class of dwell- ing-houses and public institutions, the expense, delay and difficulty which would be incurred in calling at every house throughout a town, would make it almost impracticable, and consequently this system is universally combined with that which is known as the bell or signal system, which simply means that the scavenging cart in going its rounds has a bell attached to it, or the horse, which bell rings automatically as the cart proceeds on its way. On hearing this signal, but not before, the householder is expected to bring out the refuse in some convenient receptacle, which is then emptied into the cart by the scavenger. As a matter of fact, the receptacles containing all the Scavenging. 289 waste products of these householders are brought out and are placed in the gutter of the street close to the curb, long before the cart makes its appearance or can be reasonably expected to do so. The result of these (generally inappropriate) receptacles filled with heterogenous collections of house refuse being left unprotected in the public streets, is that their contents are quickly strewn about the surface of the street, by their being upset accidentally, or purposely, and the appearance of the street, which has probably been carefully swept and garnished during the night or early In the morning, quickly assumes, especially in a high wind, a very offensive character, and probably has to be entirely re-swept and cleansed before the ordinary traffic of the day commences. The " house-to-house " call system in the suburbs of a town may be greatly assisted by a very simple remedy, which has already been tried in some towns with considerable success. It consists in the householder placing a card bear- ing the letter D, or some other distinguishing mark, in a conspicuous place in a window, when the services of the scavengers are required ; these cards should be printed and circulated by the sanitary authority of the district, who should state on the back of the card the days on which the scavengers would visit each neighbourhood, with the approxi- mate hour of the day in which they would appear, in order that the householder may not be unnecessarily inconvenienced by being obliged to keep the card for any length of time in his window. The scavengers in passing observe the signal, and call at the house ; otherwise they pass on, unless specially called in by the occupants, thus avoiding any unnecessary delay in their rounds. A visit from the scavengers either before seven or after ten in the morning is generally very inconvenient for house- u 290 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. holds of a superior class, and 'should be, if possible, carefully avoided by the sanitary authority.* The cart usually employed for scavenging is that known as the ordinary " tip cart," strongly, if not clumsily, con- structed of an oak frame, with elm or deal sides of con- siderable height ; it holds about a couple of cubic yards of material, and costs from sixteen to twenty pounds. I will not in this edition detail the many objections which pertain to this description of dust-cart, but merely say that with a view to obviate these and other objections, several im- proved carts and waggons have been introduced by different makers, who have styled them by a variety of names, and which no doubt are now thoroughly well known to my readers, and I will now pass on to the question of the disposal of the refuse thus collected. In former years the house refuse was of some considerable value for agricultural and other purposes, but of late years the character of this material has considerably changed. In the first place, improved means of combustion and the intro- duction of gas stoves have lessened the amount of ashes, and the introduction of tinned meats and vegetables has not only lessened the amount of vegetable and organic refuse, but has added a large quantity of tin cases to the already unwieldy bulk of this material ; and these tins which are found in the refuse have so far proved of very little, if any, commercial value. The following list of articles and materials found in ordi- nary house refuse may here be of interest : Ashes, cinders, unconsumed coal and wood, paper of all kinds and even books (old and new), rags and articles of clothing of every description, immense quantities of corks * Where a local authority themselves undertake or contract for the removal of house refuse, they may make byelaws imposing on the occupier of any premises duties in connection with such removal so as to facilitate the work which the local authority undertake or contract for. (53 & 54 Viet. c. 59, section 26, sub- section 2.) Scavenging. 291 (telling a sad tale !) ; tea leaves, egg shells and shells of oysters and other fish ; large quantities of vegetable refuse, and decayed and even sound fruit, varying with the seasons ; dead animals of almost all species ; meat tins, empty and full, of every description ; old iron of all kinds saucepans, baking tins, knives, forks, spoons, umbrella wires ; bones of every description ; fish-heads and entrails ; portions of poultry, feathers and offal of all kinds ; crockery (both sound and broken), jam-pots preponderating ; broken glass and bottles, the latter sometimes whole and even full in the case of medi- cine (but not of beer or wine !) ; packing cases ; straw mats ; carpets ; table covers ; pieces of leather ; straps ; oilcloth ; and even whole mattresses and bedding ; brickbats ; plaster ; wall paper ; brooms ; brushes ; toys and sundries of every description, even to gun cartridges and perambulators ! Yet it is the duty of the municipal authorities not only to collect but to dispose of this heterogeneous mass, and to do it expeditiously, effectively, economically and in an inoffensive manner. For many years, before the growth of sanitary science, it was thought sufficient to tip this material into pits or on to waste land upon which houses were eventually erected. This unwholesome practice is not specially prohibited by law, but the Public Health Act Amendment Act, 1890, makes it unlawful to erect a new building upon ground which has been so filled up unless the matter which has been thus deposited shall be removed or become innocuous (53 & 54 Viet. c. 59, s. 25). In former years also house refuse was of some value and contractors (of the " Boffin " class), used to purchase it at good prices. Now, all this is changed, and its disposal has become a more difficult question. Its value for agricultural purposes is* almost nil, as it is of little manurial value, and its "tin" character makes it an awkward top dressing for the farmer. It is of little value to brick makers, and it does not pay to sort U 2 292 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. it and sell its various materials, irrespective of the insanitary character of such a proceeding. In some cities, notably Liverpool and New York, for some years past the bulk of the refuse has been barged away to sea in specially designed hopper barges and sunk in deep water. Two barges of 330 and 400 tons respectively are employed for this work at Liverpool, each vessel having a large central hopper divided into ten compartments which are fitted with a pair of horizontal doors 10 feet X 4 feet hinged to the keel and bilges which are raised and lowered by chains through gearing worked by a small engine specially provided for this purpose. These barges when loaded steam off to the deposit- ing banks of about 117,000 acres, at a distance of about 24 miles from the landing stage and about 140 feet deep at low water. The refuse is discharged by lowering the doors and allow- ing the material to pass through, after which the doors are again raised and the vessel returns to the river, the total trip occuping about seven hours. She then awaits the opening of the dock gates and returns to her berth. During the year ended the 3ist December, 1891, 145,032 tons of refuse were deposited in this manner, costing (includ- ing loading into the barges), about is. 6^d. per ton. There is no doubt that for seaport towns this method has considerable advantages ; but there is always some difficulty experienced with the lighter descriptions of material, which float upon the water and are said eventually to be cast up upon the nearest coast. It is also stated that fishing with trawling nets is much interfered with, owing to the tinned meat cases and other materials sinking to the bottom and interfering with the nets. There is, of course, a further difficulty about the weather sometimes preventing the vessels proceeding to sea, when an accumulation of refuse is naturally the result. The difficulties thus experienced in attempting to dispose Scavenging. 293 of towns' refuse in an economical and sanitary manner led to attempts being made to destroy or, to be more scientifically correct, to change by the action of fire the waste products known as towns' refuse, such attempts having been made so long ago as the year 1870 by Messrs. Meade & Co. Many efforts have been made since that date by various persons to perfect a " refuse destructor," as it is called, with varying success ; the principal points to be aimed at are as follows : 1. Convenience of locality to prevent long cartage. 2. Easy access of carts to tipping platform. 3. Easy and rapid means of charging the furnaces. 4. Perfect combustion with no nuisance. 5. Ease of stoking and withdrawal of clinker and ashes. 6. Reduction of material to minimum of clinker and ash. 7. Quick combustion. 8. A minimum of hand labour. 9. No stewing of the refuse on the top of furnaces. 10. Securing as much useful thermic value as possible. In order to meet these requirements a number of destruc- tors have been invented and constructed, which it would be impossible in the limits of this book to describe, and I will consequently content myself with a short description of the Fryer's Destructor, which has been so generally erected in this country, and is best known to surveyors. The drawing on page 294 represents a section of a Fryer's Destructor as constructed by Messrs. Manlove, Alliot & Fryer of Nottingham in 1877, and with certain improvements intro- duced since that date most of the destructors in this country are erected upon this pattern. It consists of a group of cells, usually back to back, each cell about 9 ft. long 5 ft. wide and 3 ft. 6 in. high, with a fire-brick hearth 4 ft. long, and a fire- grate 5 ft. in length sloping about I in 3 towards the clinkering door. The refuse is admitted from an opening on the top, and on the other side is the passage to the main flue, which is at the 294 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. back of the furnaces, and is of large size to act as a dust cham- ber and to stop the velocity of the gases. A mattress hole for infected bedding, diseased meat, &c., is provided as shown over the hottest part of the fire. There are strong cast-iron furnace mouths with fire-doors at the front of the furnaces. The whole of the furnaces and flues are lined with fire-brick and held together with stays and tie-rods. The gases may be passed through one or more multitubular boilers to generate steam for various mechanical purposes and thence into a chimney SECTION OF A FRYER'S DESTRUCTOR. shaft of suitable height varying generally from 120 ft. to 240 ft., lined to a suitable height with a separate fire-brick lining. The method of working such a destructor may be de- scribed as follows : The cart, on entering the yard in which the destructor is built, is drawn by a horse up an inclined roadway with vary- ing gradients of from I in 12 to I in 25, and on arriving at the top a platform is provided with tipping curbs, against which the carts are backed and their contents are tipped on to the top of the cells. Here the material remains for a short Scavenging. 295 time, until one of the cells is ready for a charge, the charging holes being in direct communication with the fire, but so arranged that very little smoke at any time issues from them. When a cell requires to be charged, the material is shovelled or drawn with a two-pronged rake into and on to the top of the charging hole. A second man stands in line with the opening, and as the material is delivered on to it he pushes it down the incline on to the drying hearth, and continues doing so until the hearth is completely covered. The quan- tity usually put on at one charge varies from one-third to half a cartload, or from 20 cubic feet to 30 cubic feet. From the drying hearth the material is drawn down on the bars as required by the fireman, who stands at a lower level and in front of the furnace. He first clears his fire by pulling the clinker out, spreads the burning material evenly over the fire- bars, and then draws down a fresh supply of the partially- dried material from the drying hearth. He usually finishes up by running his bar through the fire, so as to leave as free a passage for the air as possible. The clinker falls into a barrow provided for the purpose, or upon the ground in front of the furnace, where it is cooled by having water from a hose poured on it. The fine ash drops through the bars into the dust hearth. This clinker and ash form about 25 per cent, of the material passed through the furnaces. Whilst the combustion is proceeding, the hot gases from the cells pass over the bridge into the large central flue, which is arranged to stop the velocity of the fumes and prevent paper or fine dust passing on to the chimney. Sometimes these gases are made to pass over a " Jones " cremator, where coke fires are kept burning and the fumes are further heated and any objectionable vapours destroyed and rendered harmless. Considerable improvements have been introduced by Messrs. Manlove & Co. upon the above destructor, though the principles remain the same. For instance, a quicker and 296 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. more sanitary and economical method of charging the cells has been adopted, whereby one man can do the work of five. Rocking or creeping fire-bars, are now put in the furnaces to assist the combustion and clinkering, in addition to forced air draughts to further help perfect combustion. By a combination of cells and boilers, the maximum of heat is now utilised and various other matters have been provided for. On the opposite page is a section of an improved " Man- love " destructor on what is known as the Cambridge pattern, as patented by Messrs. Wood & Brodie, Civil Engineers of Liverpool. With regard to the cost of erection of refuse destructors in the former editions, I gave a table of the cost of the erection of various destructors in various towns, but as so much depends upon what is included in the costs, such information cannot be very reliable and is consequently not repeated. With regard, also, to the amount of refuse which is con- sumed per cell and the cost of consumption, I have before me numerous reports and tables which have been prepared upon these questions, but it is evident from their perusal that the information is not reliable, and, consequently, I shall omit any further reference to these questions, merely stating that the amount of refuse which can be disposed of per cell in 24 hours amounts to about 8 tons, and that the cost of labour with proper appliances should be about 6d. per ton so dealt with. In burning the refuse great care must be observed in feeding the cells and in the withdrawal of the clinker and fine ash. Unless a very high temperature is maintained the vapours of distillation (or empyreumatic vapours as they are scientifically termed) will be given off. If the draught is too great, dust or small particles of unconsumed refuse will be carried up the chimney and cause a great nuisance, and it was to avoid this that Mr. Jones, the c/i 298 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. surveyor to the Ealing Local Board, introduced his well- known Fume Cremator, by which all the products of the combustion of the refuse are carried over a bright fire and are thus rendered harmless, at the same time that the draught is improved by this method. Experiments which were made in connection with this invention gave the following heats of the vapour : Temperature in the Flue 6 10 Fahrenheit ,, in the Fume Cremator 1270 ,, ,, after leaving Fume Cremator .. .. 1100 ,, "At these temperatures, and in presence of the accom- panying air,* all septic poisons are destroyed, and organic compounds resolved into carbonic acid, water and nitrogen gas, only the minutest traces of empyreumatic products could survive and pass into the atmosphere. No harm to the health of the community is to be expected or feared from these products." f The clinker and fine ash that remains after the house refuse has been burnt varies considerably with its character ; in some cases the two combined are only 15 per cent, of the refuse destroyed, whilst in others they reach 33 per cent., where crockery, tins, and other hardware are largely mixed with the refuse. Of these waste products the clinker may be advantage- ously used as follows : Hard core for roads and footpaths, ballast for railways, under-pinning of second class paved streets, filling up vacant land or disused quarries, mixed with lime and made into mortar, ordinary concrete for foundations, ground with cement and made into artificial stone either as paving slabs or for house building, tar paving, and many other purposes. The fine ash may be used for bedding setts instead of * Each cell takes about 13 tons of air to burn I ton of refuse. t Vide ' Destructors and Refuse Furnaces, ' by W. Warner. A lecture delivered before the members of the Yorkshire Association of Sanitary Inspectors at Bradford, 1888. Scavenging. 299 sand, made into plaster or mortar, mixed with night soil, sold direct to farmers, or in some cases used instead of gravel for suburban footpaths. Another method for the disposal of house refuse, which has been experimentally adopted (only 35 loads a day being dealt with) is that of mechanically sorting the refuse and utilising the materials in the following manner : paper and rags for paper-making, straw, &c., for fuel, tins for scrap, bottles for refuse, bones, ashes and breeze for manure, glass for melting, iron for scrap, other refuse and rubbish for grinding and mixing with dust. This work was carried out at Chelsea a few years ago, but was abandoned. Mr. Price, the then surveyor to the Local Board of Toxteth Park, and now City Surveyor of Birmingham, pre- pared a return dealing with the replies he had received to some questions he had caused to be issued to a great many towns in connection with the questions of the collection and disposal of house refuse, and it may be interesting to note the following particulars in connection therewith. As to the col- lection of refuse, out of 85 towns from which replies were received, 70 executed the work with their own staff, two executed it partly with their own staff and partly with the assistance of a contractor, and only 13 executed the work by contract. The number of carts or vans engaged upon the work averaged *oo6 per acre of the area of the towns ; but whether this represented the area of the district scavenged is not apparent. The shortest periods which were allowed to elapse between each emptying of the ashpits was " part daily and part once a week," and the longest six months. The amount of refuse per head of population collected per annum works out at o ' 39 of a ton, and the average cost of this work at per head of the population is is. 6%d. With regard to the disposal of the refuse, out of 81 towns replying, 35 destroy by fire, the chief points of interest being as follows : 300 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. The average cost of construction of the destructors amounts to 5257. per cell. The average number of tons consumed per diem per cell equals 6 tons. The average number of men employed per cell equals i 17. The average annual cost per cell equals g6l. The average height of chimney is 163 feet, costing an average of 61. ^s. ^d. per foot to erect. The average cost of destruction of the refuse amounted to \\\d. per ton. The next point which has to be considered, and which is the second in order of the list of duties I have given at the commencement of this chapter, is "the cleansing of earth- closets, privies, ashpits, and cesspools." This is generally effected in conjunction with the collection of the house refuse, and the work is carried out at night. Under the Goux-tub system the ashes of the house refuse are largely used as a deodorant or absorbent as a lining for the tub,* but in the pail systems this mixture is not effected until the tubs and refuse arrive together at the depot. The next duty which has to be considered is that of " the proper cleansing of streets." There is no doubt that, for the sake of the appearance as well as the health of any town, its streets cannot be too well cleansed. Muddy and wet streets cause dampness in the sub- soil of neighbouring dwellings, and dust is not only injurious to tradesmen's goods, but also to the lungs of those who have to breathe an atmosphere loaded with silicate and organic impurities, f Street cleansing is effected either by hand-sweeping and hand-scraping, or by machinery. As to which is the most economical much depends upon the value of labour, and also * The ashes are mixed with chaff, chopped straw, refuse hay, grass cuttings, dry street sweepings, wool and hair shoddy, &c., and a small percentage of sulphate of iron or lime. t Professor Tyndall, in his beautiful experiments, has proved that dusty air is alive with the germs of the bacteria of putrefaction, whilst the pure fresh air which he gathered on a mountain peak in the Alps is innocent of such germs, and is absolutely powerless to produce any organisms. Scavenging. 301 upon the condition of the roads to be dealt with ; but in point of time, and as a general rule, the value of a horse rotary brush-sweeping machine is undoubted ; the only time at which such a machine fails to do effective work on a macadam road is on the occasions when the mud to be removed (owing to a peculiar condition of the atmosphere) has attained a semi- solidity, and is of a stiff and sticky consistency, when it either adheres to and clogs the brushes of the machine, or is flattened by them on to the road instead of being removed.* The brushes of a machine last about 1 80 hours continuous work, and then the old stocks can be easily refilled with bass at no great cost. The comparative work which can be done by a sweeping machine is about 1 1 to I of that effected by manual labour, so that the economy evolved by the former method is evident. On the question of the extra work involved in street cleansing by its bad construction or by the materials of which it is constructed, climate must be considered, as well as the amount of traffic it has to bear, and also its gradient and the habits of the people residing in it.f The Superintendent of the Scavenging Department at Liverpool has made some observations and obtained some valuable information on these points, which he has detailed in a report he presented to the Health Committee of that borough in the year 1877, an abstract of which is given on the next page. * Dry dust will absorb about ten times its bulk of water, thus swelling con- siderably and producing the greasy mud so often seen after rain. Dr. Letheby's analysis of street sweepings which he made in 1867 is as follows : Dry dust 58^2 per cent, organic matter ,, 41*8 mineral Wet mud 20-5 ,, ,, organic ,, , 79'S mineral ,, t In Boston, U.S.A., the macadamised roads are not swept at all, as it is considered that by sweeping off the sand and detritus their durability is much lessened, but their gutters are cleansed as required, and rubbish picked up. Vide ' Minutes of Proceedings Institution of Civil Engineers,' vol. Ixiii. p. 368. 302 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. s J D fe CO O 5? W Q o l! W (^ * S3 2 o S C/3 O C* O i-i i^ b3o "15*1 "^ flS tT d 5? * IH CO O% g *& vO OO HH O^ ^t" ^t" rf oo Jffj S? 000 NH 8-5 g f VO VO vo CO CO CO CO CO . 8*5 o TJ w> o u j2 rt n S C vo vo 3|.s| *H H CO CO CO OO t^ 00 s&. * CO l^ O O O O ft o oo >n oo vo O => xo N M o> oo ON IT) If) jj M ^ 05 ^- co >-o i-i vo vr> -3- VO ^6 * |s i to *- n3 __, O nd fcjo o S o 'S o J2 pd CJ | o | 1 1 OS r^H ^ ^ -d vo^ ^ 3 c oo oo rt oo oo ^ M ~ w M 1 Q 3 oo -g 05 t/3 1> >> is s 4" I ^ 1 ll tJO tJ'S rfl .S w "~> o w "~~ O-i w O T3 42 J3 o as 0*i JJ 0>p J(3 S gg s w ^ 1 13 S ll oS 0-2. v; ex, C^H 2 os o s Q g 1 "S -t; : : x 12 t; ,S "g s g 3 1 P ^ & 1 1 Scavenging. 303 He adds that the full benefit of the impervious pavements as regards the cost of scavenging has not yet been felt, for almost all the lines of streets so paved are intersected at short distances by streets of ordinary jointed granite setts or macadam, whence a quantity of mud and refuse is dragged by the traffic on to the asphalted jointed roadways, which are consequently debited with the cost of removal of some effete material not intrinsically belonging to them. Mr. Till, the late City Surveyor of Birmingham, from in- vestigations he' has made on this subject, says that for granite pavement 2 cart-loads of mud have to be removed from every 1000 square yards of surface, one-third of a load for wood pavement * and 4 loads three times a day (a total of 12 loads) for macadamised roadways. The ultimate disposal of the material removed from the surfaces of roadways, especially when they are macadamised, is a difficult matter, as, being chiefly composed of silicate, it is valueless as a manure. In small towns, except during abnormally muddy weather, it may be mixed with the house refuse and sold to farmers, or the road scrapings themselves may be used as an excellent sand, if thoroughly washed, to mix with lime or cement to form mortar for public works ; excessive accumulations of mud, however, must be got rid of in the most economical and speedy manner possible, and this is effected either by filling up old disused quarries with it, or depositing it upon waste lands, or forming embankments for new roads, but in no case should it be used, as I have before stated, Jupon building sites ; it is difficult and expensive to destroy it or partially convert it into other matters by fire, so that if these methods which I have enumerated are impracticable, the only other method left for the disposal of the sweepings or scrapings from the streets is * In Regent Street, London, in November 1881, I saw four loads of mud removed from about 1000 square yards of surface, it being then almost new wood pavement. 304 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. to take them out to sea in hopper barges and sink them in deep water. The last question that arises on the subject of scavenging before we consider the disposal of snow, is whether the onus of cleansing private courts and alleys which are not repairable by the urban authority should be borne by them or not. The great difficulty attached to this duty arises from the fact that these private courts and alleys are generally very badly paved, if paved at all, full of pits, where pools of stagnant mud and water collect, and even in the best cases, the interstices between the pebbles, or other paving, are filled with filth arising in great measure from the dirty habits of the people, and this filth it is found exceedingly difficult to dislodge. The remedy for this is to compel the owners of the abutting pro- perties to have the courts and alleys properly paved with asphalte, or other equally impervious material ; after which it would be easy for the urban authority to cause them to be swept at least once a day, and flushed with water in the hot weather once a week ; but in order to compel the owners to execute this very desirable work it would be necessary to put the complicated machinery of section 1 50 of the Public Health Act, 1875, or of the Private Street Works Act, 1892, in force, and the expense to the landlords would be in many cases very disproportionate to the value of their property. Out of the ninety towns to which reference has before been made, the authorities of only nineteen of them cleanse the private courts and alleys in their jurisdiction, although for the sake of sanitation it is very desirable that such work should be so undertaken by them. In most towns it is necessary to cleanse its principal streets at least once a day, and this appears to be the practice of nearly all the ninety towns I have referred to ; only seven of them, however, appear to have this operation repeated more frequently ; in several towns, the horse droppings, &c., are removed at once, under what is called the " orderly " system, Scavenging. 305 and this is especially necessary in streets that are paved with such materials as wood paving, asphalte or granite setts. The suburban streets of a town need only be cleansed once or twice a week, except in special cases of extremes of mud or snow, and I will now proceed to discuss the questions involved by a heavy fall of the latter. Experiments have shown that a cubic yard of fresh fallen snow may weigh as much as 814 pounds or as little as 71 pounds. Assuming that a cubic foot will weigh 16*38 pounds, I estimate that for a fall of 3 inches of snow upon a street 36 feet in width, 20 tons representing a bulk of about 100 cubic yards, would have to be removed for every 100 yards of length of street if it was thought necessary to clear it away. Assuming that there are 30 miles of street in a town from which the snow must be removed ; 2 1,144 loads must be carted somewhere, at a cost of at least I5oo/., assuming that each cart could make ten trips a day, and even then it would take 352 carts a whole week to effect it. It may be contended that I have taken an extreme case, and that, of course, the snow does not lie for very long upon the ground in the condition in which it fell, and that hourly it is reducing in bulk and weight by being ground up by the traffic, and finding its way in the form of water into the sewers. This may be so, but at the same time it must not be forgotten that the bulk is also being constantly increased by that which is shovelled off the house tops * and brought out from private premises adjoining the streets. Upon this point Mr Haywood, the Engineer to the Com- missioners of Sewers of the City of London, says : f " Snow readily compresses under the traffic, and when * See note, p. 161 et seq., nth edition, Glen's ' Law of Public Health and Local Government.' t Vide ' Report to the Streets Committee of the Honourable the Com- missioners of Sewers of the City of London on Melting Snow by Clarke's Apparatus,' by William Haywood, Engineer and Surveyor to the Commission, 1881, p. 9. X 306 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. removed in carts and shot down elsewhere it may be assumed that on an average four cubic yards of snow measured as it has fallen is equal to one cubic yard when placed on the apparatus." This computation, however, does not make any allowance for the snow thrown from off the roofs, &c., and it of course greatly consolidates whilst travelling in the cart. Fortunately for a town surveyor in this country, exception- ally heavy falls of snow are not very frequent, but when they do happen great pressure is put upon his department to cope with it, and one of the greatest difficulties he has to contend against is the disposal of the snow after it has been placed in the cart. If there is a river close by, it can be taken there and tipped ; but this is objectionable if it is a navigable river where dredging has to be done, as it is surprising what a quantity of road scrapings and other matters are always removed with the snow, and those materials naturally sink to the bottom, and add considerably to the cost of dredging. If there are public parks the snow may be heaped in them, provided no damage is done to the grass or paths, but the snow thus heaped takes a considerable time to melt, the first effect of a thaw being to consolidate it : a better plan is to deposit it upon waste spots, if these are not too far from the streets which have to be cleared. Tipping the snow down the manholes into the sewers has been tried in London, and other cities, but has failed through the snow consolidating, and although lighted gas jets have been turned on to the snow, it has still melted too slowly to be of any practical utility.* In order to grapple with this question of the removal of snow, I am of opinion that it is useless to attempt to cart it away while falling, but try to make clear crossings for the * The application of direct heat to snow has so far failed, as under this process a liquid is produced which rapidly changes into ice. The expense also is very great, as the combustion of I Ib. of coal will only melt about 18 Ibs. weight of snow. Scavenging. 307 foot passengers and to keep the traffic open. If there should be a high wind at the time, and the snow drifts in conse- quence, cut through the drifts so as to allow the vehicular traffic to continue. Directly the snow ceases to fall, put on all available hands to clear the channel gutters and street gratings, in preparation for a sudden thaw, when, if these precautions were not taken, serious flooding and great damage to property might ensue ; for the same reason cart away all the snow you can at the bottom of gradients and in the valleys, and also from very narrow streets and passages, &c. In the wider streets use the snow plough, or with gangs of men (in the snow season there is generally plenty of labour ob- tainable), shovel the snow into a long narrow heap on each side of the street, taking care to leave the channel gutters and gratings quite clear, and a sufficient space between the heaps for at least two lines of traffic. Passages must also be cut at frequent intervals through the heaps, in order to allow foot passengers to cross the street, and also to let the water reach the channel gutters as soon as the snow begins to melt. The use of salt to assist in the removal of snow has made rapid progress during recent years, although it is contended by medical men and others, that the excessive cooling of the air and the danger to pedestrians who are not well shod is objectionable, and also that horses suffer therefrom, though this may be avoided by a plentiful application of grease to their hoofs and legs. In Liverpool the use of salt has been resorted to for some years without any apparent ill effects, and the following particulars of the manner in which this work is effected in Paris will no doubt be of interest. The salt is spread so soon as any amount of snow commences to fall, as the mixture of salt and snow is then assisted by the traffic. At the end of four or five hours, when the snow is liquid, the roadway is machine swept and the footpaths cleaned with squeegees ; water is then applied and the liquid mass is swept into the sewers. X 2 308 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. The freezing mixture causes no damage whatever to streets paved with granite, wood or asphalte, but it cannot be applied to macadamised roadways, as such streets become muddy, and the amount of detritus conveyed to the sewers would be excessive. The amount of salt used is about $ of an ounce of salt for each square yard of surface ^ of an inch deep. The salt should be in grains of from '07 inch to O' 12 inch in diameter. The next point to be considered in this chapter is that of " The proper watering of streets for the whole or any part of their district." One of the earliest methods for watering streets, but one which has entirely died out, on account principally of the large quantity of water used in the process, was that of allowing the water to run down the channel gutters, ponding it back by means of canvas or leather aprons placed across the gutter, and then spreading the water on to the surface of the street by throwing it with wooden shovels. This method, which at first sight may appear clumsy, is an exceedingly good one upon sanitary grounds. It not only lays the dust, but it washes the surface of the street, and it most effectually scours out the gutters and at the same time flushes the sewers, which at the season that watering is necessary is also of great importance to any town. By this process a delightful fresh- ness is given to the air, and the appearance of the cool and limpid water rushing along on each side of the street acts favourably upon the inhabitants. The great objections to this system are (i) the enormous quantity of water that is used in this process, and (2) the difficulty of doing the work after the traffic of the day has commenced. Somewhat of a modification of this process was that which was known as " Brown's System of Street Watering," which may be described as follows. A lead pipe is laid in the foot- path at the back of the curb on each side of the street to be watered, small gratings or shields being fixed in the pipe at Scavenging. 309 intervals of twelve inches, and the remaining space filled with asphalte ; small holes are then bored in the pipe through the openings in the shields. The pipe is connected with the watermain in the street, and is provided with the necessary stopcocks, &c. On the water being turned on, fine jets are thrown in different directions upon the surface of the street. The width of roadway that can be watered by this process depends upon the pressure of the water ; but this process has not gained much favour hitherto, for many obvious reasons which were quoted in the first edition of this book, but which I shall not repeat. In Paris and other continental cities, and also in several towns in this country, the watering is effected by hose and reels, or by portable iron tubes. Mr. Parry, C.E., the late Borough Surveyor of Reading, has given the following particulars of the system of hand- watering adopted in that borough, in which he gives the cost, and describes the utility of that method as compared with the use of water-carts. A water-cart (he states) will water twice a day a superficial area of 23,849 yards, and for a length watered one width that means 5962 lineal yards, or for a double width 2981 yards, the cost per day of laying on being as follows : Horse, cart and man 8s., cost of maintenance of cart, harness, shoeing, &c., is. $d., making 9^. %d. per day. With respect to the hand machines he states that he has one of Headley's drum machines, and three of special make, somewhat similar to those used in Paris. They are equal in point of work ; and one machine will water 23,740 square yards twice a day, which it will be observed, is very close to the amount of work performed by a cart. " Headley's machine cost us (he continues), five years ago, when new, 3i/. ?s. $d., and the repairs and maintenance since that date have been 22/., or an average of 4/. Ss. per annum, and it is just now almost past repair. The other description of hand 3io Municipal and Sanitary Engineers' Handbook. machine cost each when new 2O/., and the repairs and mainten- ance have amounted to an average of 3/. iSs. each year. They were in use some time before Headley's was obtained, and they will be of use for a long time yet. The cost of labour per day by the hand machines is for two men at 2s. lod. each $s. Sd as it requires two men to work the machine properly, one to distribute the water, and the other to move the machine and to attach and detach the apparatus to and from the hydrants ; add to this yd. per day for maintenance and repairs, will make 6s. $d. per day. The quantity of water delivered by the water-carts is 0*51 gallon per square yard, and by the hand machine I * 30 gallons." In Paris both hose and carts are used for watering the thoroughfares, the former for the boulevards, the avenues and a certain number of first-class streets. The most commonly known method in this country for watering the streets and roads of our towns is that of carrying the water in wheeled barrels, carts or vans, and distributing it therefrom through a perforated pipe upon the surface of the road as the vehicle is drawn along by a horse attached to the shafts. The old barrel upon wheels gave place to a cart, then to what is known as a Hydrostatic Van, and more recently by means of horizontal rotating spreaders at the back of a van or cart known as " Willacey's " patent. I will not enter into any details in connection with the merits or otherwise of these carts or vans, but will refer my readers to an excellent paper upon the subject of road- watering by Mr. W. Santo Crimp, M.I.C.E., which he read before the annual meeting of the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors at Hanley in 1886,* which contains most valuable information upon the subject. The table, however, which is a summary of some of his observa- * Vide * Minutes of Proceedings of the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors,' vol. xii. p. 233. Scavenging. 311 tions, is of such importance that I give it in detail on the following page. The use of sea-water for the purpose of sprinkling the roads of seaside towns has steadily increased during recent years, as the fancied objections to its employment (principally by interested water companies) have vanished. A large number of seaside towns have within recent years adopted sea-water for this purpose with beneficial results, as it is evident that where sea-water can be economically pumped it is cheaper to use this water than that from the ordinary town supply, provided that the capital expenditure upon the pumping station and mains, &c., is not excessive. The advantages of sea-water for road sprinkling may be summarised as follows : Owing to the deliquescent nature of the salts contained in sea-water the road remains moist for a much longer period than when sprinkled with fresh water.* The result of this is that one sprinkling with sea-water will last as long as three sprinklings with fresh water. In consequence also of these salts a sort of skin or crust is formed on the surface of the road which tends to bind and preserve it, especially when it is macadamised with gravel. The air appears to be freshened by the use of sea-water upon the roads in the vicinity, and it has been proved over and over again that no damage arises therefrom to tradesmen's goods in adjoining shops. It has also been contended by the opponents to the use of sea-water that it assists decomposi- tion of the organic matter lying on the surface of the roads ; but this is only a contention, and with anything like proper scavenging should never even be suggested as possible. * Sea- water contains 29 parts chloride of sodium (common salt), 0*5 chloride of potassium, 3 o chloride of magnesium, 2 5 sulphate of magnesia, I 5 sulphate of lime, or a total of 36*5 parts per 1000, or about 80 Ibs. weight of solids in every water-cart containing 224 gallons of sea-water. ( Vide ' Street Watering with Sea- Water.' A paper read before the Civil and Mechanical Engineers' Society, 15 February, 1888, by Mr. Stephen Harding Terry, C.E., M.E., &c.) 312 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers' Handbook. Authority. * rg H rt (- J " 1 J i .. | . 3 I | Q Q 5 Q .0 o Q a H Ihl! CO ro "-i "* ON O 00 KjON'-'vowr^ml I ^ It lp O O O CO N N Tj- u-jiOCOONONONVO *"* 111 00 CO 1-1 M r^ QO rf ^vot^op t^cor-ON ^ MTfMNM 111 ^covnOOcoOt^ ^vO CNVO ONOO t^ 00 III vo^ c? c? 2^ 2^ 2^ ^ | | lie C$ ^t" O O ^J" O O O O 'OMOOc^OOioO $ S'S O i-" O^t^-tOOOOiOtO B- _f^| t^ OO CXD OO O CO VO 1 1 to ro ON ON vO vo ^d~ 5 1 I > 1^1^'g^glS KuEy>u>u> Scavenging. 313 No damage is done to horses' hoofs, tyres of wheels, carriage varnish, buried gas and water pipes, or even to adjoining trees if the watering is carried out in the ordinary manner, and the Author, who has had some considerable experience with regard to this question, gives his unqualified approval to the use of sea-water for sprinkling roads and for sewer flushing.* Watering the roads with a largely diluted disinfectant such as " Sanitas " in the liquid form, is frequently of great benefit, and where it can be afforded, it should be occasionally done, especially in the narrower streets and more crowded districts of a city or town, or when an epidemic has broken out. With reference to the very important question as to the cost of scavenging, street-cleansing and watering, it is, of course, not possible to lay down any hard and fast lines, as it must necessarily vary considerably according to circum- stances ; much depends upon whether the district is an urban one, consisting of houses closely packed together, or whether it is suburban, with scattered villas and mansions standing in their own grounds ; the question, also, of the distance of the depots to which the material has to be carted, considerably affects the result of any estimate, as also does the cost of horse hire, the rate of wages, and whether the district is of a hilly or flat nature, and, as I have before shown, the manner in which the streets are formed and paved, the habits of the people, the requirements as to cleansing streets and watering, and last, but not least, the manner of the eventual disposal of the rubbish after removal ; all these points must bear with * In Rouen, where chloride of calcium is obtained from the manufactories of pyroligneous acid in the neighbourhood, it is mixed with the water for use on the roads, and it is stated that on a mile of road, 16 feet in width, 5630 gallons of water were necessary daily, but that the same result was attained with 1480 gallons of chloride solution, marking 30 Beaume, and costing about \d. per gallon, the humectation remaining good for five or six days with the solution of chloride. With water only in 1093 yards, in four rounds daily, 3520 gallons were used, the cost being 48^. ; with chloride of calcium the cost was 32^ per day. 314 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. great weight upon any question of cost, and make the results widely different. Before closing this chapter I will make a few observations upon the subject of contracts for work of this description. There is no doubt that the " dust and slopping " con- tractor is fast going out of fashion, as it has been found that the work is far more carefully and systematically carried out without the intervention of a contractor; for if we turn to the articles of agreement or contract usually drawn up between a sanitary authority and a contractor for scavenging, we find that they are very binding in their phraseology, and enter fully into the details of the work ; they state very clearly the number of times in every week that the contractor shall cause all the ashpits in the districts enumerated to be emptied and cleansed, the manner in which this work shall be performed, and how the materials thus removed shall be disposed of, and the place of their ultimate destination. The conditions further specify what amount of manual, team labour, and carts are necessary for the work, and also what plant the contractor must keep in the way of ladders, baskets, shovels, and brooms, &c.* The conditions also con- tain a carefully prepared list of the streets to be swept, and the manner and number of times this work must be executed, and arrange for the disposal of the materials thus removed. In many such contracts it is found necessary to insert clauses binding the contractor, under all sorts of penalties, to be always at the disposal of and under the commands of the inspector of nuisances, or such other officer or officers as the sanitary authority may appoint. The contractor's men also * This clause has many objections, for the contractor might well say on complaint of the work not being done satisfactorily, that he had found the staff or plant specified insufficient, and legal difficulties might ensue. At seaside towns and other resorts of visitors there is also a considerable fluctuation of population and consequent work in connection with the duties of scavenging which would make it almost impossible to specify the labour and plant necessary to meet all con- tingencies. Scavenging. 315 are forbidden to accept gratuities, and are directed on no account to remove either trade or garden refuse, and they are also enjoined to be " careful to consult the convenience of the householders in their visits, and to thoroughly clean up all dirt and litter that they may cause in the discharge of their duties." If they fail in any or either of these injunctions and commands, or for any other dereliction of duty, the inspector of nuisances, or such other officer as the sanitary authority shall appoint, may summarily dismiss them, without any reference being made on the subject to their employer, the contractor, and in fact the conditions have necessarily to be made so stringent and binding as to be either totally inopera- tive, or open to grave abuses, or, on the other hand, the work can be carelessly and improperly executed by the contractor. The consequence of such binding clauses is that the officers, if they do their strict duty, will probably be engaged in constant disputes and litigation with the contractor as to the due and proper observance of the terms of his contract, and thus their time is much occupied instead of in other more important matters, which is naturally detrimental to the interests of the ratepayers. I am strongly of opinion that the work of the collection of house refuse and cleansing the streets should be carried out by the local authority with their own officers and staff, and that executing this work by contract is a mistake and a false economy. It is, perhaps, true that it may be done in the latter manner at less actual cost to the ratepayers ; but all public work should be done in the best manner possible, irrespective of cost, thoroughly, but without extravagance, and the result of such work, especially where it affects the cleanliness and the appearance of a town, soon fully repays any moderate extra cost that may thus have been incurred, irrespective of the enormous benefit that is conferred upon any community by the reduction of disease and the deathrate by a proper attention to such necessary sanitary work. 316 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. CHAPTER XX. SEWERAGE. THE Public Health Act, 1875, contains a considerable number of clauses dealing with the subject of the sewers of a town, but two of the shortest sections of the whole Act, and yet those that involve a considerable amount of work in the town surveyor's department, are the following : " Every local authority shall keep in repair * all sewers belonging to them, and shall cause to be made such sewers as may be necessary for effectually draining their district for the purposes of this Act" | (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 15). " Every local authority shall cause the sewers belonging to them to be constructed, covered, ventilated % and kept so as not to be a nuisance or injurious to health and to be properly cleansed and emptied " (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 19). * If the sewers vested in and belonging to a local authority are allowed by their negligence to get out of repair, they may be liable to an action for damages for injury which may be suffered by individuals in consequence ( White v. Hindley Local Board, L.R. 10 Q.B. 219). Keeping in repair does not, however, include reconstruction of a sewer originally imperfectly made (Reg. v. Epsom Union, 8 L.T. (N.S.) 383). t The sewers provided by a local authority must be sufficient to carry off the ordinary sewage and rainfall of the district, but they need not be sufficient to carry off an extraordinary flow of water caused by a storm (Brown v. Sargent, I F. & F. 112). J See chapter on " Ventilation of Sewers." A local authority is not to be held liable for not keeping their sewers cleansed at all events and under all circumstances, but only where by the exercise of reasonable care and skill they can be kept cleansed. (Hammond v. Vestry of St.Pancras, L.R. 9 C.P. 316. See also Bateman v. Poplar District Board of Works (No. 2) 37 Ch. D. 272.) They are, however, liable, in case they make default in observing the requirements, to have an information filed against them and to be restrained by injunction from allowing the continuance of the nuisance. (Attorney-General v. Basingstoke Corporation, 24 W.R. 1817.) Sewerage. 317 As to what sewers do " belong " to the local authority, the following section of the Public Health Act, 1875, states : "All existing and future sewers within the district of a local authority, together with all buildings, works, materials and things belonging thereto, " Except " I. Sewers made by any person for his own profit, or by any company for the profit of the shareholders ; and " 2. Sewers made and used for the purpose of draining, preserving or improving land under any -local or private Act of Parliament, or for the purpose of irrigating land ; and " 3. Sewers under the authority of any commissioners of sewers appointed by the Crown, shall vest in and be under the control of such local authority. " Provided that the sewers within the district of a local authority which have been, or which may hereafter be constructed by or transferred to some other local authority, or by or to a sewage board or other authority empowered under any Act of Parliament to construct sewers, shall (subject to any agreement to the contrary) vest in and be under the control of the authority who constructed the same, or to whom the same have been transferred " (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 13). And as to the definition of the word " sewer," the same Act states : " ' Sewer ' includes sewers arid drains of every description, except drains to which the word ' drain ' * interpreted as aforesaid applies, and except drains vested in or under the control of any authority having the management of roads and not being a local authority under this Act." The result of this acquisition by the local authority of the sewers in their district is, that in most of the old cities and towns a legacy of very defective and imperfect sewers has * For the legal definition of " drain," see the chapter on " House Drainage." 318 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. been inherited, and considerable expense in their repair and maintenance has thus been entailed. In many cases, also, combined systems for the drainage of two or more houses, which (apart from the statutory definitions) are to all intents and purposes private drains, have, by virtue of these defini- tions, become vested in the authority as " sewers s " This subject of "combined drainage" will be referred to more fully in the chapter on " House Drainage." A great number of books have been written on the subject of sewerage, and much valuable information has been published from time to time, so that it almost seems super- fluous to say much upon the subject ; however, a few remarks which are particularly applicable to the work of a town surveyor may be of some service. The word sewerage may be taken as meaning a system of sewers carrying sewage, which is the fluid and feculent refuse from dwellings and their yards, &c. Sewage is generally found mixed with rain water from the surface of the streets and roofs of houses, together with the liquid waste products from manufactories,* and sometimes, although very impro- perly, with subsoil water. * Facilities must be given to enable manufacturers to carry the liquids pro- ceeding from their works into the public sewers, provided the sewers are more than sufficient for the requirements of the district, and provided the liquids would not prejudicially affect the sewers or the disposal of the sewage, or from their temperature or otherwise be injurious in a sanitary point of view. Vide Rivers Pollution Act, 1876 (39 & 40 Viet. c. 75, s. 7). This permission, however, led to so much litigation, that in Part III. of the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1890 (which can be adopted by any urban authority), the following clauses are contained. " 1 6. I. It shall not be lawful for any person to throw, or suffer to be thrown, or to pass into any sewer of a local authority or any drain communicating therewith, any matter or substance by which the free flow of the sewage or surface or storm water may be interfered with, or by which any such sewer or drain may be injured. 2. Every person offending against this enactment shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds, and to a daily penalty not exceeding twenty shillings. " 17. i. Every person who turns or permits to enter into any sewer of a local authority or any drain communicating therewith (a) Any chemical refuse, or Sewerage. 3 1 9 A good system of sewerage should embrace the whole of the following requirements : 1. Each sewer should be laid at such a depth as will readily drain the basements of the adjoining buildings. 2. Its area and gradient must be so regulated as to make it self-cleansing, and at the same time carry off effectively the maximum quantity of liquid for which it is intended.* 3. Each sewer should (unless quite impracticable) be laid in straight lines and with even gradients between man or lamp-holes, and these gradients must not be excessive, or damage may be caused to the sewer. 4. Sewers must be laid at proper levels in respect of their intersection with each other, bearing in mind that they are all generally converging to one point. 5. Manholes should be of simple construction ; circular brickwork upon concrete is a convenient description. They may be made to serve the additional purposes of ventilating shafts, flushing chambers, junction shafts, storm overflows and side entrances. 6. Tributary sewers and drains should not join the main sewers at right angles unless the bottom of the manhole is so constructed as to give the required curve in the direction of () Any waste steam, condensing water, heated water, or other liquid (such water or other liquid being of a higher temperature than one hundred and ten degrees of Fahrenheit), which, either alone or in combination with the sewage, causes a nuisance or is dangerous or injurious to health, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds, and to a daily penalty not exceeding five pounds." These sections can also be adopted by a rural authority. (See sec. 50.) * If everything has to be carried in a sewer, the following provisions must be made : (0) The house sewage, which may be calculated from the water supply. (b) Manufacturer's refuse. (<:) Rainfall, which is a very uncertain quantity. (d) The subsoil water should certainly be dealt with, but it should on no account be permitted to enter the sewers themselves; separate provision under the main sewers should be provided for this purpose. 320 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. the flow of the sewage, and they should join at a height (if of unequal section) equal to the difference of their sectional diameters, the aim of all junctions being to cause as little disturbance as possible in the proper flow of the liquids along their respective channels. 7. Sewers should not be constructed of too large a sec- tional area, but none should be less than 6 inches internal diameter, as house-drains in this country are never less than 4 inches diameter, and the main sewer should, of course, be larger than its tributaries. It is also rather difficult to ventilate a smaller sewer than 6 inches, and very little is saved by putting in a smaller sewer than that. Stoneware pipes of greater diameter thanj 18 inches should never be used. Where large sewers are constructed they should be either concrete pipes, or brickwork or concrete should be employed. The position of the sewer should, if possible, be behind the houses for the following reasons : 1. The water-closets, sinks, &c., being nearly always at the back, a drain under the house (which is always objection- able) is avoided. 2. Economy is secured to the owner of the property, as a shorter length of drain is required than if the sewer was in the front. 3. A better fall is usually obtained. 4. Where there is a separate or partially separate system of sewerage, a double sewer in the street is avoided. The only objection to this method being that of the chance of the sewer becoming choked or broken, when entry has to be made into private property to repair it ; but this ought never to happen after once the sewer has been properly constructed, and in many towns in order to avoid this, a back street is constructed behind the houses, which has many advantages. Of course, where houses are closely packed together it would not be possible to carry the sewer at the Sewerage. 3 21 back ; but where it can be done I agree thoroughly with Sir Robert Rawlinson, C.B., who, speaking of this method, says, " I know nothing but good of it." Where the sewer is proposed to be taken through any private lands it is necessary to act in accordance with the following clause of the Public Health Act, 1875, and serve the necessary notices, a specimen form of which also fol- lows : " Any local authority may carry any sewer through, across or und'er any turnpike road, or any street or place laid out as, or intended for a street, or under any cellar or vault which may be under the pavement or carriage-way of any street, and, after giving reasonable notice in writing to the owner or occupier (if on the report of the surveyor it appears necessary), into, through or under any lands * what- soever within their district. They may also (subject to the provisions of this Act relating to sewage works without the district of the local authority) exercise all or any of the powers given by this section without their district for the pur- poses of outfall or distribution of sewage " (38 & 39 Viet, c. 55, s. 16). The form of notice necessary to be served before entry upon any lands for the purpose of carrying out any sewerage works may be on the following pattern : "NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN. " i. That the mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the bo- rough of , in execution of the powers and authorities given to and vested in them by virtue of the Public Health Act, 1875, upon the report of their surveyor, whereby it appears to the said authority to be necessary to enter into, * The definition of "lands" as given in the Public Health Act, 1875, is as follows: "'lands' and 'premises' includes messuages, buildings, lands, ease- ments, and hereditaments of any tenure " (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 4). Y 322 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. through or under the lands and premises particularly de- scribed in the schedule hereunder written, for the several purposes hereinafter mentioned, the said mayor, aldermen and burgesses will immediately after the day of enter into and upon the premises described in the said schedule hereto, and on the plan hereinafter mentioned numbered , for the purpose of in, through or under the said lands and premises , and to construct all other necessary works for all or any of the purposes aforesaid. " 2. The course of the said sewer is indicated by a line drawn on the said plan from the point to " And notice is hereby further given that a plan of the intended works, and of the lands and premises upon which it is intended to enter for the construction of the same, is now opon for inspection, between the hours of 10 in the forenoon and 4 in the afternoon, and may then be seen at the offices of the borough surveyor, Street, , and a tracing thereof is hereunto annexed. Dated this day of 18 . Town Clerk." In carrying out works of sewerage the greatest care is necessary in the materials selected and the manner in which the work is executed. Tunnels and shafts must be most care- fully timbered, levels very accurately given and adhered to, and for this purpose sight rails and long boning rods can be used with great advantage. In running sands, or where the line of an old sewer is being followed, or in fact anywhere where a good and quick joint is required, " Hassall's " patent safety jointed pipes can be used with advantage. The joints of these pipes may be described as follows : * Notices may be signed either by the clerk to the local authority or their surveyor or inspector of nuisances (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 266). Sewerage. 323 two bands of special bituminous material are cast on to the spigot end of the pipe about i^ inches apart, and corre- sponding rings of the same tough mixture are cast inside the pipe socket also about i^ inches apart. These two sets of rings when the pipes are together form an annular space round the whole joint of the pipe which is filled, through a DOULTON'S PATENT SELF-ADJUSTING JOINT FOR DRAIN PIPES. hole provided for the purpose, with liquid cement which travels completely round the pipe driving before it any air, water, grit or dirt that is in the space. This also tests the joint, for should there be any leakage it will appear during this operation. When the cement has set it will be seen on ARCHER'S PATENT AIR AND WATER-TIGHT PIPE. reference to the section given on page 328 that this joint hermetically closes the pipes and prevents the possibility of any leakage, and from its double bearing lessens considerably the chances of any settlement. Hassall's pipe is, in my opinion, the best that is at present known to engineers and surveyors. Y 2 324 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook Breakages sometimes occur in stoneware pipe sewers after they are laid, which generally are found on examination to arise from one of the following causes : I. Laying the pipe on a rigid foundation without recessing the sockets so as to give an even bearing. MAGUIRE'S PATENT SAFETY JOINT DRAIN. 2. Laying the pipes on foundations which afterwards yield or settle. 3. Laying the pipes at too great a depth without protection by concrete or otherwise to resist the pressure of the super- incumbent earth, or by not sufficiently punning the filling-in, when a sudden settlement will often crack or crush a pipe. JENNINGS' PATENT CHAIR AND SADDLE PIPE. 4. Accidental or wilful injuries to pipes which are not noticed before the trench is filled in. 5. Laying the pipes at too shallow a depth without pro- tection, when heavy traffic or a falling weight upon the surface will crush or crack a pipe. 6. Defective or weak pipes. Sewerage. 325 The accompanying illustrations give some of the different forms of sewerage pipes which have from time to time been brought to the notice of town surveyors. MAWBEY'S PATENT GROOVED SOCKET PIPE. The chokage in pipe sewers generally arises from one or more of the following causes : 1. Improper gradients. 2. Insufficient flush.* 3. Foreign articles finding their way into and choking the sewer. 4. Defective joints through which the liquid runs leaving solid matters behind. BOULNOIS AND HlLDER'S ACME PlPE. 5. An excess of road detritus or of ashes, through the house closets of the poor, finding their way into the sewer. * The patent automatic flushing arrangements by Mr. Rogers Field, and others, are excellent for lessening the chances of a sewer becoming choked from this cause., 326 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. 6. Improper bends in the line of sewer. 7. Right-angle or improper junctions being formed with the sewer. 8. A collapse of the sewer. A temporary chokage in a small-sized sewer which does STIFFS' IMPROVED REGISTERED DRAIN PIPE. / not arise from any structural defect can be speedily and effec- tually remedied by the use of drain-cleaning rods, which are probably too well known to every town surveyor to need any description, but in conjunction with man- or lamp-holes and straight lines of sewers they are very valuable. CREEKE'S PATENT CAPPED PIPES. Before closing this chapter, a few words upon what is called the " separate system of sewerage " may be of use. A mistake was originally made in trying to absolutely separate all rainfall from the sewers, but it is now found that a partial separation of the rain-water from the sewage proper Sewerage. 327 has many advantages ; in carrying this out, however, it is found impossible to exclude the rain water that falls upon the roofs of buildings and on back yards and small back streets, and allowance must always be made for this amount of surface NOOT'S HALF-SOCKETED PIPE JOINT. water in all calculations for the " separate " system. A partial separation thus carried out has the following advantages : 1. It is not necessary to have sewers of enormous diameter. 2. The depth of the surface water conduits need not be so great as that which is necessary for sewers. 3. The exclusion of road detritus from the foul sewers. 4. Its evident advantages where the sewage has to be pumped, or treated chemically, or put on the land.* BROOKE'S PATENT SUBSOIL DRAIN AND PIPE REST. * It is necessary in many towns where the combined system is in force, and the sewage has to be pumped when heavy rains commence, to put temporary clay dams round the street gratings to prevent the surface water from entering the sewers, thus at once showing the inability of the system to deal with flood waters. 328 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. 5. The greater accuracy with which the quantity of sewage may be calculated and the sizes of sewers apportioned. 6. Economy both to the general rates and also to indi- viduals in carrying out their connections. 7. Where old and defective sewers exist they may be used to carry surface water, although quite inappropriate as sewage carriers. No rules, however, can be laid down with regard to this question, as each town or district must be treated as the case requires. In conclusion, I will mention the different methods at present in vogue for the sewerage of towns. i. The combined system, where all sewage, surface water, HASSALL'S PATENT SAFETY PIPE JOINT. manufacturers' refuse, and subsoil waters are carried in the same sewer. 2. Similar to the above, the subsoil water, however, being carefully excluded. 3. The partially separate system. 4. The dry systems, which consist of (a) Earth closets ; (b) Tubs, such as Goux, &c. ; (c) Pails, as the Rochdale ; (d) Middens. But all these dry systems require some system of sewers to carry off rain-water, slop-water, &c., and in my opinion are not suitable for very large communities. Sewerage. 329 Before closing this chapter it will be well to draw attention to " Shone's " pneumatic ejector system, which is described as follows : "The ejectors are cast-iron receivers of a suitable form, placed underground at depths to suit the locality, into which ejectors the sewage flows through the ordinary pipe drains from the houses. As the liquid rises in the interior of the ejector, and when full, it lifts a valve and admits compressed air from an engine which supplies the entire district. The ejectors are thus emptied of their contents, which are blown out in about eighty seconds of time, and the sewage passes through cast-iron main pipes of suitable diameters to the land or other outlet provided to receive it, or it may be distributed upon the waste land as it passes through." Many of my readers are acquainted with this admirable and ingenious invention, which under certain conditions can be most advantageously applied in connection with "sewer- age." 330 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. CHAPTER XXI. SEWAGE DISPOSAL. THE magnitude of the question of " sewage disposal " almost decided me to refrain from making any remarks upon it, but on reconsideration I thought a few might be serviceable. Sewage disposal means the getting rid of the foul water contained in the sewerage system of any community. Where a dry method is in force for the collection of the excrementitious matters it is called " interception " ; the fol- lowing are some of the systems which effect it : Privies, ashpits, middens, cesspools, pails, troughs, the " Rochdale," the " Eureka," the " Goux," Fosses Permanentes, Fosses Mobiles, and Moule's, Taylor's, and Phillips' earth- closets. In consequence of the growth of cities and towns, the collection and disposal of the mass of excrement under these dry systems is found to be a very troublesome matter, and they are at their best but inferior substitutes for water car- riage, nor must it be forgotten that sewers and drains are necessary even if a good interception process is in force. I shall therefore confine my remarks to the disposal of water- carriage sewage. Many books have been written, many valuable reports have been prepared and issued, lengthy papers and discus- sions have been frequent at the meetings of scientific societies, and almost innumerable pamphlets have been published upon this important sanitary subject. Some millions of money have also been spent in trying to deal satisfactorily with this ques- Sewage Disposal. 331 tion, not only with a view to the purification of the effluent of the sewage, but also to endeavour to make a profit out of the residuals.* The result of this literature, discussion and ex- periment has led to the following conclusions : No hard and fast lines can be laid down as to the best method to be adopted for the disposal of the sewage of any town, but the peculiar circumstances of each case must be considered before advice could be given on the subject : geographical position, physical arrangement, water-supply, habits of the population, and the character and quantity of the sewage of the town being some of the most important. In any case it is necessary that the transmission of the sewage to the outfall should be effected as speedily as possible, and that the position of this outfall should be such as to cause no nuisance. The contents of the sewers should, if possible, be emptied by gravitation, as pumping is a constant expense, and economy with efficiency must of course be studied. Up to the present time the following are the methods adopted in this country for the disposal of sewage : 1. Passing the sewage in its crude state into the sea or tidal river. 2. Passing the sewage in its crude state over large tracts of land ; this is called broad irrigation. 3. Passing the sewage in its crude state on to small tracts of land previously prepared by deep drainage ; this is called intermittent downward filtration. 4. Mechanical subsidence of the sewage in large tanks, the effluent passing on to land or into a river. 5. Mechanical filtration of the sewage, the effluent passing on to land or into a river. 6. The introduction of lime or other precipitant into the sewage, which is allowed to settle in tanks, the effluent passing on to land or into a river. * It has been computed that every ton of liquid sewage which is treated chemically costs about three-quarters of a farthing. 332 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. 7. The combination of filtration with precipitation, the effluent passing on to land or into a river (Ferozone process). 8. The " Septic " treatment by natural decomposition, the effluent passing through filters. Very little need be said upon the first of these methods. Many engineers of high standing contend that, where practi- cable, the sea or the tidal estuary of a river is the right place for the sewage, as no costly works are necessary, and an abominable nuisance is thus got rid of at once and for ever. To ensure this, however, great care must be exercised in the selection of the site for the outfall. Float observation should be made, not only of the surface tides and currents, but also of those at different depths, and the effect upon the sewage by its different specific gravity from that of the salt water must be allowed for, as well as the difference of level of the tides and the configuration of the adjoining coast line. The second method, that of broad irrigation, is one that finds considerable favour with a large number of engineers and agriculturists. The great sewage-disposal cry has always been, "Put back on the land what you have taken from it, or some day there will be no beef and no bread." The difficulty is to always find land in sufficient quantity and so situated as to be available for this purpose. Almost any soil is, however, suitable for irrigation, provided it is properly treated, though heavy clay soils are the most unsuitable for sewage farms. The quantity of sewage which should be used for this purpose per acre of land varies considerably, as will be seen on reference to a table prepared by Mr. Henry Robinson,* where the number of inhabitants to each acre irrigated is, in one case (Leamington), stated to be 55, in another (Blackburn), 208, f the average being 137, the number of gallons per head of population per diem being 38. It may be useful to state here that a hundred tons of * Vide ' Sewage Disposal,' by Henry Robinson, C.E., 2nd edition, p. 79. t I purposely omit (Kendal) 856, as this is properly speaking, "filtration." Sewage Disposal. 33 sewage will cover an acre of land I inch in depth, and that the value of sewage as a manure is said to vary from %d. to 2d. per ton, or, calculated in another manner, about lod. per head of population per annum. The best crops for a sewage farm (in addition to nearly all kinds of market-garden produce and osiers) are rye-grass, mangolds, beetroot, cabbages, carrots, potatoes, turnips, rabi, parsnips, lucerne, beans, wheat, oats and barley ; the cereals, however, are apt to run rather to straw, and some care is also necessary not to over-sewage potatoes and some other root crops. Grazing cattle or cows can also be carried on with advantage, the presence of sewage having apparently no effect either on the milk or flesh of animals fed on sewage farms. The third method, that of intermittent downward filtration, is really irrigation of land to such an .extent as the land will filter or purify the sewage, the effluent passing off pure, irre- spective of any effect upon the crops which may be growing upon the land. Great discussions have arisen (the principal battle-ground being Merthyr Tydvil) as to the maximum quantity of sewage which an acre of properly prepared land will treat ; some of the champions of this system contending that a good porous soil properly drained to a depth of six feet will purify the sewage of 6000 persons per acre, others that only the sewage of 250 persons can be so treated.* There can be no doubt that earth has a most powerful deodorising power. Laboratory experiments have shown that as much as eight gallons of sewage can be filtered through a cubic yard of loamy soil in twenty-four hours, the soil being * For much interesting information upon this and other subjects in connection with sewage disposal, see ' Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,' vol. xlviii. p. 105 et seq. Also the report of a committee of the Local Government Board on Modes of Treating Town Sewage, 1876. ' Sewage Disposal,' by Henry Robinson, C.E., 'Sewage Disposal Works,' by W. Santo Crimp, C.E., and many other books and pamphlets upon the subject. 334 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. drained at a depth of six feet, the effluent therefrom having obtained a wonderful degree of purity. Much, however, must depend upon the character of the soil of the filtering area, and the strength of the sewage which is being operated upon. Nitrification, to which the purification of sewage is largely due, is the result of an organised ferment which occurs in soils and impure waters. This action is greatly interfered with by the presence of antiseptics, and consequently the refuse of chemical works in sewage may thus sometimes prove a considerable hindrance to the purification of sewage by soil: Land when used as a sewage filter requires constant aera- tion by being dug over or ploughed, and if this precaution is taken, it is surprising to what a wonderful extent the land will take sewage without becoming what is called "sewage sick." Clay soils should not be deep drained, but it assists them greatly to top-dress with about 4 inches of screened ashes from home refuse, which is then ploughed into the soil. The next method, that of mechanical subsidence of the sewage in large tanks, has been attempted in conjunction with irrigation and filtration without much benefit, nor has the fifth method I have mentioned, viz. that of mechanical fil- tration of the sewage, met with any better result. Artificial filters have been constructed of burnt clay, cinders, coke, charcoal, peat, chalk, gravel, broken stone, sand, spongy iron (this is now being applied very successfully for the purifi- cation of water), straw, cocoa-nut matting, wicker-work and wire gauze of different degrees of fineness of mesh. The late Mr. Odams spent a considerable sum in endeavouring to strain sewage through revolving screens of wire gauze with but little success, and Mr. Banner has striven to achieve the same object by passing sewage over oscillating screens of like material. Sewage Disposal. 335 In all these cases of mechanical filtration, however, the effluent has either not been sufficiently pure, or the screens and filters have become clogged and refused to act.* The sixth method, that of precipitation, means the pro- duction, by the introduction of chemical substances within the body of the sewage, of certain solid compounds, which, in settling, drag down with them the suspended matters in the sewage, together with a small proportion of the polluting matters which are in solution in the sewage, this proportion varying with the quantity of solid matters deposited. The effluent from the tanks in which this precipitation takes place is then allowed to flow direct into a river or stream, or is still further purified by being passed over land or filtered through deep-drained soils.f Chemical treatment of sewage was first tried in Paris in the year 1740, and since then every effort has been made tc extract a valuable and commercial manure from sewage and purify the effluent. Between the years 1865 an< 3 1875 more than 400 patents were taken out in respect of these and other matters in connection with the sewage question. It is almost needless to say that but few of these patents were of any practical value. Those processes which have some merit and are now best known are, I believe, included in the following list : * By sec. 12 of the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act 1876 (39 & 40 Viet. c. 75), it is provided that a certificate of an inspector appointed by the Local Govern- ment Board, that the means for rendering harmless sewage matter, &c., flowing into any stream are the best or only practicable and available means, shall be conclusive evidence of the fact. It is the practice not to grant a certificate if the effluent contains more than three parts of suspended inorganic matter, and one part organic matter for every 100,000 parts of liquid. f Experience has shown that up to the present time no chemical precipitation process renders the sewage effluent sufficiently free from decomposing matter as to make it safe to allow it to enter a river or stream direct without the intervention of the nitrifying and oxidising effects of passing it through soil. If this is not done, what is called secondary putrefaction sets in, and the river or stream is polluted thereby. 336 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. LIST OF CHEMICAL PROCESSES FOR THE TREATMENT OF TOWN SEWAGE. The A. B. C. (or Sillar's) process. The Amines process. Anderson's Anson's Bird's Blyth's Campbell's Candy's Collins' Farmer's Forbes and Price's process. Fulda's process. Goodall's , Hanson's process. Higg's Hille's Holden's Lenk's Lundy's Manning's Scott's Smith's Spence's Stothert's Suvern's Whitthread's process. Wickstead's Space will not permit me to describe these processes, and probably most of them, if not all, are familiar to my readers. Suffice it to say that in nearly all cases the modus operandi is that of mixing certain chemicals with the sewage by mechanical agitation, or by passing the sewage over "salmon ladders," &c., then allowing the sewage to remain perfectly still whilst the solids are gravitating, and then dealing with the effluent in different manners. Amongst the numerous chemical ingredients which are used for this purpose may be mentioned the following : Alum, animal charcoal, ashes, blood, bone ash, black ash, carbolic acid, chalk, charcoal, chloride of lime, chloride of zinc, chloride of iron, chlorine, clay, creosote, haematite, lime in a variety of forms, lead nitrate, magnesian salts, oxide of manganese, permanganate of soda, perchloride of iron, salt, soda, sulphate of alumina, sulphate of zinc, sulphate of iron, sulphuric acid and tar. The seventh process I have enumerated, that of the com- bination of filtration with precipitation, it is asserted, has been successfully brought into operation at Acton by what is known as the Ferozone and Polarite process. This is effected by treating the sewage with Ferozone which contains a large Sewage Disposal. 337 proportion of ferrous iron salts, salts of alumina and magnesia, finely divided porous magnetic oxide of iron, and finely powdered polarite, which in its turn contains magnetic oxide of iron, alumina, magnesia, silica and lime. After deodori- sation and precipitation in tanks, the effluent is made to pass through two small filters composed as follows : coarse gravel intersected with drain pipes is laid upon the floor of the filter, then four inches of pea gravel, then six inches of sand, then ten inches of polarite mixed with sand, and on the top nine inches of sand, the effluent from the precipitating tanks passes downwards on the intermittent principle. No details of the cost of this process have yet been pub- lished, but it is stated on good authority that although the Works have been in operation for about two years the only cleansing of the filter bed which has been found neces- sary has been the removal from time to time of the surface layer of sand, and that the effluent has never exhibited any putrefactive change, but has, if anything, undergone im- provement. The last method that I have mentioned for the disposal of sewage is that of its treatment under what is known as the " Septic system." Mr. Donald Cameron, the Surveyor of Exeter, is the origi- nator and inventor of this process, which consists in simply allowing the crude sewage to remain in tanks from which air and light are excluded, when decomposition takes place and a film is gradually formed on the surface of the sewage in the tank. The effluent is drained off by means of a pipe a few inches below the surface, and this effluent is treated by filtra- tion through gravel or other filters. The process is entirely bacteriological, there is no precipitation of sludge and the results obtained have been very good. One of the great difficulties in connection with the precipi- tation of sewage is the disposal of the sludge which is left behind in the tanks. 338 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. This sludge contains about 90 per cent of moisture, and if left to dry atmospherically, a thin crust forms over it, thus protecting that which is underneath, and it will not dry for many months. In some cases it is sought to dispose of the accumulations of sludge by digging it into the land, and in others by barging it away to sea in a semi-fluid condition. Sometimes it is mixed with house ashes, &c., and sold as manure ; its bulk, however, in proportion to its manurial value is so excessive as to render it almost valueless, and it is difficult to get rid of it for this purpose even when fortified with ammonia or other chemical. Another practice was to reduce its bulk by exposure or by presses to a semi-dried condition ; in other cases it is dried to a powder by heat, and the late General Scott patented a method where, in con- nection with the lime process, it was to be burned and manu- factured into cement. The chief difficulties in connection with this matter have to a great extent been now met by the introduction of mechanical processes, such as Pedder's, Need- ham and Kite's, Johnson's, Drake and Muirhead's, or Manlove, Alliott and Fryer's.* For drying the sludge by heat, Berwick's or Forrest's machines have been used with some success, but there is no doubt that the slimy, glutinous, albuminous, offensive mixture technically known as sludge is a difficult matter to dispose of in all sewage works. * It is stated that the sludge thus dried and pressed is worth twelve shillings a ton, but at present there does not seem to be a great demand for it by farmers. 339 CHAPTER XXII. SEWER VENTILATION. THE Public Health Act, 1875, contains the following clause : " Every local authority shall cause the sewers belonging to them to be constructed, covered, ventilated and kept, so as not to be a nuisance, or injurious to health, and to be properly cleansed and emptied " (38 and 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 19).* The result of this compulsion upon Local Authorities to ventilate their sewers has been the introduction of many methods in order to endeavour to effect the purpose, the great difficulty being to ventilate " so as not to be a nuisance or injurious to health." The advocates of open ventilation contend that this is completely and satisfactorily effected by making a sufficient number (about one in every 50 to 100 yards) of openings in the crown of a sewer so as to dilute and safely disseminate the foul gases with the atmosphere, and that when this is done no nuisance is caused. If however there is any truth in the germ theory of disease, this practice seems fraught with danger to the unsuspecting passer-by, and certainly does not always comply with the provisions of the above section of the Public Health Act ; consequently, of late years many engineers and sanitarians have agreed that this practice is by no means * " Local Authorities should remember that not only do the Acts under which they are constituted give them no power to create a nuisance to others, but they are expressly prohibited from causing any such nuisance by the manner in which their sewers are made and maintained." Vide ' The Law of Public Health,' Glen, nth edition, pp, 55, 56. Z 2 34-Q Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. perfection, but that it must suffice until a better method has been introduced.* It is unnecessary to repeat the objections to this method of sewer ventilation which were enumerated in the first edition of this book, and it will be evident from the list of other methods which follow, that the ?open system of ventila- tion commenced in the year 1830 is not considered to be a solution of the problem. Between the years 1848 and 1853 amongst other sugges- tions was one to construct high cast-iron cylinders over the sewers in which furnaces should be placed to consume the gases ; another to build domes over the sewers from which pipes should conduct the foul air to central gas-holders, whence after purification it should be distributed for street lighting ! Further suggestions were made with a view to pump the foul air out and disinfect it, and another that coke factories should be established along the lines of sewers and the foul air passed through the ovens. In 1854 the late Sir Joseph Bazalgette successfully ventilated a sewer by carrying pipes from its crown into some factory chimneys ; an explosion which afterwards occurred in connection with this arrangement led to the abandonment of experiments in this direction for a considerable period. About this date the effect of passing steam jets into sewers was tried ; but it is scarcely necessary to say the result was not satisfactory. In 1855 ventilation through the hollow columns of the street lamp-posts was first put into operation. In 1856 shafts were erected at the ends of streets connected with the dead ends of sewers, and carried up the * Speaking of this system of so-called ventilation of sewers at a Congress of the Sanitary Institute in 1882, Mr. Geo. Laws, C.E., said, " as a means for securing that every person passing by shall breathe the greatest possible amount of poisonous gas this arrangement is almost perfect ; but as an outcome ot engineering effort it is depressing." Sewer Ventilation. 341 gable ends of houses, a practice which has more recently been beneficially extended. In 1858 Mr. John Chisholm tried the effect of electrical or galvanic action upon the air in sewers, but without any good results. In 1866 charcoal trays were introduced, a description of which or the reasons for their failure, it is unnecessary to give. In 1870 trays filled with sulphurous acids were introduced into sewers, with very fair results, but the system was trouble- some and expensive. In 1872 and 1873 screens or flaps were first introduced into sewers, and attempts were made to sectionise the ven- tilation and regulate the currents of air. About this date a suggestion was made that ventilation should be effected by connecting all the house drains with the kitchen chimney flues ; a suggestion which called forth another : that the smoke from all chimneys should be diverted into the sewers so as to purify the bad air in them, and at the same time settle the London fog question satisfactorily ! In 1875 Mr. Parker patented a method by which air was to be forced into a sewer by the action of the wind impinging upon a cowl ; and Mr. Rumbold originated a method for passing the foul air through a spray of water introduced on all sides of the ventilating shaft. In the same year, having myself noticed the absence of smell in an old sewer in which stagnant sewage was giving off gases of decomposition, I came to the conclusion that this absence of smell arose from defects in the crown of the sewer which allowed the gases to be absorbed into the soil above. The outcome of this observation was the introduction of my system of sewer gas annihilation, based upon the well-known fact that earth acts as an absorbent and deodoriser of gases and emanations from decomposing matters.* * In the year 1880, having patented my apparatus and satisfied myself of the efficacy of my system, I read a paper on the subject at a Congress of the Sanitary 342 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. In the year 1882 Mr. Read, the surveyor of Gloucester, suggested that all house drains should be used as upcast shafts ; his argument being that as the sewer was used for the benefit of house property they should contribute to the ventilation. In the same year the late Mr. Harring- ton patented a system analogous to that introduced by Mr. Parker in 1875, and already described. In the year 1883 Mr. Rowan, and also Mr. Banner, introduced specially constructed exhaust cowls for the purpose of abstracting the foul gases from the sewers ; but experiments have since proved that open terminations to the upcast shafts are as effective as exhaust cowls for this purpose. About this date Messrs. Midgley, Reeves & Co., proposed a system by which chemicals should be introduced into the sewers at the manholes, and at the same time disinfect the Institute held in Exeter ; and after the paper had been read, the President of the Congress, a leading Sanitary Engineer, said, " he could not encourage Mr. Boulnois to continue his experiment. He would not himself adopt it and could not advise others to do so. ... He could not regard Mr. Boulnois' plan with the slightest degree of satisfaction. If we stopped the ventilation of a sewer we should soon have the whole population down with typhoid." Vide ' Transactions of the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain,' vol. ii. p. 166. In the face of such words as these from one who was in a position to make or mar any sanitary scheme, I felt that it was hopeless to proceed any further with the system, and I consequently allowed the matter to drop. My readers may therefore judge of my surprise when ten years later I read the following remarks, which were made by the same eminent authority at a District meeting of the Association of Municipal and County Engineers at Wimbledon. " If I had a town to sewer now and I had to use brick sewers or pipe sewers I would take care to put ventilators in the crown of my sewer not the entire length probably, but we will say for ten or fifteen feet in length at intervals of sixty or seventy feet apart perforating portions of the top of the sewer with small honeycomb perforations, over which I would lay gravel and let any foul air that might arise in the crown disperse itself in the sub-soil. I am perfectly certain that no injurious emanations could arise under the street that could do any injury, and it would tend to sweeten the sewer. I think a gentleman, at Portsmouth has taken oiit a patent for something of a similar kind, that is, to carry a drain pipe through the crown of the sewer connecting the pipe with a horizontal pipe along the top of his sewer" Vide ' Minutes of Proceedings of the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors,' vol. xvi. page 27. The italics are mine, as I was Borough Engineer of Portsmouth, and the patent not quite correctly described was mine. Sewer Ventilation. 343 air passing out of the sewers, the process being described as follows : " The principle of the system is the action of strong sul- phuric acid on a solution of permanganate of soda. These chemicals are caused to mix continuously and automatically, and the result of their mutual reaction is the formation of sulphurous acid gas, of oxygen gas, of permanganic acid and soda sulphate. The permanganic acid becomes broken up after oxidising the sewage, ultimately precipitating as oxide of manganese. " The gases given off sweeten and disinfect whatever foul air they come in contact with, while the powerfully oxidis- ing solution of sulphuric and permanganic acids fall into the sewer destroying more or less effectually the offensive character of the sewage. The amount or degree of sewage disinfected entirely depends upon the quantity of liquid allowed to flow through the apparatus. In other words the disinfectant is under complete control, and may be greater or less according to the time of year, the volume or the nature of the sewage." * Mr. Reeves further says of his invention : " The apparatus is of the simplest construction, and will not get out of order if its very small requirements in the way of attention are fulfilled. The charge of chemicals lasts three weeks or a month, according to the amount (regulated by the taps) allowed to flow through the apparatus. This amount can be varied within any desired limits, according to neces- sities ; but under ordinary circumstances once a month is often enough to attend to them. Each charge of chemicals for a full-sized apparatus, to treat the sewage from 300 to 500 or more inhabitants, will cost from two shillings to two shillings and sixpence. The apparatus renders the erection of tall ventilating shafts, or means for procuring the quick circulation of air in sewers, unnecessary, and costs about a * Vide Report by Dr. Winter BIyth, Nov. isth, 1887. 344 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. quarter the price of the former, and a mere fraction of that of the latter." The author understands that this process is in successful operation at Frome and Sutton, and he has enlarged some- what on the system as it is a new departure, Mr. Reeves having abandoned the idea of setting up artificial air currents, and instead he attempts to prevent sewer gas being made by charg- ing the air space of sewer above the sewage with oxygen from his apparatus ; and also by reason of the permanganic acid flowing from the apparatus into the sewage preventing gases being formed in transit. In the year 1884 Mr. Knight, surveyor to the Mile End Vestry, patented a deodorising ventilator which may be described as follows : Within the manhole and intercepting all the air rising from the sewer was placed an open rectangular frame of wood, upon which from top to bottom were wound a number of cotton wicks, leaving openings about one inch square through which the sewer air could pass. The frame stood in a tray containing chloride of zinc, or other powerful liquid disinfectant, which was drawn up into the wicks by capillary attraction and were thus kept saturated with the solution. The foul air passing between and around these wicks became purified and rendered innocuous. I have myself applied a modification of this process, using asbestos wicks and a wire screen, with very successful results in special cases. I believe it was in the year 1886 that Mr. Keeling invented his " Sewer Gas Exhauster and Destructor," which is probably well known to most of my readers ; a short description however, partly taken from the ' Metropolitan ' of February 25th, 1888, may be of interest. The apparatus consists of a hollow column surmounted by an ordinary street gas lantern, the column being perforated with slots just below the lantern. The base of this column is Sewer Ventilation. 345 connected with the sewer by ordinary 6-inch socket drain pipes. The destructor is placed in the base of the column, and consists of an atmospheric gas burner. The gas is ad- mitted from below, and just at the point where the gas pipe joins the tube of the burner is inserted an ordinary No. 6 Bray's gas jet. This is not lighted, but it acts as a regulator, as not more than six feet per hour will pass through and be consumed under ordinary pressures. Above the atmospheric burner is an inverted fluted cone of cast iron, which becomes intensely heated when the gas is lighted. This cone is en- cased in an iron cover to prevent loss of heat. Above this are other cones and fluted passages, all of which present col- lectively a very large area of heated surface. The sewer gas enters from below, and passes up through and around the burner ; and while some of it is immediately burned, the whole of the remainder must come into contact with the hot iron cones, and before it passes away into the upper part of the shaft is deprived of all vital particles injurious to health. It is stated that all germs, &c., are destroyed from the fact that the first cone has a heat which will melt lead, therefore it is at least 630 Fahrenheit a temperature much higher than is necessary, and that in addition, the particles have to take a tortuous course through the intricacies of the cones and chambers, the detention being sufficiently long to prevent the possibility of anything escaping destruction. At one time the draught frequently extinguished the flame, but this has now been remedied, and there can be no doubt that under certain conditions and in special cases this invention is of considerable value ; but the cost amounting to five or six pounds a year for consumption of gas alone, makes their universal adoption almost prohibitive. In the year 1887 Mr. McCallum introduced a system which is described as follows : " The air current is caused by utilising a natural force which has always existed in sewers, but has hitherto remained 346 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. neglected and unrealised, viz. the running sewage. The air coming in contact with the more powerful element is com- pelled to travel in the same direction as the flow of water. In order to ' harness ' this power the sewers are diverted into sections by means of a simple contrivance of peculiar con- struction which allows sewage to pass, but not air ; and at each end of such a section a shaft is carried to the surface of the street and finished with a grating one acting as a fresh air inlet and the other as outlet. Constant circulation of air and oxidation of gas is thus insured, and the dividing of sewers into sections, it is contended, prevents foul gas from the low part of a town being forced along sewers to a high part, or vice versa." * In 1889 Messrs. Ford and Wright of Portsmouth patented a system for ventilating sewers and drain pipes which may be described as follows : Provision is made at or near the intrados of the sewer of a special air passage consisting of tubes partially disjointed or disconnected at intervals on the " tuyere " principle. Air is forced through these tubes from an adjacent manhole by means of a finely-divided spray of water which is known to thus carry large quantities of air with it, the water being afterwards used for flushing. The special feature of this in- vention consists in the open tubes at the summit of the sewer through which the air is forced ; it being contended that an induced current is thus set up in the air of the sewer which passes through the openings into the tube and away into the open air at any convenient and safe height, in addition to which the introduction of large quantities of cold air into the sewer being highly beneficial to it. In an application I made of this patent at Portsmouth, the special air passage was formed of tapering galvanised steel tubes, averaging 5i inches diameter and 2 feet 6 inches long, suspended from the crown of the sewer. With a jet consuming only 23 gallons of water * Vide ' The Contract Journal,' June 29th, 1887, p. 810. Sewer Ventilation. 347 an hour a constant down-current of air was maintained, varying from 330 to 390 feet a minute, equivalent to about 4500 cubic feet per hour, which diluted the sewer air, and by induced current changed the air of the sewer, a 4-foot tunnel, about once every hour. These results show that for each cubic foot of water used 1246 cubic feet of air were introduced into the air passage. I have in this chapter attempted to give a short list of some of the principles which have from time to time been applied for the purpose of sewer ventilation ; a summary of them and others may be given as follows : Untrapped gullies at sides of streets, open gratings in centres of streets, open shafts carried up adjoining buildings, similar shafts furnished with intake and uptake cowls of many descriptions, furnaces and chimneys to be utilised, electric and galvanic action of the sewage or upon the air in sewers, pass- ing the air over or through trays and baskets of different forms rilled with charcoal, introduction of trays filled with chemical compounds, attempting to localise and sectionise ventilation in a similar manner to that of mines, the introduc- tion of air either by propellers or by sprays of water, absorp- tion of the gases by the superincumbent earth, using all house drains as ventilators, using all rain-water down pipes for a similar purpose, hollow lamp columns, special mechanical and other appliances, and many other systems and experiments too numerous to mention. Having thus far considered some of the known methods for dealing with the noxious emanations which proceed from sewers, the next point to consider is what these noxious emanations are, and whether they exist in all sewers. It has been found that, even in sewers of the best and most modern construction, what is called " sewer gas " is generated in more or less quantity ; this arises even from fresh sewage, but is far more noxious and dangerous to health when the sewage has begun to decompose, Even where the 348 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. sewers are so constructed as to remove all the sewage to the outfall within 24 hours (which has been decided to be the maximum time it should take), there is still an accumu- lation of slime on the inner periphery of the sewers, owing to the rise and fall of the sewage line, which by leaving a deposit on the sides of the sewer is constantly manufacturing gases of decomposition. It is no doubt true that the more perfect the system of sewerage is, the less foul air there is in the sewers ; but in very few towns will there be found sewers or drains where gases are not generated, which then find their way into other parts of the sewage system unless they are dealt with in some effective manner. Some difference of opinion exists as to what is the actual composition of this foul air in a sewer ; but it is now almost universally admitted that it is highly dangerous to health if breathed, and is also sometimes very offensive.* " The foetid organic vapour," or sewer gas proper, has for its companions in a sewer, sulphuretted hydrogen, a most poisonous as well as unpleasant smelling gas, carburetted hydrogen, due very often to leaky gas mains or services, or to decomposing vegetable matters, carbonic acid gas or carbonic anhydride (choke damp), and some ammoniacal compounds. The actual component parts, however, of any gases in a sewer must vary considerably with its conditions and locality, * In 1887, Professor Carnelley and Dr. Haldane contributed a paper to the Royal Society on the subject of the air of sewers in which they gave the results of examinations which they had made upon the air of sewers in Dundee by which they found that the carbonic acid was twice, and the organic matter three times more in the outside atmosphere than in the sewers, and that the micro- organisms were less ! Also that the air in these sewers was in a better chemical condition than that of naturally ventilated schools. They also stated that the micro-organisms in sewer air came entirely (or nearly so) from the outside ; as from their experiments they found that the number increased with the ventilation of the sewer, and that the state of filthiness of a sewer seemed to have no effect on the number of micro-organisms. ( Vide ' The Chemical News,' vol. Iv. No. 1439, p. 228.) Sewer Ventilation. 349 &c., in the same manner as they would in any public building or room, and it is impossible to tell, without costly experi- ments, what gases may be prevalent in any particular portion of a sewer. But whatever may be the analysis of this foul air, there can be but little doubt that it contains organic matter floating about in it as solids, and that it is excessively injurious and even dangerous to breathe, and that it should be caught and destroyed or rendered innocuous, and not be permitted to pass into and contaminate and poison the air we breathe.* Considerable difference of opinion has existed as to the movements of air in sewers, some engineers contending that it always found its way to the higher parts of the sewerage system ; others that it was carried with the flow of sewage down the sewers ; others that it varied with the rise and fall of the thermometer or barometer, &c. Mr. W. Santo Crimp, the then surveyor of Wimbledon, however, has carried out the most exhaustive series of experiments upon this question that have yet been tried, with the result that " throughout the entire series of experiments he found beyond all question that the wind was the only agent causing movements of sewer air * Mr. Read, the City Surveyor of Gloucester, gives the names of the gases and their specific quantities as compared with hydrogen and atmospheric air which are found in sewers as follows : Gas Specific Gravity. Hydrogen I'oo .Atmospheric air 14*25 Sulphuretted hydrogen 17*00 Carburetted hydrogen 8*00 Olefiant gas 13-00 Ammonia 8*50 Carbonic acid 22*00 Nitrogen 13-85 Sulphurous acid 32*00 Bisulphide of carbon 38*00 Chlorine 35 '5 Watery vapour 9 oo ( Vide ' Minutes of Proceedings of the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors,' vol. ix. p. 35-) 3 So Municipal and Sanitary Engineer s Handbook. that could be recorded by an anemometer, and that the currents were uphill or downhill accordingly as the individual sewer experimented upon was affected by the wind." * The whole subject of scientific and sanitary sewer ventila- tion is beset with difficulties, as will be seen by my readers when I tell them that since the year 1887 this question has been before the Council of the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors (now called the Associa- tion of Municipal and County Engineers) with a view to some more definite solution of the question, and up to the present date no report has yet been issued, and no progress has been made in this important subject ; the fact is, that whatever system of ventilation of the main sewers in any town may be adopted, it is imperative that the houses connected with them should be properly trapped, ventilated and "isolated," and this is in my judgment of even greater importance than the ventilation of the main sewers. Upon this point I shall endeavour to give further information in the chapter on " House Drainage." * Vide ' Proceedings of the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors,' vol. xvi. p. 13. CHAPTER XXIII. PUBLIC CONVENIENCES. IN almost every town in the United Kingdom public urinals are now erected, and within recent years water-closet accom- modation has also in many cases been provided, principally owing to the introduction of underground conveniences. The clause of the Public Health Act which empowers an urban authority to spend money out of the district rates for this purpose is as follow : "Any urban authority may if they think fit provide and maintain in proper and convenient situations, urinals, water- closets, earth-closets, privies and ashpits and other similar conveniences for public accommodation" (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 39).* It is not my intention to enter into the merits or otherwise of the many descriptions of urinals and latrines that have been brought to the notice from time to time of every town surveyor by enterprising manufacturers and patentees, but only to give a few suggestions upon the subject. Public urinals and conveniences ought to be erected by the urban authority as a matter of convenience to the peripatetic * The Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1890, to which reference has before been made, contains the following clause in connection with public conveniences : i. Where an urban authority provide and maintain for public accommodation any sanitary conveniences, such authority may (i) Make regulations with respect to the management thereof, and make byelaws as to the decent conduct of persons using the same ; (ii) Let the same from time to time for any term not exceeding three years at such rent and subject to such conditions as they may think fit ; (iii) Charge such fees for the use of any water-closets provided by them as they may think proper. (53 & 54 Viet. c. 59, Part III. sec. 20.) 352 Municipal and Sanitary Engineer s Handbook. portion of any community, and also to prevent nuisances being committed in improper places. In selecting sites for urinals and conveniences, the town surveyor must take care that after erection they shall not be offensive or a nuisance to any persons living in the vicinity, and that they shall be so placed that although they may be easily found, the persons using them shall be effectually screened.* \ Urinals which are erected above ground are better con- structed of iron, rather than of brickwork or more solid work- manship, in order that they can be readily removed. It is surprising what an uproar is sometimes raised in a neighbour- hood by the erection of a urinal ; this clamour occasionally has so much effect upon the urban authority that they order the removal of the urinal, although it may not have been erected many days, and if it has been substantially built a considerable waste of the public money is thus involved. * The urban authority have (in the absense of improper motives) an absolute discretion as to the sites they select. (Mason v. Wallasey Local Board, L. J. Notes of cases, 1876, p. 212.) They will, however, be controlled by the Court if Public Conveniences. 353 Where a urinal is constructed with basins, as by the pre- ceding plan, the basins may be of iron or good stoneware or similar construction, these being always kept full of water which is constantly although slowly changing. Stall urinals may be some modification of the following plan, and be constructed of iron with slate partitions, or the 11 1 1 URI NAU u - f partitions may be of iron covered with slate where soiled, the stalls should not be less than 24 inches in the clear, and water must be kept constantly flowing over the soiled portion either from a perforator pipe or a spreader.* A very excellent arrangement is to have a trench or trough cut at the foot of the stall for the whole length of the urinal, which is kept con- stantly full of water and occasionally flushed, thus avoiding nuisance in a very satisfactory manner. Urinals are now also constructed on the " trough " prin- ciple, or " basin " principle, the following being a description of this arrangement as carried out by George Jennings, the well-known Sanitary Engineer. The basin, holding about 6 gallons, is arranged to stand full of water, retained by a ground-in gun-metal discharge plug or standing waste, in a gun-metal seating. This plug, being hollow, at all times regulates the height of the water within the pan, so that, should a constant change or current be desired, the supply valve or stop-cock may be left partially open, without the possibility of overflow. The discharge plug should be raised once or twice a day, they act in an unreasonable manner by erecting a urinal where it would be a nuisance to the owners of adjoining property ( Veron v. Vestry of St. James's, Westminster, 16 Ch. D. 449). * The quantity of water usually required to each stall when kept constantly running is about half a gallon per minute. 2 A 354 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. oftener if the urinal is much used. The contents pass direct into a semicircular basin rendered in cement (or formed in lead on wood floors), which drains the foot grating supporting the urinal ; in the bottom of this basin should be fixed a 4-inch stoneware syphon trap, the whole being thoroughly flushed at each discharge, and all refuse matter carried away as effectually as from a water-closet. Nothing takes the sting of offence from urine like a body of water ; hence the superiority of these urinals over the plain slabs and apron-pieces, or iron stalls, which offer a large impure and constantly fouling and evaporating surface, which no waste of water can cleanse or render inoffensive. Provision must of course be made to efficiently drain, ven- tilate and light all public urinals, and arrangements should be made by which they can be thoroughly washed once or twice a day, so as to keep every part scrupulously clean. Urine after a very short exposure exhales a most foetid and un- pleasant odour, from the decomposition of its nitrogenous matter. Carbolic acid, chloride of lime or other disinfectant should also be used, especially in warm weather. If the interior of a public urinal or latrine has to be painted a light colour, it is well to mix a little sand with the paint, so as to prevent as much as possible that literature and art which so often disfigures establishments of this description. An excellent composition with which to treat urinals, although it is of a somewhat dark tint, is a mixture of common coal tar and naphtha, which not only gives a clean and polished appearance to the place, but it is also an excellent deodorant and disinfectant. With regard to the provision of public W.C. accommoda- tion by local authorities, this has become far more general within recent years now that this accommodation and that of urinals can be provided underground. The first attempt to provide anything of the kind was successfully made by Mr. Haywood, the Engineer to the City of London Com- Public Conveniences. 355 missioners of Sewers, who constructed one near the Royal Exchange, London. The following sectional plan of it may be interesting, though it is probably well known by most of my readers. Since the construction of this convenience, others have rapidly followed, both in the metropolis and elsewhere, as their advantages are very obvious. HALF PLAN, PAVEMENT LEVEL HALF PLAN, BELOW PAVEM EN g .* f They are unobtrusive, there being no external evidence of them other than that of steps guarded by ornamental gates and railings, and probably a lamp column over the centre, and without entering into any details of their construction, the following few hints may be useful. Make sure the sewer is deep enough to drain the con- venience, and that there will be no back flooding.* * Provision can be made against back flooding by the use of a special "Jennings" back pressure trap. 2 A 2 356 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. Give sufficient head room and provide for efficient lighting by deck lights or otherwise, and see that the ventilation is abundant. Line the whole structure with white glazed bricks, and in order that these may preserve their colour below ground, it is well to take special precautions in wet or damp soils to encase the structure within outer walls. Only ihe best apparatus of all kinds should be used in an underground convenience for obvious reasons, and the whole place should be easily cleansed by the attendant. The floor may be of asphalte or cement, or encaustic tiles or pavement laid upon concrete, and all the woodwork should be varnished pitch pine. Provision for lighting after dark must be provided, and a gas stove for warming at night, care being taken to remove the fumes arising from the gas jets in all cases. Where it is wished to avoid the expense of an attendant, the " Penny in the slot " principle has been attempted, but with doubtful success, as unscrupulous persons are liable to tamper with the cash box as well as the apparatus. For any further information upon the subject of urinals, water-closets, latrines or conveniences of all descriptions, I cannot do better than refer the Town Surveyor to Mr. George Jennings, or Messrs. McFarlane, who have an end- less variety of designs and appliances in connection with such matters. 357 CHAPTER XXIV. ARTIZANS' AND LABOURERS' DWELLINGS, ETC. IN the first edition of this book, one of the most difficult chapters to write was that upon the laws relating to the subject of artizans' and labourers' dwellings, as no less than ten different Acts of Parliament then existed which were in some of their clauses contradictory, complex and confusing. Since that chapter was written, the Housing of the Working Classes Act 1890 (53 & 54 Viet. c. 70), has become law, and has repealed or amended nearly the whole of the ten previous Acts, and has consolidated the numerous statutes bearing upon this subject. In a "memorandum" from the Local Government Board upon this Act, published in October 1890, appears the following : "These amendments have very materially simplified the procedure to be taken by local authorities with a view to the closing and demolition of dwelling-houses unfit for human habitation ; and have given facilities for the making and carrying out of schemes for the reconstruction and re- arrangement of insanitary buildings on a smaller scale than those contemplated by the Artizans' and Labourers' Dwellings Improvement Acts, and by a less elaborate machinery than was contained in those Acts. They have provided safeguards against the payment of excessive compensation in respect of dwellings which have been allowed to get into a state of defective sanitation or into bad repair, or the rentals of which have been enhanced by over-crowding, or by the houses being used for illegal purposes. They have enabled the expenses of 358 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. arbitrations to be diminished in certain cases ; and have exempted the local authorities from the payment of the expenses of owners in respect of arbitrations in cases where such particulars of claims have not been delivered prior to the appointment of the arbitrator as would have enabled the local authority to make proper offers of compensation. They have empowered courts of summary jurisdiction, when making orders for the closing of houses unfit for human habitation, to authorise the payment to the tenants of a reasonable allowance on account of their expenses in removing, which will be recoverable from the owners of the houses; and they have enabled the local authorities to make similar payments to the tenants of a house who are required to give up possession when the houses are to be pulled down for the purpose of improve- ment schemes. They have also made numerous other alter- ations in the law with a view to strengthening the hands of the local authorities and facilitating the due execution of the Act.* The Act is divided into seven parts, of which the first deals with unhealthy areas, and the schemes to be carried out by local authorities for their improvement. \ The act is silent as to what officer of the local authority is to prepare the Scheme ; for although the Medical Officer of Health is frequently mentioned, and it is only upon his representation that the local authority can act in the matter, it is unlikely that this officer would be competent to prepare a complicated scheme " for the rearrangement and reconstruction of the streets and houses within such area" (53 & 54 Viet. c. 70, s. 4). This assumption is confirmed by sect. 6 of the Act, which is as follows :- " I. The improvement scheme of a local authority shall be accompanied by maps, particulars and estimates, and * Vide Memorandum on the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890 (53 & 54 Viet. c. 70), signed Hugh Owen, Secretary Local Government Board, White- hall, London, S.W., October 1890. t This part of the Act does not apply to Rural Sanitary Districts. Artizans and Labo^trers Dwellings, &c. 359 (a) may exclude any part of the area in respect of which an official representation is made, or include any neighbouring lands, if the local authority are of opinion that such exclusion is expedient or inclusion is necessary for making their scheme efficient for sanitary purposes ; and (b) may provide for widening any existing approaches to the unhealthy area, or otherwise for opening out the same for the purposes of ventilation or health ; and (c) shall provide such dwelling accomodation, if any, for the working classes displaced by the scheme, as is required to comply with this Act ; * and (d) shall provide for proper sanitary arrangements. 2. The scheme shall distinguish the lands proposed to be taken compulsorily. 3. The scheme may also provide for the scheme or any part thereof being carried out and effected by the person entitled to the first estate of freehold in any property comprised in the scheme or with the concurrence of such person, under the superintendence and control of the local authority, and upon such terms and conditions to be embodied in the scheme as may be agreed upon between the local authority and such person." (53 & 54 Viet. c. 70, s. 6.) It may then, I conclude, be assumed that the preparation * Where a scheme comprises an area situate elsewhere than in the county or city of London, it shall, if the confirming authority so require (but it shall not otherwise be obligatory on the local authority so to frame their scheme), provide for the accommodation of such number of those persons of the working classes displaced in the area with respect to which the scheme is proposed in suitable dwellings to be erected in such place or places either within or without the limits of the same area as the said authority, on a report made by the officer conducting the local inquiry, may require. (53 & 54 Viet. c. 70, sec, II, sub-sec. 2.) A local authority may, for the purpose of providing accommodation for persons of the working classes displaced by any improvement scheme, appropriate any lands for the time being belonging to them which are suitable for the purpose, or may purchase by agreement any such further lands as may be convenient. (53 & 54 Viet. c. 70, sec. 23.) 360 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. of the above scheme rests with the town surveyor, and these words, so easily written, mean a very large addition to the duties of this already overworked officer. After the scheme has been prepared, the local authority must obtain a provisional order for the purpose of carrying it out ; but it would occupy too much space to give in detail the work which is necessary in the way of plans, estimates, statistics and evidence for the surveyor to prepare in order to obtain this provisional order. The compensation clauses of the Act are especially inter- esting and are given in extenso. " i. Whenever the compensation payable in respect of any lands or of any interests in any lands proposed to be taken compulsorily in pursuance of this part of this Act requires to be assessed (a) the estimate of the value of such land or interests shall be based up6n the fair market value, as esti- mated at the time of the valuation being made of such lands, and of the several interests of such lands, due regard being had to the nature and then condition of the property, and the probable duration of the buildings in their existing state, and to the state of repair thereof, without any additional allowance in respect of the compulsory purchase of any area or of any part of an area in respect of which an official representation has been made, or of any lands included in a scheme which, in the opinion of the arbitrator, have been so included as falling under the description of property which may be constituted an unhealthy area under this part of this Act ; and (b) in such estimate any addition to or improvement of the property made after the date of the publication in pursuance of this part of this Act of an advertise- ment stating the fact of the improvement scheme Artizans and Labourers Dwellings, &c. 361 having been made shall not (unless such addition or improvement was necessary for the maintenance of the property in a proper state of repair) be included, nor in the case of any interest acquired after the said date shall any separate estimate of the value thereof be made so as to increase the amount of compensation to be paid for the lands ; and 2. On the occasion of assessing the compensation payable under any improvement scheme in respect of any house or premises situate within an unhealthy area evidence shall be receivable by the arbitrator to prove (ist) that the rental of the house or premises was en- hanced by reason of the same being used for illegal purposes, or being so overcrowded as to be danger- ous or injurious to the health of the inmates ; or (2ndly) that the house or premises are in such a condition as to be a nuisance within the meaning of the Acts relating to nuisances, or are in a state of defective sanitation, or are not in reasonably good repair ; or (3rdly) that the house or premises are unfit, and not reasonably capable of being made fit, for human habitation ; and, if the arbitrator is satisfied by such evidence, then the compensation (a) shall in the first case so far as it is based on rental be based on the rental which would have been obtain- able if the house or premises were occupied for legal purposes, and only by the number of persons whom the house or premises were, under all the circumstances of the case, fitted to accommodate without such overcrowding as is dangerous or in- jurious to the health of the inmates ; and (b) shall in the second case be the amount estimated as the value of the house or premises if the nuisance had been abated, or if they had been put into a 362 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. sanitary condition, or into reasonably good repair, after deducting the estimated expense of abating the nuisance, or putting them into such condition or repair, as the case may be ; and (c) shall in the third case be the value of the land, and of the materials of the buildings thereon." (53 & 54 Viet. c. 70, s. 21.) " Upon the purchase by the local authority of any lands required for the purpose of carrying into effect any scheme, all rights of way, rights of laying down or of continuing any pipes, sewers, or drains on, through, or under such lands, or part thereof, and all other rights or easements in or relating to such lands, or any part thereof, shall be extinguished, and all the soil of such ways, and the property in the pipes, sewers or drains, shall vest in the local authority, subject to this pro- vision, that compensation shall be paid by the local authority to any persons or bodies of persons proved to have sustained loss by this section, and such compensation shall be deter- mined in the manner in which compensation for lands is determinable under this part of this Act, or as near thereto as circumstances admit." (53 & 54 Viet. c. 70, s. 22.) The second part of the Act deals with unhealthy dwellings, and gives sanitary authorities veiy important powers and duties in relation to the closing and demolition of dwelling- houses unfit for human habitation ; the pulling down and the acquisition of the sites of obstructive buildings, and the making and carrying out of schemes for improvement of areas which are too small to be dealt with under Part I. of the Act. Here again it is the duty of the Medical Officer of Health (or of any officer of such authority)* to call the attention of the authority to any dwelling house " in a state so dangerous or injurious to health as to be unfit for human habitation ; " f and proceedings are then taken, first to close and then to demolish or render the house fit for human habitation. As in * Vide 53 & 54 Viet. c. 70, sec. 32. t Ibid. Artisans and Labourers Dwellings, &c. 363 the latter case the surveyor appears by name for the first and only time in the Act, I give that portion of the section of the Act in full, leaving it to my readers to find out for themselves the best method for ascertaining the value of the " charging order " ; "Where any owner has completed in respect of any dwelling-house any works required to be executed by an order of a local authority under this part of this Act, he may apply to the local authority for a charging order, and shall produce to the local authority the certificate of their surveyor or engineer that the works have been executed to his satis- faction, and also the accounts of, and vouchers for, the costs, charges and expenses of the works, and the local authority, when satisfied that the owner has duly executed such works and of the amount of such costs, charges and expenses, and of the costs of obtaining the charging order which have been properly incurred, shall make an order accordingly, charging on the dwelling-house an annuity to repay the amount." (53 & 54 Viet c. 70, s. 36, sub-sec, (i.)). Where a building has been taken down and removed under the above provisions, no house or other building or erection which will be injurious or dangerous to health, may be erected on all or any part of the site of such building. Full power is given to the sanitary authority to enforce compliance with this requirement* (53 & 54 Viet c. 70, s. 34-) What are known as " obstructive buildings " may also be pulled down under this part of the Act after certain formali- ties have been gone through, and compensation based on substantially the same conditions as those I have already quoted has been paid to the owner. * This seems an almost unnecessary provision, for byelaws regulating " new buildings " exist in nearly all towns, and the re-erecting of any building ' ' pulled down to or below the ground floor," &c. . . . shall be considered the erection of anew building (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 159.) 364 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. The third part of the Act consolidates the Labouring Classes Lodging Houses Acts, 1851 to 1885, commonly known as Shaftesbury's Acts. This part of the Act may be adopted by any urban sanitary authority for their district.* When it has been adopted it empowers the urban sanitary authority to provide " lodging houses for the working classes," which expression includes separate houses or cottages for the working classes, whether containing one or several tenements. For this purpose it empowers the authority to purchase or rent land, or, with the consent of the Local Government Board (in the case of an urban authority), or of the county council (in the case of a rural authority), to appropriate any land for the time being vested in them or at their disposal, and on such land to erect any buildings suitable for lodging houses for the working classes, and to convert any buildings into lodging houses for those classes, and to alter, enlarge, repair and improve the buildings, and to fit up, furnish and supply them with the requisite furniture, fittings and con- veniences. It also enables the sanitary authority to contract for the purchase or lease of any lodging houses for the working classes already or hereafter to be built and provided, and, with such consent as previously mentioned, to appro- priate the same for the purposes of this part of the Act, and to sell any land vested in them for these purposes, and to apply the proceeds in or towards the purchase of other more suitable lands. The short allusions which I have made to this Act have only been made in order that I might draw attention to the alteration of the law since the first edition of this book was published, and I will now proceed to repeat what I said then with reference to the buildings which are generally erected under such a " scheme " as is mentioned in the first part of the Act. * A Rural Sanitary Authority may adopt this part of the Act by application under certain conditions to its County Council. (53 & 54 Viet. c. 70. s. 55.) Artizans and Labourers Dwellings, &c. 365 The buildings which are erected on the sites dealt with under this Act are generally of the " high block " class, as it is found that the labouring man prefers to live near his work, and land is generally too expensive in such localities to admit of the erection of any other description of buildings. As to whether this class of dwelling is as healthy as ordinary cottages or houses, the following death-rates for the year 1879 will be some guide : The London Improved Industrial Dwellings .. .. 16*4 per 1000 The Peabody Trust Dwellings 17-2 The Metropolitan Association Dwellings .. .. 14*3 ,, ,, The Newcastle Improved Industrial Dwellings .. 12 'O ,, ,, The general death rate for the Metropolis at the same date being 21*3 ,, ,, It is of course necessary that the sanitary arrangements of industrial dwellings of the block type should be very perfect, and as to the manner in which they should be erected the following words of Mr. John Price, who for twelve years had lived in one of them himself, can be here given with advantage : * " Model dwellings are therefore most appreciated by working men when placed near the scene of their daily labour. The arrangements most preferred are those which bring the fewest families or persons in contact with one another on a flat or landing. As a rule, the buildings should not exceed four stories in height; the staircases should be about four feet in depth, and broken by short landings, lighted by large windows open to the external air ; the window-sills should not be less than three feet from the floors for the safety of young children, and for the same reason well staircases should be avoided. The steps of the stairs should only have a 6-inch ' rise/ for the more easy accommodation of old * Vide ' Industrial Dwellings from a Sanitary point of View,' by John Price, Resident Agent, Newcastle-on-Tyne Industrial Dwellings Company, read Sep- tember 28th, at the Congress of the Institute, held at Newcastle-on-Tyne. 366 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. people and young children : they should be fire-proof, and well lighted with gas on an evening. There should be a thick layer of deafening between the floors. The water-closets should be placed in an offshoot from the main building, opening on to each landing, and well ventilated by open win- dows and air bricks. The water-closet apparatus should be as simple and effective as possible. Patents depending upon the proper working of valves and ball-cocks should be avoided, as the fruitful cause of trouble and expense ; little reliance must be placed on their proper use by tenants where more than one family have access to them. I have seen excellent closets stopped up with cloths and all manner of earthenware and hardware, children of careless parents being the principal offenders ; what is everybody's duty is often most neglected. It will be found most economical in large buildings of this class to appoint a person whose duty it should be to attend to the proper flushing of water-closets daily. I would suggest that there should be a large cistern under the roof (distinct from the cistern used for domestic purposes) a f -inch feed pipe should lead to each water-closet, which should consist of a simple metal or earthenware pan, provided only with a tap, flushing rim and plug, placed under the seat securely, and under the sole control of the attendant, who, by the necessary daily inspection, would detect any stoppage or injury to the fittings. The expense of such supervision would probably be soon saved in plumber's bills. Of course the soil-pipes should be well ventilated above the roof of the building, and all drains and sinks should be properly trapped. The attendant on his daily rounds would also be able to see that these are kept in proper order. The dust-shaft, extending to the full height of the building, should have proper hoppers connected with it to prevent the dust coming from the lower or upper landings a nuisance sometimes complained of in block dwellings. The washhouses should be placed on the roof or in the yards, fitted with set pots and requisite conveniences. Artizans and Labourers Dwellings, &c. 367 The soft water from the roofs should be stored in tanks for washing and domestic purposes it will be much appreciated by sensible tenants, and save the water bill greatly. " The great desiderata of these large blocks of buildings is ample playground for jthe children, without which they play upon the stairs, and are often the cause of strife amongst neighbours. I know those who have experience in the matter may say that it is more easy to state what is desirable than what is practical. The enhanced value of land in all our large towns precludes any liberal investment on what appears so financially unremunerative as playgrounds, yet they are essential adjuncts wherever there is an infantile population. Mr. Powell, on behalf of the London Trades Unions, enume- rated before Sir Richard Cross's Committee certain objections which the working classes of London entertained against the earliest erected blocks of dwellings, amongst which was their barrack-like and uninviting appearance, and also their want of playgrounds for children. Recently these defects have been greatly remedied." The following copy of the byelaws as sanctioned by the Treasury in 1867 in connection with the Labouring Classes' Lodging Houses Acts (14 & 15 Viet. c. 34 ; 29 and 30 Viet, c. 28 ; 30 & 31 Viet. c. 28) may be of interest, and also the table of sizes of rooms which follows may be useful. " Separate water-closet accommodation to be provided for each tenement, or else, where water-closet accommodation is to be used in common by the occupants of two or more tene- ments, separate accommodation must be provided for each sex. Such accommodation may be either water-closet, earth-closet, or privy. Each tenement to have a dustbin or the use of a dustbin common to several buildings. Each tenement to be well lighted by external windows made to open. Each tenement J:o have ready access to water. 368 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. Where several tenements in one building, proper ventilation to be provided for the passages, staircases, &c. The drains to be well constructed. Parties to whom moneys to be advanced to enter into covenants with the Public Works Loan Commissioners, that where there are several tenements in one building they ; (a) Will cause the passages, staircases, &c., to be kept clean ; (b) Will cause the water-closets, &c., to be kept in good repair ; (c) Will cause the dustbins to be emptied at intervals of seven days ; (d) Will take precautions against any interruption in the supply of water ; (e) Will keep the windows' in good order and repair, and the chimneys swept ; (/) Will keep the drains in proper order ; (g) Will allow inspection by Commissioner of Works to see that the above covenants are observed. Number of cubic feet in each room of the several classes of tenements (none of less than two rooms) for which money has been authorised to be advanced : " One One One One One Class. Room of Room of Room of Room of Room of cubic feet. cubic feet. cubic feet. cubic feet. cubic feet. Class I. of two rooms 715 1,219 Ditto 816 994 Ditto 995 1,020 Class II. of four rooms 960 960 960 960 Class III. of five rooms 372 675 1,056 1,056 1,232 Ditto 446 459 459 7 8l 1,468 It may be information valuable to a town surveyor, if before closing this chapter I draw attention to the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882 (45 & 46 Viet. c. 50, s. 3), which gives corporations power to convert any corporate land into sites for working men's dwellings, although the Artizans and Labourers Dwellings, &c. 369 corporation are not authorised to erect dwellings thereon, and this section does not seem to have been repealed t by the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, to which I have referred. In conclusion I may state that, being struck with the excessive proportion that the poorer labouring man has to pay in the way of rent, I designed and completed a scheme for the erection of four blocks of labourers' dwellings, con- taining tenements of two, three and four rooms, which are so constructed that allowing \2s. 6d. per square yard for the land on which they are constructed, including the necessary streets, passages and back yards, these tenements can be erected at rentals of a unit of is. $d. per week per room, and, after allowing 37 per cent, for leakages such as voids, repairs, taxes, &c., will bring in a return of upwards of 4^ per cent, upon the capital outlay. Each tenant has a separate scullery and water-closet, and those houses which are already finished are at once let to the lowest class of tenants, in fact, to those whom it was the intention of the Act to reach, and not the artizan, who is well supplied with houses by private enterprise. 2 B 370 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. CHAPTER XXV. DEFECTS IN DWELLING-HOUSES, ETC. THERE are many defects in dwelling-houses with which it is the duty of the sanitary inspector to deal, such as infringe- ments of the provisions as to Bakehouses, contained in the Factory and Workshop Act, 1883, offensive trades, nuisances rendering houses unfit for human habitation, &c. ; but I pro- pose to give in this chapter, in addition to those with which I have already dealt, such subjects under this head as come within the duties of the town surveyor. The first which I propose to treat is that of the question of Cellar Dwellings. These are at all times objectionable, even if the clauses of the Public Health Act, 1875, be strictly carried out, and the surveyor should discourage them as much as possible. Nothing more can be said with reference to them than is contained in the provisions of the above Act, which are as follows : * "It shall not be lawful to let or occupy or suffer to be occupied separately as a dwelling, any cellar (including for the purposes of this Act in that expression any vault or under- ground room) built or rebuilt after the passing of this Act, or which is not lawfully so let or occupied at the time of the passing of this Act" (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s 71). And with regard to existing cellar dwellings they are only to be let or occupied on the following conditions : * Any cellar in which any person passes the night shall be deemed to be occupied as a dwelling within the meaning of this Act (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 74). Defects in Dwelling- ffouses, &c. 371 " Unless the cellar is in every part thereof at least seven feet in height, measured from the floor to the ceiling thereof, and is at least three feet of its height above the surface of the street or ground adjoining or nearest to the same ; and " Unless there is outside of and adjoining the cellar and extending along the entire frontage thereof, and upwards from six inches below the level of the floor thereof up to the sur- face of the said street or ground, an open area of at least two feet and six inches wide in every part ; and " Unless the cellar is effectually drained by means of a drain, the uppermost part of which is one foot at least below the level of the floor thereof; and " Unless there is appurtenant to the cellar the use of a water-closet, earth-closet, or privy, and an ashpit, furnished with proper doors and coverings, according to the provisions of this Act ; and " Unless the cellar has a fireplace with a proper chimney or flue, and an external window of at least nine superficial feet in area clear of the sash frame, and made to open in a manner approved by the surveyor (except in the case of an inner or back cellar let or occupied along with a front cellar as part of the same letting or occupation, in which case the external window may be of any dimensions, not being less than four superficial feet in area clear of the sash frame). " Provided that in any area adjoining a cellar there may be steps necessaiy for access to such cellar, if the same be so placed as not to be over, across or opposite to the said external window, and so as to allow between every part of such steps and the external wall of such cellar a clear space of six inches at the least, and that over or across any such area there may be steps necessary for access to any building above the cellar to which such area adjoins, if the same be so placed as not to be over, across or opposite to any such external window" (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 72). 2 B 2 37 2 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. Where two convictions in respect of the same cellar have taken place within three months, a court of summary juris- diction may direct the closing of the premises for such time as it may deem necessary, or may empower the local authority permanently to close the same, and to defray any expenses incurred by them in the execution of this duty (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 75). The next defect in a dwelling-house which will be con- sidered is that of Insufficient W.C. accommodation. A new house may not be erected, and an old house pulled down to or below the ground floor may not be rebuilt without " a sufficient water- closet, earth-closet,* or privy, and an ashpit furnished with proper doors and coverings," under a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds f (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 35). And with regard to existing premises : " If a house within the district of a local authority appears to such authority by the report of their surveyor or inspector of nuisances to be without a sufficient water-closet, earth-closet or privy, and an ashpit furnished with proper doors and coverings ; the local authority shall by written notice require the owner or occupier of the house within a reasonable time therein specified, to provide a sufficient water-closet, earth- closet or privy, and an ashpit furnished as aforesaid, or either of them as the case may require. If such notice is not com- plied with the local authority may, at the expiration of the time specified in the notice, do the work thereby required to be done, and may recover in a summary manner from the * " In this Act (P. H. Act, 1875) the term ' earth-closet ' includes any place for the reception and deodorisation of faecal matter constructed to the satisfaction of the local authority" (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 37). t In case of several houses together, it has been held not necessary, in order to comply with this section, to have separate accommodation for each house, if there is sufficient for them collectively. (Glutton Guardians v. Pointing, 4 Q. B. Division 340, 48 L. J. M. C. 135.) But it is open to the authority, although no proceedings may have been taken under this section, to proceed under the following section. Defects in Dwelling- Houses, &c. 373 owner the expenses incurred by them in so doing, or may by order declare the same to be private improvement ex- penses. Provided that where a water-closet, earth-closet or privy has been and is used in common by the inmates of two or more houses, or if in the opinion of the local authority a water-closet, earth-closet or privy may be so used, they need not require the same to be provided for each house" (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 36). If the local authority approve, an earth-closet may be con- structed instead of a water-closet, but in this case they should make arrangements for the supply of the dry earth and the removal of its contents.* The necessary notice to be served in connection with insufficient w.c accommodation may be in the following form : " To the owner of the house No. in the borough of " Whereas the above-mentioned house is situate within the district of the mayor, aldermen and burgesses of , the urban sanitary authority for the borough of : And whereas it appears to the said urban sanitary authority that the said house is without a sufficient water-closet, earth-closet or privy : Now the said urban sanitary authority do hereby require you, the said owner, within from the date of this notice to provide a sufficient water-closet for the use of the in- habitants of the said house. And take notice, that if you do not within the time above specified provide a sufficient water- closet, as aforesaid, to the satisfaction of the said urban sanitary authority, they will themselves, at the expiration of such time, do the necessary work to provide such closet * A local authority cannot lay down a general rule requiring the substitution of water-closets for privies, but must deal with each house separately with reference to the particular circumstances of the case. (See Tinkler v. Wandswortk District Board of Works, 27 L. J. Ch. 342 ; 30 L. T. (O. S.) 146 ; 22 J. P. 223.) 374 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. accommodation as aforesaid, and proceed to recover the costs and expenses thereby incurred in manner provided by the Public Health Act, 1875. Dated this of , 18 . Surveyor to the said Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses" And where the case demands, the following note may be added below the above notice : " NOTE. The urban sanitary authority may, if they so determine, require a separate water-closet to be provided for each house, or they may permit a water-closet to be used in common by the inmates of two or more houses,* but in either case the closet itself must be properly constructed and provided with due means of ventilation. The urban sanitary authority will approve of the existing closet accommodation if it is per- fected by means of the following works being carried out. (Specification of work required to be done must here be inserted.) The whole of the work to be executed in a work- manlike manner and to my entire approval. "It is, however, to be understood that the above notice requiring the work to be executed within one month will be rigidly enforced ; and if at the expiration of that time the work be not completed, the urban sanitary authority will themselves proceed to execute the necessary work to provide proper closet accommodation in such manner as they may deem most advisable, without pledging themselves to the adoption of the method above suggested. Surveyor to the said May or , Aldermen and Burgesses" With regard to water-closet accommodation for factories, it * It is not always possible for a separate w.c. to be provided for each house, hence the wisdom of the law which makes it permissive for a local authority to allow a group of tenements to be provided for by several water-closets close together. Defects in Dwelling- Houses, &c. 375 appears to rest entirely with the town surveyor to draw the attention of the sanitary authority to any case where he considers this is deficient, as by the following clause : " Where it appears to any local authority by the report of their surveyor that any house is used or intended to be used as a factory or building in which persons of both sexes are employed or intended to be employed at one time in any manufacture, trade, or business, the local authority may, if they think fit, by written notice require the owner or occupier of such house, within the time therein specified, to construct a sufficient number of water-closets, earth-closets or privies and ashpits for the separate use of each sex. " Any person who neglects or refuses to comply with any such notice shall be liable for each default to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, and to a further penalty not ex- ceeding forty shillings for every day during which the default is continued" (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 38). This section is repealed where the local authority have adopted Part III. of the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1890, the following being substituted : " I. Every building, used as a workshop or manufactory, or where persons are employed or intended to be employed in any trade or business, whether erected before or after the adoption of this part of this Act in any district, shall be provided with sufficient and suitable accommodation in the way of sanitary conveniences, having regard to the number of persons employed in or in attendance at such building, and also where persons of both sexes are employed, or intended to be employed, or in attendance, with proper separate accom- modation for persons of each sex. 2. Where it appears to an urban authority on the report of their surveyor that the provisions of this section are not complied with in the case of any building, the urban authority may, if they think fit, by written notice, require the owner or occupier of any such building to make such alterations and 376 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. additions therein as may be required to give such sufficient, suitable and proper accommodation as aforesaid. 3. Any person who neglects or refuses to comply with any such notice shall be liable for each default to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, and to a daily penalty not exceeding forty shillings. 4. Where this section is in force, section thirty-eight of the Public Health Act, 1875, shall be repealed " (53 & 54 Viet. c. 59, s. 22). In providing closet accommodation which is to be used in common by the occupants of a number of houses, it must be remembered that it should be of the most simple description. Anyone acquainted with the working of water-closets situated in courts and alleys will know how badly they are treated, and into what a fearful state of disrepair and filth they speedily fall, as the great difficulty the sanitary inspector always finds is to have them kept clean. " What is everybody's business is nobody's." And although by clauses 40, 41, 46, &c., of the Public Health Act, 1875, persons causing a nuisance can be punished, it is a difficult matter to detect the person in fault, unless of course it is a structural defect, when the owner can be summoned if it is allowed to remain uncured. To meet this difficulty the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1890, has the following clause : "With respect to any sanitary convenience used in common by the occupiers of two or more separate dwelling- houses, or by other persons, the following provisions shall have effect : 1. If any person injures or improperly fouls any such sanitary convenience, or anything used in connection there- with, he shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten shillings. 2. If any sanitary convenience or the approaches thereto, or the walls, floors, seats or fittings thereof is or are in the opinion of the urban authority or of the inspector of nuisances Defects in Dwelling- Houses, &c. 377 or medical officer of health of such authority in such a state or condition as to be a nuisance or annoyance to any inhabitant of the district for want of the proper cleansing thereof, such of the persons having the use thereof in common as aforesaid as may be in default, or in the absence of proof satisfactory to the court as to which of the persons having the use thereof in common is in default, each of those persons shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten shillings, and to a daily penalty not exceeding five shillings " (53 & 54 Viet c. 59, s. 21). The last point to consider in this chapter is that of Houses without a proper siipply of water. " Where on the report of the surveyor of a local authority it appears that any house within their district is without a proper supply of water, and that such a supply of water can be furnished thereto at a cost not exceeding the water rate authorised by any local Act in force within the district, or where there is not any local Act so in force at a cost not exceeding twopence a week, or at such other cost as the Local Government Board may on the application of the local authority determine, under all the circumstances of the case, to be reasonable, the local authority shall give notice in writing to the owner, requiring him, within a time therein specified, to obtain such supply, and to do all such works as may be necessary for that purpose," * and in default of his doing so the authority may carry out all necessary works themselves for obtaining such supply (vide 38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 62). It is not very often that a house is found without any supply of water at all, for if that from the mains is not laid on it is generally found that the house is supplied from a well or from a stand-pipe in a court, or some similar source. If * A similar provision is made requiring the keeper of a common lodging house to obtain a proper supply of water (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 81), but it does not appear to be the express duty of the town surveyor to draw attention to this, as it does in the more general clause. 378 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. the water is derived from an impure well or other contaminated source, the following clause of the Public Health Act, 1875, must be enforced in order to close the well or compel the discontinuance of the polluted supply, when a " proper " supply of water can be enforced in the manner I have described : " On the representation of any person to any local authority that within their district the water in any well, tank or cistern, public or private, or supplied from any public pump, and used or likely to be used by man for drinking or domestic purposes, or for manufacturing drinks for the use of man, is so polluted as to be injurious to health, such authority may apply to a court of summary jurisdiction for an order to remedy the same ; and thereupon such court shall summon the owner or occupier of the premises to which the well, tank or cistern belongs if it be private, and in the case of a public well, tank, cistern or pump, any person alleged in the application to be interested in the same, and may either dismiss the application, or may make an order directing the well, tank, cistern or pump to be permanently or temporarily closed, or the water to be used for certain purposes only, or such other order as may appear to them to be requisite to prevent injury to the health of persons drinking the water. " The court may, if they see fit, cause the water complained of to be analysed at the cost of the local authority applying to them under this section. " If the person on whom an order under this section is made fails to comply with the same, the court may, on the applica- tion of the local authority, authorise them to do whatever may be necessary in the execution of the order, and any expenses incurred by them may be recovered in a summary manner from the person on whom the order is made. " Expenses incurred by any rural authority in the execu- tion of this section, and not recovered by them as aforesaid, shall be special expenses " (38 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 70). Defects in Dwelling-Houses, &c. 379 It is an established fact that wells within a town must always be regarded with some suspicion, and where they exist either publicly or privately the local authority would do well to have the water from them analysed with a view to having them closed. Even cisterns, if not frequently examined and cleansed, will cause the water that is stored in them to become polluted, not only from the dust of the air settling in them and the natural impurities of the water passing through them, but frequently from foreign objects falling into them and decaying, such as rats, mrce, cats, and in one case that I know of, a sirloin of beef, and in another a plumber ! These remained in the cistern until the colour, smell and taste of the water drew the attention of the drinkers to " something being the matter ! " The cure for the chance of such cases as these is of course the constant supply. 380 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. CHAPTER XXVI. HOUSE DRAINAGE. IT would not be possible in one chapter of a book of this description to enter into all the details and necessary appara- tus in connection with house drainage. I propose only to point out some of the town surveyor's duties in connection with this subject, and to add a few remarks which may be of some service. The definition of the word "drain " as given in the Public Health Act, 1875, is as follows : " ' Drain ' means any drain of and used for the drainage of one building only, or premises within the same curtilage, and made merely for the purpose of communicating therefrom with a cesspool or other like receptacle for drainage ; or with a sewer into which the drainage of two or more buildings or premises occupied by different persons is conveyed" (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 4). Although this definition is very clear, it occasionally happens, especially in old towns, that some doubt arises as to whether an existing conduit for sewage is a " drain " or a " sewer," * for though a conduit is of small size it may be found to be carrying the sewage of two or more buildings, and thus is really " a sewer belonging to the local authority." This difficulty often leads to litigation where a notice having been served upon an owner of property to put in a new drain in place of one that has been found on examination to be defective, the new work is of course commenced at the * For definitions of the word " sewer," see the chapter on Sewerage. House Drainage. 381 junction with the main sewer, and it is not until the new so- called drain is nearly completed that it is found to be " used for the drainage " of more than one building, and is in fact " a sewer into which the drainage of two or more buildings or premises, occupied by different persons is conveyed " (see clause quoted above), and is therefore repairable by the local authority (38 & 39 Viet c. 55, s. 13). This legal definition of a drain is somewhat modified by the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1890, section 19 being as follows : " I. Where two or more houses belonging to different owners are connected with a public sewer by a single private drain, and application may be made under section 41 of the Public Health Act, 1875 (relating to complaints as to nuisances from drains), and the local authority may recover any expenses incurred by them in executing any works under the powers conferred on them by that section from the owners of the houses in such shares and proportions as shall be settled by their surveyor or (in case of dispute) by a court of summary jurisdiction. " 2. Such expenses may be recovered summarily, or may be declared by the urban authority to be private improvement expenses under the Public Health Acts, and maybe recovered accordingly. " 3. For the purposes of this section the expression ' drain ' includes a drain used for the drainage of more than one building" (53 & 54 Viet. c. 59, s. 19). There have been various and somewhat conflicting legal discussions as to the exact meaning and effect of this section, and the precise extent to which it modifies the old definitions of the terms " drain " and " sewer." In one case it was held that a combined system constructed before 1848 was not a " single private drain " within the meaning of the foregoing section, because on the passing of the Public Health Act, 1848, it became and had ever since been a "sewer " vested in 382 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. the local authority.* This interpretation of the section would of course narrow its application very considerably, by ex- cluding all old combined drains (which under previous Acts had become vested in local authorities as sewers) from its operation. A contrary view had been taken by the court in a previous case,f and this more liberal interpretation was somewhat later approved and amplified, J it being held that the effect of this enactment is to take the particular drains specified (viz. those used for the drainage of two or more houses belonging to different owners) out of the definition of "sewers," but only for the purposes of this section. This qualifying clause is important. The " purposes of the sec- tion" are proceedings under section 41 of the Public Health Act, 1875, which can only be set on foot on the application of a person stating that a drain is a " nuisance or injurious to health." And in yet another case it was held that, apart from any nuisance, the general liability of the authority to keep these combined drains in repair is not affected by the section. || Altogether it cannot be said that this iQth section has been much of a boon to local authorities. The net result of the litigation which it has aroused, seems to be that a combined drain is legally neither a " drain " nor a " sewer," but a sort of tertium quid of an amphibious nature, shifting from one category to the other according to a variety of circumstances. We must look to future legislation to put this subject upon a satisfactory basis. Where the town surveyor is in any doubt as to whether the conduit is a drain or a sewer, he should test from whence the sewage comes by passing diluted white lime or carbolic acid down the adjacent water-closets and watching whether it * Hillv. Hair (1895), I Q. B. 906. t Selfe v. Hove Commissioners (1895), I Q- B - 685. J Mayor of Eastbourne \. Bradford (1896), 2 Q. B. 205. This section is set out in full on p. 392. || See Reg. v. Hastings Corporation (1897), I Q. B. 46. House Drainage. 383 flows through the conduit or not ; but even here he is often at fault if the drains are old and dilapidated, as these materials sometimes fail to reach the point he is watching, and he is thus misled. In connection with the question of house drainage the town surveyor has the following duties to perform : 1. To inspect all new drains that are constructed in con- nection with existing buildings within his district. 2. To inspect all new drains of new buildings that are constructed within his district. 3. To inspect all defective drains within his district, serve the necessary notices in respect thereof, and inspect the works he has required to be executed whilst they are in progress. With reference to the first of these duties the following is the clause of the Public Health Act, 1875, which bears upon the point : " The owner or occupier of any premises within the district of a local authority shall be entitled to cause his drains to empty into the sewers of that authority on condition of his giving such notice as may be required by that authority of his intention so to do, and of complying with the regulations of that authority in respect of the mode in which the com- munications between such drains and sewers are to be made, and subject to the control of any person who may be ap- pointed by that authority to superintend the making of such communications. Any person causing a drain to empty into a sewer of a local authority without complying with the provisions of this section shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, and the local authority may close any communication between a drain and sewer made in contravention of this section ..." (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 21). The first thing therefore that a local authority has to do is to frame the necessary regulations and appoint a " person to superintend the making of such communications." 384 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. The following is given as a specimen form of the manner in which these regulations may be compiled : * Regulations made and ordained by the Urban Sanitary Authority for , as to the giving of notice before any drains are made to communicate with the sewers of the said Urban Sanitary A uthority ; regulating the mode in which such communications are to be made : and appointing the person under whose superintendence and control the work is to be executed. 1. No communication shall be made with any sewer belonging to the said Urban Sanitary Authority, nor any drain made to empty therein, unless notice of an intention so to do, signed by the owner or occupier of the premises to which such drains belong, be left at the office of the borough surveyor two days previously ; and such notice must specify the point at which it is desired that communication shall be made, and the time at which it is proposed the work shall be commenced, and any person not complying with these regulations will be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds. 2. Work required to be done in connecting any house drain or drains with the main or public sewer, shall be executed in the following manner : * The New York Board of Health require that earthenware drain pipes connecting dwellings with street sewers shall be hard and salt glazed, sound and cylindrical j at least -| ths of an inch thick if 5 inches in diameter, and f of an inch thick if 6 inches in diameter. Pipes must be connected with hydraulic cement of the best quality. No "tempered up" cement can be used. The pipes must be laid with such good alignment that the inspector can see through the entire line from the house to the sewer, and every section must be bedded in cement so as to have a firm bearing, not only at the hub, but along its entire length. The inside of the drain must be freed from all cement which may have oozed through at the joints, and from all other obstructions. Before the drain is covered notice must be sent to the Health Department, by the owner or plumber, that the inspector may visit and examine the work, and the Board of Health will not approve or permit a drain which has not been examined by one of its inspectors and found to be properly constructed. Home Drainage. 385 The ground to be excavated to the required depth with all possible expedition, the work to proceed by night and day ; and there shall be maintained during the progress of the work all such fencings, hoardings, struttings and shorings, as may be necessary for or in consequence of any of the works, for the protection of the public, and of all buildings and property whatever, near to or liable to be affected by the work, which shall also be well watched and lighted. The shoring and strutting of the excavation is to be done in such manner, with poling boards, waling pieces and struts, as the surveyor shall consider necessary. All surplus earth or material is to be carted away as speedily as possible. Care must be taken where the excava- tion is made in a road or path to keep separate the surface material from the lower, so as to replace them in their proper positions. The excavation shall in all cases where practicable be in open cutting, and not by shafts and headings. The junction with the main sewer to be done in the following manner : The drains shall in no case be less than four inches internal diameter, and shall be constructed of well-burnt glazed socketed stoneware pipes, circular, perfectly true in bore, and straight, with whole socket joints free from flaws, blisters, cracks or other defects, set in Portland cement joints with a uniform fall, well bedded on well-rammed and solid ground, the sockets being sunk into it so as to give an even bearing. No shafts or sudden falls will be allowed. Where the junction is with a sewer constructed of pipes, one length of the sewer (or more if necessary) shall be re- moved and an oblique proper glazed socket junction pipe, set in Portland cement, inserted in its place. The junction with the sewer shall be of the same size as the drain. Where the junction is with a brick or stone sewer, the 2 c 386 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. connection shall be made at such height above the invert as the surveyor shall determine, and be made with a glazed socket pipe obliquely in line of current of main sewer, pro- perly bedded in with cement, cut off so as to take the form of the main sewer and offer no obstruction to the proper flow of sewage therein, or with a properly constructed stoneware block junction. On completion of the junction, which shall be made before any of the pipe drain is laid, it shall be inspected by the surveyor, and the work must not be further proceeded with until such inspection has been made and the junction pro- nounced satisfactory. The drain shall be properly trapped between the sewer and the house, with a syphon of such form as the surveyor shall direct, and be at its inlet end or other ex- tremity carried up open its full diameter to above the roof line. The excavation is to be filled in within six inches of the surface of the ground, with layers of earth not more than six inches in thickness, carefully rammed or punned with iron punners of not less weight than 10 Ibs. The surface of a roadway must be brought up to its proper level with the surface material kept separate, and properly broken or other approved road metal, and the roadway where broken shall be kept in repair by the person opening the ground for a period of twelve months after the completion of the work. If the excavation is made under a footpath or paved road, the paving must be made good and kept in repair for a similar period. 3. A. B. C, the present borough surveyor, and his succes- sors in office, or the person for the time being acting as or discharging the duties of borough surveyor, are hereby ap- pointed as the person or persons to superintend the making of such communications with the public sewers as aforesaid. Notwithstanding the stringency of the above regulations House Drainage. 387 it is very difficult to insure that the whole of the new drain is properly executed by the person who is carrying out the work, for if he wishes to deceive the surveyor's department it is not very difficult to do so in works of this description. It would be far better if all drains of dwelling houses could be constructed solely by the staff of the local authority, and failing any general Act upon the subject, that they should be able to obtain private powers to do so. It is illegal for anyone to displace, take up or injure the surface of either roadway or footpath for any purpose what- ever* without the consent of the urban authority (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 149). All such work could be done better and cheaper, both for the ratepayers and the owners of property, if carried out by the trained staff of the local authority ; nothing would be gained by scamping the work, and one of the worst stumbling blocks in the interests of sanitation would be removed by this simple and effective measure. Gas and water companies invariably refuse to allow anyone to interfere with their mains or services, but execute the work with their own men ; how much more important is it that house drains and sewers should be equally protected. If a gas or water main or house service leaks through defective work it is quickly detected and remedied ; not so with a drain or sewer, the deadly gases may be oozing through defective joints, or the foul liquid may be poisoning the soil under the adjacent dwelling houses, and many victims may suffer before the cause is ascertained, and even then laborious legal machinery has to be put in force before it can be rectified. The only objections that can be raised to the plan I so strongly advocate are, first, the interference with the trade connections and interests of builders and others ; and secondly, the responsibility incurred by the local authority to execute thoroughly sound and good work, and the difficulty they * See chapter on " Breaking up Streets." 2 C 2 388 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. might afterwards experience if it was necessary to find fault with their own work. The first objection should really have no weight when lives are at stake, and the responsibility incurred by the second objection ought not to be shirked. Until some alteration is made in the present law the town surveyor must be as vigilant as he can, and endeavour to induce the public to look more closely themselves into such all-important points. With reference to this question and as a very imperfect attempt to induce persons to allow the Local Authority to execute the necessary work themselves in connection with house drainage the following clause has been inserted in the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1890. " I. Where the owner or occupier of any premises is entitled to cause any sewer or drain from those premises to communicate with any sewer of the local authority, the local authority shall, if requested to do so by such owner or occu- pier, and upon the cost thereof being paid in advance to the local authority, themselves make the communication and execute all works necessary for that purpose. " 2. The cost of making such communication (including all costs incidental thereto) shall be estimated by the surveyor of the local authority, but in case the owner or occupier of the premises, as the case may be, is dissatisfied with such estimate he may, if the estimate is under fifty pounds, apply to a court of summary jurisdiction to fix the amount to be paid for such cost, and if the estimate is over fifty pounds have the same determined by arbitration in manner provided by the Public Health Acts. " 3. A local authority may agree with the owner of any premises that any sewer or drain which such owner is required or desires, to make, alter or enlarge, or any part of such sewer or drain shall be made, altered or enlarged by the local authority " (53 & 54 Viet. c. 59 s. 18). The next duty of the town surveyor is to inspect all House Drainage. 389 drains of new buildings that are being constructed in his district. I have dealt with this subject in the chapter on "New Buildings." The model bye-laws to which I have there re- ferred contain some excellent principles in reference to this matter, and too much power cannot be given to a local authority in respect of house drains, even to the extent of prohibiting anyone else to construct them. The main sewer, shared in common as it is by all the inhabitants of a town, must be looked upon as a common danger, and each house that connects with it should so far as possible be severed from it ; at the same time the drain must be so constructed that the sewage reaches the sewer as quickly and as completely as possible, without any nuisance or knowledge of the un- pleasant nature of its contents or those in' the sewer reaching the inhabitants of the house : this is the key-note of all house drainage, and many excellent books and descriptions of this class of work have been from time to time written. The next duty of the town surveyor is to inspect all defective drains within his district, and serve the necessary notices, &c. This duty is embodied in the following clauses of the Public Health Act, 1875 : - " Where any house within the district of a local authority is without a drain sufficient for effectual drainage, the local authority shall by written notice require the owner or occu- pier of such house, within a reasonable time therein specified, to make a covered drain or drains emptying into any sewer which the local authority are entitled to use, and which is not more than one hundred feet from the site of such house ; but if no such means of drainage are within that distance, then emptying into such covered cesspool or other place not being under any house as the local authority direct ; and the local authority may require any such drain or drains to be of such materials and size, and to be laid at such level and with such 390 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. fall, as on the report of their surveyor may appear to them to be necessary. " If such notice is not complied with, the local authority may, after the expiration of the time specified in the notice, do the work required, and may recover in a summary manner the expenses incurred by them in so doing from the owner, or may by order declare the same to be private improvement expenses. " Provided that where, in the opinion of the local authority, greater expense would be incurred in causing the drains of two or more houses to empty into an existing sewer pursuant to this section, than in constructing a new sewer and causing such drains to empty therein, the local authority may construct such new sewer, and require the owners or occupiers of such houses to cause their drains to empty therein, and may ap- portion as they deem just the expenses of the construction of such sewer among the owners of the several houses, and recover in a summary manner the sums apportioned from such owners, or may by order declare the same to be private improvement expenses" (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 23). The above clause is most simple under which this duty can be carried out, provided it can be proved that the house * is " without a drain sufficient for effectual drainage ; " and for this purpose it would probably be necessary to enter the premises and open up and examine the drain, unless, of course, it was a case where no drain existed to the house at all, or was evidently and notoriously without " effectual drainage." In order to enter for this purpose the requisite powers are conferred in the following clause of the Public Health Act, 1875 : "The local authority, or any of their officers, shall be * Under sec. 4 of the Public Health Act, 1875, " House" includes "schools, also factories and other buildings in which [more than twenty] persons are em- ployed [at one time]." The words in brackets were repealed by the Factory Act, 1878, s. 107, schedule 6. This is not a definition, but an extension, of the term "house." House Drainage. 391 admitted into any premises for the purpose of examining as to the existence of any nuisance thereon, or of enforcing the provisions of any Act in force within the district requiring fireplaces and furnaces to consume their own smoke, at any time between the hours of nine in the forenoon and six in the afternoon ; or in the case of a nuisance arising in respect of any business, then at any hour when such business is in progress or is usually carried on. " Where under this Act a nuisance has been ascertained to exist, or an order of abatement or prohibition has been made, the local authority or any of their officers shall be ad- mitted from time to time into the premises between the hours aforesaid, until the nuisance is abated, or the works ordered to be done are completed, as they case may be. " Where an order of abatement or prohibition has not been complied with, or has been infringed, the local authority, or any of their officers, shall be admitted from time to time at all reasonable hours, or at all hours during which business is in progress or is usually carried on, into the premises where the nuisance exists, in order to abate the same. " If admission to premises for any of the purposes of this section is refused, any justice on complaint thereof on oath by any officer of the local authority (made after reasonable notice in writing of the intention to make the same has been given to the person having custody of the premises), may, by order under his hand, require the person having custody of the premises to admit the local authority, or their officer, into the premises during the hours aforesaid ; and if no person having custody of the premises can be found, the justice shall, on oath made before him of that fact, by order under his hand authorise the local authority or any of their officers to enter such premises during the hours aforesaid. "Any order made by a justice for admission of the local authority or any of their officers on premises shall continue in force until the nuisance has been abated, or the work for 392 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. which the entry was necessary has been done " (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 102). The above clause also gives the necessary powers of entry where the following clause of the Public Health Act is en- forced with reference to defective house drainage, instead of the 23rd section which I have quoted. "On the written application of any person to a local authority, stating that any drain, water-closet, earth-closet, privy, ashpit or cesspool on or belonging to any premises within their district is a nuisance, or injurious to health (but not otherwise), the local authority may, by writing, empower their surveyor or inspector of nuisances, after twenty-four hours' written notice to the occupier of such premises, or in case of emergency without notice, to enter such premises, with or without assistants, and cause the ground to be opened, and examine such drain, water-closet, earth-closet, privy, ash- pit or cesspool. If the drain, water-closet, earth-closet, privy, ashpit or cesspool on examination is found to be in proper condition, he shall cause the ground to be closed, and any damage done to be made good as soon as can be, and the expenses of the works shall be defrayed by the local authority. If the drain, water-closet, earth-closet, privy, ashpit or cesspool on examination appear to be in a bad condition, or to require alteration or amendment, the local authority shall forthwith cause notice in writing to be given to the owner or occupier of the premises requiring him forthwith, or within a reason- able time therein specified, to do the necessary work ; and if such notice is not complied with, the person to whom it is given shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten shillings for every day during which he continues to make default, and the local authority may, if they think fit, execute such works, and may recover in a summary manner from the owner the expenses incurred by them in so doing, or may by order declare the same to be private improvement expenses " (38 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 41). House Drainage. 393 In acting upon the above clause it is well to note the machinery that is necessary in order to secure success in the event of a prosecution. 1. The notice to the local authority of the existence of a nuisance arising from a drain, &c., must be in writing, and that authority must then proceed to consider the notice. 2. If they agree to take action the local authority may empower their surveyor to enter the premises (with or with- out notice as the case may require), but this order to him must also be in writing.* 3. If the surveyor is allowed u by the occupier of the premises to enter (and in default he must put the iO2nd section which I have quoted in force) he may then open the ground " with or without assistants." 4. If he finds a defective drain he must then report to the local authority in writing, unless he has been primarily invested by the local authority with such powers as will dispense with such reportf 5. The local authority shall "forthwith cause notice in writing to be given to the owner, &c.," to do the work. 6. If the owner executes the work the surveyor must supervise its execution. 7. If this work is not done within a reasonable time, * Notices, orders and other such documents under this Act may be in writing or print, or partly in writing and partly in print ; and if the same require authenti- cation by the local authority, the signature thereof by the clerk to the local authority or their surveyor or inspector of nuisances shall be sufficient authentica- tion (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 266.) t Having obtained admission to the premises, the inspection of the alleged nuisance should be so conducted as to enable the local authority to determine whether it exists, or whether it existed at the time the notice was given, and whether, although it has since been removed or discontinued, it is likely to recur or to be repeated ; and in all cases it will be the most expedient course to reduce to writing the result of the inspection. When the inspection is made by an officer of the local authority, it will also be expedient for that authority, on receiving the report of their officer formally and in writing, to record the conclusions to which they have come after considering his report in order to ground further proceedings. ( Vide 'Law of Public Health and Local Government,' by W. C. and A. G. Glen, nth edition, p. 192.) 394 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. the local authority " may if they think fit " execute the works ; the surveyor has probably to carry them out, after having obtained the necessary permission to enter for the purpose. 8. The costs of the work have to be recovered. Anyone acquainted with local government will know how difficult and tedious such processes must necessarily be, the delay between the meetings of the local authority being quite sufficient to make the matter in dispute last a considerable time, and this delay is extremely undesirable where a nuisance arising from a defective house drain is in existence. There seems to be no doubt that the clauses which are given in the Public Health Act, 1875, empower the local authority to specify without dispute the class of work they think necessary in order to remedy any evils arising from a defective drain ; but it is a pity that some more simple pro- cess cannot be introduced to improve the sanitary condition of a house without the necessity of so much laborious legal machinery. There is still one other clause in the Public Health Act, 1875, which refers to house drainage, and it is as follows : " Every local authority shall provide that all drains, water- closets, earth-closets, privies, ashpits and cesspools within their district be constructed and kept so as not to be a nuisance, or injurious to health" (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 40). But this clause is usually taken to apply rather to nuisances arising from temporary defects than to more important struc- tural defects in a drain, and such nuisances come more under the cognisance and duties of the inspector of nuisances than those of the town surveyor. It would not be possible, as I have already stated, in one chapter to give all the detail descriptions of house drains and the necessary apparatus in connection therewith, and besides very many excellent books, pamphlets and papers have been House Drainage. 395 from time to time written on this important subject.* Before, however, bringing this chapter to a conclusion, I will give a list of the essential requirements of all good house drainage, which may be of some use to the town surveyor : 1. A house drain should be constructed of stoneware pipes (not earthenware or fire clay), salt glazed, perfectly smooth inside, of true circular section and thickness of material, straight in the direction of their length, with whole sockets of proper depth, and free from any cracks, blisters, sand holes or other defects. As even the most carefully manufactured pipes vary somewhat in diameter of sockets, &c., it is well to have them sorted before commencing the work ; it is scarcely necessary to add that no " seconds " should be allowed on the works. 2. The internal diameter of the drain should not be too large ; 6 inches is generally quite sufficient to carry off all the sewage from an extensive establishment, even if the water from the roofs or a portion of them is included. 3. The inclination is governed by circumstances, but about I in 60 is found to be a very convenient fall for many hydrau- lic, and other reasons, and will keep a syphon clear.t 4. The jointing of the pipes should be executed with great care ; if cement joints are made each pipe should be jointed separately, and it should be seen that no cement is left in the drain, and that the joint is good all round. Sometimes tarred gaskin is used to prevent the entrance of cement into the' * For ample information on the subject of house drainage and similar subjects see the following books, &c. : Bailey Denton's c Sanitary Engineering' ; Baldwin Latham's ' Sanitary Engineering ' ; Buchan's ' Plumbing ' ; Slagg's ' Sanitary Work ' ; Hart's ' Manual of Public Health ' ; Hellyer's ' Plumber and Sanitary Houses' ; Galton's ' Healthy Dwellings ' ; ' House Drainage,' by W. A. Tylor ; Philbrick's ' American Sanitary Engineering,' and many others, besides the nume- rous reports of the ' Health of Towns Commission,' and several articles in the Stirveyor, the Sanitary Record, the Sanitary Engineer of New York, and Mr. Rawlinson's ' Hints,' all of which should be studied by the town surveyor. t If sufficient fall cannot be obtained, provision for automatic flushing should be made. 396 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. pipes, and Hassall's patent joints are excellent where running water or sewage has to be contended with, or where good work is required.* 5. The sockets of the pipes should be sunk into the ground at the bottom of the trench so as to give an even bearing, which amongst other benefits dispenses with the chance of settlements. 6. No pipes should be allowed to be covered in until they have been inspected by the town surveyor or his assistants, and in order to test the soundness of the joints, nil the drain with water, having first stopped up the lower end, and note if the level of water is maintained.! 7. Drains should not pass under buildings if it can be avoided, but if unavoidable they must be buried in good concrete, and relieving arches turned to any walls passing over them. In America iron pipes are used under houses with great advantage. 8. Care must be exercised, in filling in over pipes, not to break or injure them. 9. The trap to a house drain should be a syphon with a good cascade action, its position must be guided by circum- stances. 10. The drain should end at the outside wall of the house and be carried up the wall its full diameter to above the roof for ventilation, an inlet for fresh air being essential on the house side of the trap ; if the drain has to pass under the house it must be similarly carried up on the other side. 11. The connection with the main sewer has been already described. 12. All waste pipes and overflows to be entirely cut off * For description of these pipes see chapter on Sewerage. t The methods usually adopted for testing drain and soil pipes are : 1. The smoke test, relying upon sight and smell. 2. The peppermint, paraffin or similar smell test. 3. The water test, which can only be applied to the drains and not vertical soil pipes. House Drainage. 397 from connection with any drain, and empty on to special gullies outside the house. The objects of good drainage may be summarised as follows : To ensure that there shall be no escape of either liquid or gas from any portion of the drain or soil pipes, that the house is isolated from its neighbour and the main sewer, that a current of fresh air is constantly passing through all the drains and soil pipes. In conclusion I would urge the necessity of a register of all drains being kept that are examined by the surveyor's depart- ment. This can be done by having a series of numbered note-books kept solely for this purpose, and all the imforma- tion thus acquired should also be plotted on the map of the town if on a sufficiently large scale. The necessity of correct plans of the drainage of buildings cannot be over-estimated, especially for hospitals, asylums, workhouses, schools or other public buildings, and even for the smallest dwelling house such a plan would often prove to be the greatest boon to the occupier or owner, as well as at all times to the town surveyor, the medical officer of health, and the inspector of nuisances. 398 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers' Handbook. CHAPTER XXVII. ' PUBLIC PLEASURE GROUNDS AND STREET TREES. AMONGST the clauses of the Public Health Act, 1875, which affect the duties of the town surveyor will be found the fol- lowing : " Any urban authority may purchase or take on lease, lay out, plant, improve and maintain lands for the purpose of being used as public walks or pleasure grounds, and may sup- port or contribute to the support of public walks or pleasure grounds provided by any person whomsoever." * " Any urban authority may make byelaws for the regula- tion of any such public walk or pleasure ground, and may by such byelaws provide for the removal from such public walk or pleasure ground of any person infringing any such byelaw by any officer of the urban authority or constable " (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. i6 4 ).f There are very few, if any, cities and towns in this country that have not availed themselves of this clause, even if they did not already possess one if not more public parks or pleasure grounds of some description, these having either been given by some benevolent citizen or acquired in some other manner by the urban authority. | * See also 53 & 54 Viet. c. 59, s. 45, and also 53 & 54 Viet. c. 15. t By the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1890, powers are given to Urban Authorities to close public parks, &c., and let them for shows, &c., under certain restrictions ; the clause also gives other powers in connection with public pleasure grounds. (53 & 54 Viet. c. 59, s. 44.) J By the "Commons Act, 1876," powers were given for the regulation and inclosure of commons for purposes of public recreation, &c. Public Pleasure Grounds and Street Trees. 399 Included in the powers given by the above clause were no doubt those regulating the acquisition and support of recreation or public playgrounds, public walks, or old city walls or other places, and disused burying grounds,* but recent legislation has extended the provisions of the Metropolitan Open Spaces Acts, 1887 and 1881, to sanitary districts in England, Wales, and Ireland, by which considerable powers are given to local authorities over disused burial grounds, &c., under the Open Spaces Act 1887 (50 & 51 Viet. c. 32).! In connection with the above clause of the Public Health Act, the town surveyor may have the following duties to perform : To advise his corporation upon the value, suitability, and desirability of any site that is intended for use as a public park or recreation ground, and after its acquisition to adapt it for the requisite purposes. To effect this it must be drained and laid out with carriage-drives, walks, lawns, flower-beds plantations, and sometimes streams, waterfalls, and lakes. He must design and erect the necessary lodges, entrance gates, fences, shelters, seats, \ band-stands and fountains, and must afterwards superintend the maintenance of these and the rest of the works in connection with the pleasure ground. It would be impossible to lay down any rules for the guidance of a surveyor in carrying out these works, for each case must be dealt with as its exigencies require, and a great deal of common sense, as well as engineering, architectural, and artistic skill must be displayed by him in carrying out any works of this description, details of which could not possibly be given in a book of this size dealing with so many subjects. * Upon this latter point vide 24 & 25 Viet. c. 61, s. 21. t See also 47 & 48 Viet. c. 72, and 53 & 54 Viet. c. 15. \ As a preservative against the malicious disfigurement of wooden seats, I have seen the following inscription placed upon some seats in an old public park, " Never cut a friend," and it had apparently the desired effect. As an instance of the size and importance works of this description may 400 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. A few suggestions may, however, be of some service on these points. Public playgrounds for children should be composed of large, level, well-rolled, gravelled spaces, with a few trees for shade, and some sheds for shelter. Turf soon gets spoiled and worn bare, when it is not so pleasant as well-rolled gravel, as it is far more dusty in dry weather and very damp in wet, besides having an uncared-for appearance. In public parks, shrubs planted singly directly on the lawns without any beds around them have a very pleasing look, although it adds somewhat to the difficulty of mowing the grass. The grass itself is greatly improved if it is well dressed with manure in the spring and constantly watered all the year round. Paths should be gravelled in the autumn, care being taken to wait until all the leaves have fallen, which are swept up and removed at once. A good fence for a path, if any pro- tection is necessary, is either a strained wire fence or cast-iron hoops representing bent sticks. They are both cheap, and stand well against weather and rough treatment. A very economical and neat border to the footpaths can be made from the old used-up flagstones from the foot pavements of the streets ; these cut up and placed on edge, especially if in conjunction with a pitched channel gutter of pebbles, look remarkably well. assume, the Bois de Boulogne, Paris, is an example. It covers an area of 2000 acres, of which one half is forest, one quarter is grass, one-eighth roads, and about 70 acres is water. One of the most beautifully arranged artificial public parks in this country is Sefton Park, Liverpool, where the most perfect arrange- ments of lawns, plantations, lakes and drives, have been carried out. The Forest of Saint Germain, which is a public park, is 8000 acres in extent, the Bois de Vincennes 2500 acres, Saint Cloud 1000 acres, the Forest of Fontainebleau covers 42,000 acres. The principal parks of Vienna are the Prater, 1500 acres ; the Glacis, about 500 acres ; the Volksgarten and the Hofgarten. Berlin boasts chiefly of the Thiergarten, 650 acres. There are large parks in the suburbs of Potsdam. Amsterdam's chief pleasure ground is Vondel Park, which comprises 150 acres. The largest park of Brussels is the Bois de Cambre, of 300 acres; next in size are the Pare de Bruxelles, 30 j and the Pare Leopold, 25 acres. Public Pleasiire Grounds and Street Trees. 401 Ornamental flints make a pretty border, but they are nasty things for a child to fall upon. For flower-beds a flat border or edge of ivy has a very telling effect. If there are ponds or lakes in the park there should be a broad path or road close to the water's edge. It is surprising what a great advantage in effect this has over the plan of leaving a strip of green between the path and the water. The selection of the proper shrubs for a park and their distribution is a matter that requires the advice of an expert gardener. The following list of ordinary shrubs that will thrive well almost anywhere in this country may, however, be of use for reference : Aucubas. Azaleas. Hollies.* Ivies. Pampas grass. Privet.* Box.* Laurels. Rhododendrons. Berberises.* Lilacs. Thorns. Euonymus.* Mahorrias. Yuccas. With regard to the selection of trees, this also requires skilled advice ; but a list is given further on in this chapter, of trees suitable for street planting, which may be also some guide in this respect. In high gales of wind the surveyor may be expected to endeavour to save valuable trees in a public park from being blown down. This may sometimes be effected by a judicious application of chains or ropes, but the better plan is to keep all trees well pruned and as free as possible from " top hamper " and undue leverage from overhanging limbs. On the pruning of trees and the removal of large limbs I must refer my readers to a most admirable little book re- cently published in America, being a translation from the celebrated ' Treatise on Pruning Forest and Ornamental Trees,' by A. des Cars, which enters most fully into the * Those marked with an asterisk will thrive when planted under trees, especially the genus Berber is. 2 D 4O2 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. subject, and being of great practical value, should be studied by anyone who has anything to do with the care of forest or other trees.* The planting of trees along the sides of streets and roads by local authorities seems to be illegal, unless the authority has adopted Part III. of the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1890, which contains the following section : " Any urban authority may,f if they see fit, cause trees to be planted in any highway repairable by the inhabitants at large within their district, and may erect guards or fences for the protection of the same, provided that this power shall not be exercised, nor shall any trees so planted be continued so as to hinder the reasonable use of the highway by the public or any person entitled to use the same, or so as to become a nuisance or injurious to any adjacent owner or occupier " (53 & 54 Viet. c. 59, s. 43). Although for many years past local authorities in this country have in some cities and towns planted a great number of trees at the sides of their streets, our French neighbours are much in advance of us. \ It is true that in this country, owing to the much larger consumption of coal as a domestic fuel, there is more soot in the air, but it is erroneous to suppose that trees will not thrive well in England. No doubt the moisture of our climate causes the soot or " blacks " to adhere to the leaves and limbs of the trees, but for that reason deciduous and not evergreen trees should be selected for planting in towns, and these, if well chosen and * 'A Treatise on Pruning Forest and Ornamental Trees,' by A. des Cars, translated from the yth French edition, with an introduction by Charles S. Sargent, &c. Published by A. Williams and Co., Boston, U.S.A., 1881. t No power is given, however, to Rural Authorities to plant trees, and such action is consequently illegal, unless in pursuance of urban powers conferred by the Local Government Board pursuant to sec. 5 of the above Act. \ In Paris in the year 1880, there were 90,000 trees in the streets, besides 20,000 more in the cemeteries. ( Vide Report of Mr. Till, the Borough Surveyor of Birmingham, 2Oth December, 1880.) There are also upwards of 8000 seats in public places ; the trees and seats costing nearly ioo,ooo/. per annum to maintain. Public Pleasure Grounds and Street Trees. 403 carefully planted, will most undoubtedly fully repay their first cost and maintenance by the additional beauty to the street, the agreeable shade they cast, and their generally healthful action on the population. In selecting trees to plant along the sides of the streets or roads in any towns, it is well to bear in mind that the follow- ing qualities are necessary : The tree must be hardy ; it must not be affected by a long-continued drought ; heat must not wither it nor make it look rusty ; it must be able to withstand dust, smoke, soot, foul air, and the insidious attacks of insects, and be able to recover from any malicious or accidental injury it may receive. The tree must be of rapid growth, and develop a straight, clean stem with shady foliage. It must be graceful either in full leaf or when bare as in winter ; its roots must not require too much room, and they must be able to withstand the effects of pollution or rough treatment. Although the foregoing list of requirements may seem rather formidable, yet amongst the trees whose names now follow there will be found some which meet many, if not all of these requirements, and which, if properly planted with all reasonable care, may be expected to thrive if planted at the sides of the streets in any town in this country. LIST OF TREES SUITABLE FOR PLANTING AT THE SIDES OF STREETS. Western Plane. Lime. Maple. Horse Chestnut. Elm. Tulip tree. Lombardy Poplar. Ash. Willow. Beech. Birch. Oak. Sycamore. Copper Beech. Pawlonia. Oilantus Glandulosa. Laburnum. Lilac. Almond. Peach. Hawthorn. Acacia. Double Cherry, &c. Of the above list the western plane for many reasons is the most desirable. Its freshness when it bursts into green buds is well known, and it is proverbial for its hardiness. 2 D 2 404 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. The lime was at one time the most popular tree for this purpose, but it has several defects, the most notable being that its leaves wither before the summer is over, and the tree assumes a lifeless look at a time when most shade and fresh- ness are required of it. Of the remainder of the trees I have enumerated some are slow in growth, which is a considerable drawback ; others are not wholly free from being affected by cold winds in the spring or by lice in the winter, and the assistance of an expert is very necessary in selecting trees for this important purpose. Whatever trees are selected, the following precautions should be taken : The young tree should have been well nourished in its nursery before removal, and should on no account be planted in the street until its stem is nearly 10 feet in height and about 3 inches in diameter. The stem should be clean and straight, and the whole tree symmetrical. The great difficulty in this country is to obtain sufficient numbers of trees of the exact size and description, when it becomes necessary to plant out a street. They have often to be imported ; when it is found that they are frequently un- suited both for soil and climate, besides being very costly ; thus many failures have arisen in consequence. To obviate this necessity, in Paris the Government have for many years instituted and maintained special nurseries where trees are grown for this purpose alone, these nurseries being situated at Passy, the Jardin Fleuriste, and Petit Buy, no less than 115 men^ being constantly employed in the work. Some further particulars will be given presently on the cost of this work. The trees thus nourished and selected should be planted in the autumn, for there is a well-known saying that " a tree planted before Christmas can be ordered to grow ; if planted after Christmas it must be asked to do so " ; and there is no doubt that if trees are planted too late in the season Public Pleasure Grounds and Street Trees. 405 great difficulty in getting them to grow is generally expe- rienced. The excavated pits must be at least a cubic yard in extent, be well drained, and the bottom of the pit filled with rubble. The further the tree can be planted from the curb the better, so as not only to give it a larger body of soil, but to lessen the risk of killing the tree by the pollution of the ground with gas from a defective main, and also excess of moisture from the channel gutters. The distance apart of the trees is a matter of choice. In Paris this is only 16 to 18 feet, but I think half a chain (33 feet) is quite close enough ; it economises trees and gives plenty of room for the limbs of each tree to spread, and the intermediate lamp-posts, watering hydrants, or other standards are not crowded out. Each tree should have a cast-iron grating around its roots similar to the following drawing : ^d\ *js 7d &ov This should be about 4 feet square. It prevents the ground getting hard about the trees, and permits air and water to enter to the roots. It also makes it easy to give any attention to the trees that they may require when young, such as manuring, digging, &c. The tree should also be protected with a slight iron grill 406 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers' Handbook. or railing to prevent mischievous persons from cutting their names on the trunk, climbing up into the tree, or breaking off its branches while still young. The following sketch shows the description of grill necessary, which is light, cheap, and at the same time effective. -J _ ~Z -3. The following interesting particulars of the manner in which street planting of trees is conducted in Paris will be useful, and are given in extenso : * "When the boulevard is marked out and levelled, if the soil is of bad quality, as is nearly always the case, trenches are dug in the footway from one end of the boulevard to the other. The width of this trench is usually about 6 feet, and its depth 4 or 5 ; and before filling it in, drain-pipes are laid * Vide 'The Parks, Promenades, and Gardens of Paris,' by W. Robinson, F.L.S., 1869, p. 128. Public Pleasure Grounds and Street Trees. 407 along the sides, made with lapped joints so that the roots shall not enter between them. The trench is then filled with good garden earth, raising it a little higher than the level so as to allow for settling. In this ground the trees are planted about 6 yards apart. They should be carefully chosen with perfect roots, and moderately pruned. Formerly the stem was cut at about 9 feet from the ground, but this had the bad effect of preventing the top of the tree from being straight, and the practice has been given up. The trees are next staked and tied with wire over a neat wad of straw, which prevents all injury to the stem. A protecting cage, neither heavy nor very expensive, is placed round the tree to prevent accidents ; and if the weather be at all dry at the time of planting, the trees are copiously watered." The cost of planting a tree in the Paris boulevards is thus given : * fr. c. 15 cubic metres of excavation at 4 francs .. .. = 6o'oo 15 cubic metres of vegetable mould at 4 francs .. = 60*00 Training poles about 5 metres in height . . . . = I 50 121-50 Average deduction of 15 per cent, resulting fronri letting by tender I, ^ Price by contract Pipe drainage and materials '.. .. Watering appliance (average) Cast iron grating round the base Transport of tree from nursery Planting, including stakes Iron basket (to protect stem) The tree Labour for planting 184*00 The maintenance of each tree costs 1*58 francs. The total cost, therefore, of each tree capitalised reaches about 8/., and its life is said not to exceed twelve years. Before closing this chapter it is well to advert to the * Vide 'L'Architecte,' 2Oth November, 1880, p. 370. 408 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. evident importance that the legislature attach to the pre- servation of trees along the sides of the public streets in this country and their desire to protect them, as the following clause of the Public Health Act, 1875, will show. "... Any person who, without the consent of the urban authority wilfully displaces or takes up, or who injures the pavement, stones, materials, fences orjposts of, or the trees in, any such street shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds, and to a further penalty not exceeding five shillings for every square foot of pavement, stones, or other materials so dis- placed, taken up, or injured ; he shall also be liable in the case of any injury to trees to pay to the local authority such amount of compensation as the court may award " (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 149).* It is a great source of regret that mischievous persons can be found who by their wilful malice injure the trees which have been planted at the sides of streets out of the public funds and with great expense and trouble. * It is rather curious to note that this legal protection was given to trees illegally planted, as this clause of the Public Health Act was in force fifteen years before it was found out that the Urban Authority had no legal power to plant the trees ! 409 CHAPTER XXVIII. PUBLIC ABATTOIRS. THE following -is the clause of the Public Health Act, 1875, which empowers an urban authority to establish public slaughter-houses (or " abattoirs " * as they are sometimes called) for the purposes of the district they govern : "Any urban authority may, if they think fit, provide slaughter-houses, and they shall make byelaws with respect to the management and charges for the use of any slaughter- houses so provided. "For the purpose of enabling any urban authority to regulate slaughter-houses within their district, the provisions of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847, with respect to slaughter-houses, shall be incorporated with this Actf "Nothing in this section shall prejudice or affect any rights, powers or privileges of any persons incorporated by any local Act passed before the passing of the Public Health Act, 1 848, for the purpose of making and maintaining slaugh- ter-houses" (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 169). The great necessity for the establishment of one or more public slaughter-houses in any town can only fully be realised by persons who will take the trouble to inspect those which are private ; they are generally placed near the shops of the butchers for the sake of convenience, the result being that * The word " abattoir " is a French word from " abattre " to fell ; it is used in this country to designate a group of slaughter-houses. t The clauses referred to are contained in 10 & II Viet. c. 34, and ss. 125, 126 et seq. ; they refer to the registration, licensing and management of private slaughter-houses, and need not be commented upon here. 4io Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. they are situated in the central portions of the town and are thus surrounded by closely packed dwellings. The private slaughter-house often consists of a stable or shed which has been converted into an ill-designed slaughter-house, badly paved, with imperfect drainage ; they are frequently not sufficiently lighted, ventilated or drained, and are utterly unfitted for the purposes for which they are used. Their position also is often so badly chosen that the children in the vicinity resort there to see the animals killed, and the poor beasts have in some cases jto be driven through a narrow passage into the slaughter-house itself, where, trembling at the sight and smell of the blood and carcases of its dead companions, it remains tethered until its turn comes to fall a victim to the blow of the slaughter-man : a blow which sometimes has often to be repeated before its object is attained, owing to the bad light and cramped sur- roundings of the place. As these slaughter-houses are generally rented by the butcher using them at large rentals (such accommodation being scarce), it is not to be expected that he will spend much money to improve property which is not his own ; but notwithstanding the loss of weight incurred by the animal to be slaughtered thus fretting and sweating in its terror, the damage to the meat by its being dressed in the same locality, with the live beasts steaming and smelling in the vicinity, and the exorbitant rents demanded, still there are great objections always raised by butchers in towns to the establishment of public slaughter-houses. These objections are based by them on the following grounds : They contend that the carriage of the meat from the slaughter-house to their shop deprives them of some of their profits ; that slaughtering their animals in the presence of other butchers leads to disparaging remarks and trade jealousies, and that they sometimes are robbed of fat, tools, &c. These arguments are groundless if the public abattoir is Public Abattoirs. 411 properly designed, is in a suitable locality, and is well managed. There are no powers by which butchers can be compelled to abandon private slaughter-houses, and use those provided by the urban authority, so long as the byelaws of the authority are not infringed ; but as the law stands at present, private slaughter-houses may be licensed (10 & 11 Viet. c. 34, ss. 125, 126), or registered (10 & II Viet. c. 34, s. 127), and the only manner in which they could be closed (which would then compel the butcher to use the public abattoir) would be by putting the i2Qth section of the same Act in force, which states that the justices before whom any person is convicted of killing or dressing cattle contrary to the provision of the Act, or of the non-observance of any byelaw or regulation of the local authority, in addition to the penalty may suspend the licence for any period not exceeding two months ; or in the case of the owner of any registered slaughter-house may for- bid for any period not exceeding two months, the slaughtering of cattle therein. For a second or other subsequent like offence, in addition to the penalty the justices may revoke the licence or (in the case of a registered slaughter-house) absolutely forbid the slaughtering of cattle in the particular house or yard. In such an event the local authority may refuse to grant any licence whatever to the person whose licence has been revoked, or on account of whose default the slaughtering of cattle in any registered slaughter-house has been forbidden. With reference to the establishment anew of the business of a slaughterer of cattle in London, the following particulars required to be deposited by the applicant with the Metro- politan Board of Works will be useful. A plan of the premises and sections of the buildings drawn to a scale of J inch to the foot and showing the pro- posed or existing arrangements for drainage, lighting, venti- lation and water supply, with a key plan of the locality, 412 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. have to be deposited, as well as replies to the following questions : 1. State what place for the accommodation or poundage of the cattle about to be slaughtered is provided ; if such place has an entrance way for the cattle otherwise than through the slaughter-house ; if separated from the slaughter-house by a brick partition with a door ; and also what provision is made therein for watering animals. 2. State if slaughter-house and its poundage is within 20 feet of an inhabited building ; and if it has any entrance opening directly on a public highway. 3. State if the entrance to the premises is apart from and independent of any shop or dwelling-house ; if from a street at the side or rear ; and also the height of the entrance gates. 4. State the dimensions of the slaughter-house, length, breadth, height to eaves, and construction of the roof ; and give similar information about the poundage. 5. State if slaughter-house and poundage are drained by glazed pipes communicating with the public sewer, or how ; how drains are trapped ; and if gratings have openings greater than three-eighths of an inch across. 6. State if floors are below level of outside road or foot- way, and if paved with asphalte, or flag-stones set in cement, or how. 7 State how walls of slaughter-house are constructed, and if they are covered with hard, smooth and impervious material to a height of at least 4 feet ; and if so, state what material is used, and to what height it is carried. 8. State how slaughter-house and poundage are lighted, if with lantern, sky, or side-lights, or otherwise. 9. State how ventilated, if by openings, windows, louvre boards, or otherwise. 10. State what provision is made for water-supply, the capacity of the cistern, and at what height it is placed above floor level. Public Abattoirs. 413 11. State if any water-closet, privy, urinal, cesspool or stable is within, or communicates directly with the slaughter- house. 12. State if any rooms or lofts are constructed, or pro- posed to be constructed over the slaughter-house. 13. State if the premises will be provided with all the necessary and most approved apparatus and tackle for the slaughtering of cattle. Having thus far dealt with private slaughter-houses, I will now return to the question of the provision of public establishments of the kind by the urban authority ; for it is usually the duty of the town surveyor to advise his corporation upon such a matter. First, as to the site of the proposed public abattoir, this depends greatly upon what sites are at the command of the town ; it should if possible be near the cattle market to pre- vent the passage of animals through the streets, not only on account of the great public inconvenience, but also the loss of weight to the animal,* and the heated and bad state into which its blood becomes from the exercise, and the violent blows of the drovers' sticks. The site should be isolated, and yet not too far from the shops of the butchers, or the cost of carriage of the meat will be considerable ; it is almost needless to say that it should be easily and effectively drained, and the more air with which it can be surrounded the better. It is imperative that the entrance for the live beasts should be separate from the exit of the dead meat, and the approach roads to the site should not be narrow. In laying out the site every town surveyor must use his own judgment ; but the following plan on which the site of the excellent public abattoir at Manchester is laid out may serve as some guide for this purpose, although of course * An ordinary beast is said to lose 3 cwt. in weight in a journey from Edinburgh to London. 414 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. this establishment is on a very large scale indeed, and is in connection with a carcase market more than 500 feet in length. In designing an abattoir on a large scale provision for the following accommodation should be considered. I. Lairs for Cattle and Pens for Sheep. These should be separated from the slaughter-house by a smaller temporary lair in which the beast whose turn has come can be fastened to the halter by which he is dragged into the slaughter-house, the sides of the doorway being lined with iron for this pur- PLAN OF MANCHESTER SLAUGHTER-HOUSE. pose. The paving of the lairs may be of asphalte, but care must be taken that near the door of the slaughter-house, the paving is of pitchers or something that is not at all slippery, as here the frightened beast often struggles and draws back when he sees the " engines of destruction " in the slaughter- house, and smells the blood of those who have gone before. The lairs must be thoroughly well drained, lighted and ventilated, and troughs for hay and water placed for each beast, for although the animals are not expected to remain long in the lairs before being killed, still it is very important Public Abattoirs. 415 that they should be well and kindly treated, and rest, so that they may obtain their normal condition before being killed. A door easily closed should shut off the lair from the slaughter-house, as it is open to question, if animals do not see with fear the hapless fate of their comrades ; for this and other obvious reasons the animals must on no account be permitted to pass through the slaughter-house to reach the lair. The lairs should be well lighted artificially, as a great deal of slaughtering is conducted before and after daylight. 2. The Slaughter-houses. These may be separate or in one long building used in common by the butchers ; both systems have their advantages and disadvantages. The long building has the advantage of greater economy in erection and of management, as one inspector can see from end to end of it. Where also a large site is not available greater advantage can be taken of a slaughter-house erected on this plan, as several butchers can slaughter in turn ; the lairs, however, must be kept separate. The butchers do not like this plan, but prefer privacy, and a great deal of " horse play " is sometimes indulged in by the slaughtermen at work in a large building. The method of payment for the use of a slaughter-house of this description cannot well be by rent, but by head of animal slaughtered, and_this is open to the ob- jection of possible fraud. It is necessary also to have separate slaughter-houses for the sheep and the pigs. Whether the slaughter-houses are constructed separately or in one long building, the detail requirements are much the same. The pavement of the floor should be placed on concrete, and it should be constructed of some material that is easily cleansed, is impervious to moisture, and is not slippery either wet or dry. It must also be [of sufficient durability, and be strong enough to bear the weight of the dead-meat carts 4i 6 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. which have to back in over it under the beams carrying the carcases, should there be no dead meat market in connection with the slaughter-house as at Manchester, Dundee, &c. The requirements of such a floor are met by good natural compressed or mastic asphalte. The necessary holes for the reception of the flaying sticks used in many parts of England can be easily managed by inserting either small brass sockets specially made, or more simply by pieces of gas-pipe cut into lengths of about an inch set tight in the asphalte. The walls of the slaughter-house must be of sufficient strength to carry the beams or girders of the overhead^ hoist- ing gear as well as some tons of hanging carcases, as will presently be explained. The inside of these walls must be lined to a height of about 6 feet above the floor line with some material which is impervious and easily cleaned. Glazed white tiles or bricks are sometimes used for this purpose, but are apt to get chipped or broken, and I have found that asphalte, although dark in colour, answers the purpose admirably, and is much cheaper. With regard to the drainage of the slaughter-house, this should, if possible, be so arranged that there are no gratings or gully-pits in the house itself. The floor should fall about I in 30 from the lairs to the cart doors, so that everything should pass outside into a gutter in which the necessary gratings and gully-pits can be arranged. If this is thought to be objectionable, pits with double gratings, the lower one being only a plate with perforated holes, can be placed in the slaughter-house so as to prevent any solid matter whatever from entering the drains, and these pits can be united by short drains with gully-pits outside. The double grating should in any case be inserted, as by this means all solid matter is kept out of the drains : a very important con- sideration. Public Abattoirs. 417 The cart doors should be made sliding, and not hinged, or great inconvenience will be experienced, and they must be made wide enough for the carts to back in easily. In some slaughter-houses the killing ring to which the beast is attached whilst the blow from the pole-axe is given * consists of a strong horse-shoe shaped piece of iron projecting about 24 inches from the wall at a height of about 18 inches and having a ring in the top curve, thus whilst in others the killing ring is on the floor, thus and in others an iron pillar standing up from the floor is used, which is considered the best plan, as the beast should stand in a natural and easy position at about a right angle from the feller. The lighting of the slaughter-house should be effected from the roof, as a good and steady light is essential to the men engaged in this business. An awkward cut may seriously damage good beef or mutton. Care must, however, be taken to exclude the glare of the sun, and the ventilation should be carefully arranged by louvres easily manipulated. Water should be plentifully laid on at a good pressure, so as to ensure thorough flushing, &c., and the necessary taps should be recessed in the walls, as everything in a building of this description should be kept as flush as possible, or it will be damaged. In some slaughter-houses hot water is laid on, * The pole-axe should be of the American pattern, which has a head hollow and very sharp round the periphery'. The practice is, after the blow is struck and the animal felled, to plunge a thin cane into the wound, which passes down the spine, causing instantaneous death whilst the animal is lying stunned. 2 E 418 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. and this is a great boon to the butchers and much appreciated by them. Gas or electricity must of course be laid on, as much slaughtering takes place during the night. The machinery for hoisting the beasts and slinging the carcases requires to be effective, simple, and very strong, as it is subjected to the roughest treatment, and such machinery can be procured from Messrs. Lockerbie and Wilkinson, of Birmingham, who make this class of machinery a specialite.* This machinery hoists the beast by simply pulling on an endless chain. It remains suspended at any height, and can be equally easily lowered. The divided carcass can be placed upon hooks at any point along the girders above without being touched, and it can be taken off again and lowered on to a man's shoulders or into the cart direct, and in fact, speaking from my own experience, this machinery is very perfect. The carcases of the sheep are hung by hand upon hooks projecting from rails which are placed at a convenient height around the walls of the slaughter-house. In some abattoirs the sheep slaughter-houses are distinct from those used for killing beasts, and this method has many advantages. * Formerly this machinery was made by Messrs. John Meiklejon, of Dalkeith, whose patent was " for the invention of new or improved machinery and appliances to be used in hoisting, removing, dividing, and hanging on hooks, taking off these hooks again, and loading carcases and other bodies in abattoirs, carcass and meat markets, and other places." " The machinery and appliances above referred to enable the operations above named to be performed without the necessity of the butchers touching the meat. Also enables carcases to be conveyed from abattoirs to carcass market on a travelling hoist (hereafter described), same being provided with rows of fixed jointed hooks or loops, attached to rails on which the hoist runs, so that the travelling hoist is enabled to hang the carcases or bodies on to such hooks or loops. Also enables a butcher to hang a carcass on any of these hooks or loops, and pick them off again, and load on a vehicle, without moving or touching any of the other carcases hanging on the other hooks. Also enables all operations to be performed, from hoisting when killed to loading when sold or removed from market." Public Abattoirs. 419 Before proceeding to describe the further requirements of an abattoir or group of slaughter-houses, I think the following plan will be of use to show the arrangement which I have described with regard to lairs and slaughter-houses : 1 1 1 1 1 1A3PHALTE SLAUGHT PA V 1 NG R HOUSED i : GRANITE PEN PAVING 1 ASPHALTS | ^ j _ i - 9KAN/XE ._ - -t A4-R M GRANITE 1 PEN f*A VINO ^ fe W^v^v^v^ t>A VINO 1 i ^m^Vh>W^ H 1 "i PLAN SECTION THROUGH A.B. BCA LE 10 20 The plan on the next page shows the arrangements adopted in the Metropolitan Cattle Market slaughter-houses. 3. The Condemned Meat Department. This should consist of a lair for suspected cattle, a lair and slaughter-house for the condemned cattle similar to that already described, and a condemned meat store : this being the place where not only all the diseased animals' carcases are temporarily stored 2 E 2 420 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. pending destruction, but also any meat of sound beasts that may have gone bad after killing, &c. The whole of the meat thus placed in the condemned store must be taken to the boiling-down house, where it is destroyed by being boiled down to fat, which is disposed of for various trade purposes. The following description of the method employed for this purpose at the Deptford Foreign Cattle Market will here be of use : * " There are several killing houses for diseased cattle, and METROPOLITAN CATTLE MARKET SLAUGHTER-HOUSES. excellent apparatus for boiling down condemned meat. For this purpose two boilers are suspended from a strong platform through which they pass, and the bottoms of them are several feet above the floor. They are each 4 feet 6 inches in diameter and 10 feet in length under the platform. At the bottom the cylinder tapers to 2 feet 8 inches in diameter. Under this there is a semispherical bottom to the boiler hinged and kept shut by a back-weighted lever and screws. On the top of each there is a semispherical cover and safety valve. * Vide * Report on the New Cattle Market and Abattoirs proposed to be erected at Carolina Port, Dundee,' by William Mackison, F.R.I.B.A., &c. Public Abattoirs. 421 There is an iron crane and windlass for lifting off and on the covers. After the boilers are charged with diseased meat the covers are made secure and steam let into them near the bottom. There is a cock in the bottom of each for running off the liquid at certain stages into a trap grating in the floor under it, and conducted into a cement cistern outside of the boiling-house, from which it is periodically removed. Whether any use is made of the tallow produced I am not informed. The bones when removed are quite porous, of a very white colour, and nearly as light as cork. I presume that they will be sold for being converted into bone manure. I understand these large boilers are not very often used, and that a small close galvanised iron cylinder 2 feet 9 inches in diameter, and 2 feet 6 inches high, placed 1 5 inches above the ground, having cock at bottom, steam pipe at side, and portable lid, does most of the work very efficiently." 4. The Pig-killing Department. This should be separate from the ordinary slaughter-house, as the styes for pigs must be differently arranged to the cattle lairs, and a boiler house is necessary, as boiling water must be had for scalding and dressing the carcases. Special iron troughs with false bottoms have been arranged in some cases, which greatly facilitate this part of the butcher's work, and simple hoisting apparatus over these troughs lifts the carcass in and out, and carries it off to the cooling or hanging room, which must of necessity be separate from the killing and scalding rooms. Drainage, lighting, ventilation and floors should be similar to those de- scribed for the slaughter-houses, and plenty of lime wash can be used with advantage here as well as in the main slaughter-house. 5. The Blood House. The blood of the slaughtered ani- mals, which formerly was allowed to run away, has been found to contain a most valuable aniline dye, and for this purpose it is now collected and taken to the blood-houses, where in order to obtain this dye it is necessary to place the blood 422 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. in shallow tins, where it is warmed by steam-pipes, the liquid is then drawn off, which is the albumen from which the dye is extracted, the residuum left in the trays is of the consistency of jelly, and is sold for manure. 6. The Tripery. This is provided in large abattoirs for the purpose of preparing the tripe and feet of the slaughtered animals, and in the Glasgow public slaughter-houses this is effected by the corporation free of charge by special machinery adapted for the purpose. 7. The Tallow Market. Where tallow is melted down, and moulded in shapes for manufacturer's uses. 8. The Hide Store. This is where the hides and sheep skins are weighed and temporarily stored ; sometimes in connection with this are 9. Sale Rooms ; for the hides, skins of sheep, &c., and tallow. In addition to the above requirements may be mentioned i o. A Superintendents dwelling-house and office. 11. A Gate-keeper's dwelling-house and office. 12. A Weighing machine and office. 13. A Convenient Room for the meetings of the committee of the corporation having charge of the slaughter-house. 14. Waiting Rooms for dealers, drovers, slaughtermen, and butchers, &c. 15. Store Rooms and a Joiner's Workshop. 1 6. Stables and Shedding for the horses and carts of the obbers and butchers, &c. 17. Lofts for Straw and Hay ; the former should be pro- vided free by the corporation, the latter on payment of so much per diem for each beast. 1 8. The necessary Urinal and W.C. accommodation. With regard to the provision to be made for storing the dung and waste refuse from public slaughter-houses, I am strongly of opinion that there should not be any fixed receptacle for such matters, but that covered carts should be Public Abattoirs. 423 provided, which could stand in convenient positions and be removed every day, a fresh and clean cart being substituted at once for the one removed ; by this means all nuisance is avoided. Speaking of public abattoirs, in a lecture on Industrial Nuisances, Dr. C. W. Chancellor, of the Maryland State Board of Health, U.S.A., gave some advice on the management of slaughter-houses. He says : " During the process of slaughtering as much care as possible should be taken to prevent the discharge of blood or other animal matter upon the floor of the slaughter-house, upon the surrounding earth, or into an open stream. The contents of the viscera should, with the blood, offal and other garbage, be placed in impervious, covered, movable receptacles, con- structed of galvanised iron or other non-absorbent material, and removed from the premises without undue delay. Where hides or skins are necessarily retained for a day or two before they can be removed, they might without injury be advantageously brushed over on the fleshy side with a solution of carbolic acid or some other antiseptic. Fat should be freely exposed to the air in a cool place. As soon as the slaughtering is completed the whole slaughter-house, floors and walls, should be thoroughly washed. All the vessels and implements used in the slaughtering should be kept clean and sweet. Deodorisers may sometimes be used with advantage." There can be no doubt that whereas private slaughter- houses are frequently a most injurious nuisance to the neigh- bourhood in which they are placed, owing to their situation and construction, and a visit to one of them is likely to give a strong impetus to vegetarianism, the public abattoir, on however large a scale, if properly constructed and managed, need be no nuisance whatever, and every town in the kingdom should endeavour to obtain one, not only on account of the nuisance caused by private slaughter-houses, 424 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. but for the incentive which is given to butchers to abstain from slaughtering diseased or unwholesome animals, the prevention of cruelty, and the material benefits derived in a proper establishment for the best methods of dressing the meat. 425 CHAPTER XXIX. MARKETS. UNDER certain conditions urban authorities are empowered to provide markets in their district by the following clause of the Public Health Act, 1875 : " Where an urban authority are a local board or improve- ment commissioners, they shall have power, with the consent of the owners and ratepayers of their district, expressed by resolution passed in manner provided by Schedule III. to this Act, and where the urban authority are a town council they shall have power, with the consent of two -thirds of their number, to do the following things, or any of them, within their district : "To provide a market place, and construct a market house and other conveniences, for the purpose of holding markets : " To provide houses and places for weighing carts : " To make convenient approaches to such market : "To provide all such matters and things as may be necessary for the convenient use of such market : " To purchase or take on lease land, and public or private rights in markets and tolls for any of the foregoing purposes : " To take stallages, rents and tolls in respect of the use by any person of such market : " But no market shall be established in pursuance of this section so as to interfere with any rights, powers, or privileges enjoyed within the district by any person without his con- sent " (38 & 39 Viet c. 55, s. 166). 426 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. In many towns, markets both for cattle and general merchandise have been already established, and the duties of the town surveyor are simply to execute the necessary alterations and maintenance of the buildings in connection with them ; but there may be occasions on which he has to advise his corporation upon the acquisition of land for the purpose of laying it out as a cattle market, and afterwards the erection of the necessary pens and buildings, and a few remarks upon the subject may be of some service. The site for a cattle market should be selected, if practic- able, near to a railway station, so as to avoid as much as possible the dangerous and objectionable practice of driving cattle and sheep through the streets, and for the same reasons it should be near the public slaughter-houses if there are any in the town. Plenty of space should be provided in the market for the cattle to move about in, for it must be re- membered that many of them which are sent to market are unused to the bustle of a town, and are wild and untractable, and have never in their lives been subjected to either penning or tethering. The site must be easily and effectively drained, it should be somewhat isolated with respect to neighbouring buildings, the more air that can be got to sweep through it the better. The accommodation necessary in a cattle market must vary considerably with the requirements of the district, but the following list may be given for selection : 1. Pens or lairs for fat beasts. 2. Pens or lairs for store cattle. 3. Pens or lairs for cows with calves. 4. Pens or lairs for calves. 5. Pens for sheep. 6. Pens or styes for pigs. 7. Covered sheds or stables for horses. 8. A space for showing horses off. 9. Sheds for agricultural implements. Markets. 427 10. Shops for the display of seeds, ropes, tarpaulins, sacks, &c. n. Accommodation for auctioneers. 12. Lodges and offices for the superintendent or gate keeper. 1 3. A weighing machine and office. 14. A corn exchange (this is sometimes provided in the general market). The entrance to a cattle market may with advantage be provided with double sets of gates, with a space between in which flocks of sheep or herds of cattle can be temporarily penned ; a wicket gate in the second set of gates will enable the toll collector to count the number of animals easily as they pass through into the market. The paving of the market should be of granite or other stone setts, as it is essential that it should not be slippery, or the cattle, which usually arrive in a very excited condition, will fall and injure themselves ; this description of paving is also fairly impervious, and is easily cleansed. The paving of the lairs and pens may, however, be of asphalte. For the cattle there may be enclosures for loose bullocks as well as divisions in which the cattle are tethered ; these divisions and enclosures may be constructed of brick walls about 4 feet 6 inches in height, or posts and rails of wood and iron, strongly fastened iron rings about 4 feet apart, are necessary, to which the beasts must be tethered. The paving must be kept high towards the head of the beast in order to show him off to the greatest advantage. Large painted signboards should be fixed over the entrance of each compartment, to designate to which class it belongs, in order to avoid confusion or mistake. There should be drinking troughs for all cattle, and hydrants should be fixed all about the market, so that it can be thoroughly flushed and washed down. 428 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. The sheep-pens can be constructed with iron or wood posts and rails with the whole of one side opening as a gate ; they should be about 3 feet in height, and the floor should slope up from the point at which the purchaser will stand in order that the sheep at the far end of the pen may not appear diminutive.* The gates of the sheep-pens should be strongly stayed, as they make most convenient seats on which the drovers and heavy farmers sit whilst they drive their bargains. With regard to the dimensions of the pens and lairs, the following sizes are suggested as sufficient spaces for different animals, in the modern byelaws, emanating from the Local Government Board in 1877, with respect to markets : For every horse 8 feet by 2 feet. For every ox or cow .. .. 8 ,, 2 ,, For every mule or ass .. .. 5 ,, ,, I foot 6 inches. For every calf 5 ,, ,, I ,, 3 ,, For every sheep, goat or pig (of medium size) 4 feet superficial. The pens for calves and the styes for pigs should be covered, and their floors should be about 3 feet 6 inches above the general level of the market, as animals of this description are generally brought in carts, and they should thus be easily moved out and in. . * The following is a description of the manner in which the sheep are penned in the cattle market of la Villetteat Paris : "The enclosure or pens are all of iron, those for the sheep have a centre railing 3 feet 3 inches high, and cross railings I foot 9 inches high ; the former with three horizontal rails and vertical rods, and the latter two horizontal rails and vertical rods. There is a distance of 15 feet betwixt the high railings, which is divided into three by iron posts 21 inches high. The first row of these posts is placed at a distance of 3 feet from the low cross railing at the passage, the second row 18 inches from the first, the third 3 feet from the second, and so on. The sheep are placed in line side by side as close as they can stand, with their heads up to the low rail. A movable hurdle of wood is then set on edge between the sheep in the rear and the iron posts just described. A passage, of 18 inches, is left clear, and then another row of sheep and another passage, and so on. In this manner a great number of sheep are put into little space, in such a way as all can be examined with the greatest ease." ( Vide * Report on the New Cattle Market and Abattoirs proposed to be erected at Carolina Port, Dundee,' by W, Mackison, F.R.I.B.A., &c., Town Surveyor, Dundee.) Markets. 429 These pens and styes must of course be thoroughly well drained and ventilated. With regard to the weighing machine, this should be of the best manufacture, and be of sufficient size to weigh a large waggon. It is better to have what is called a "self contained " iron foundation, and pit for the weighbridge rather than one of masonry. A convenient size for this weighbridge would be 15 feet in length by 12 feet in breadth. With reference to the rest of the provisions I have enumerated, they require no special comment, but must necessarily be left to the discretion of the town surveyor and the wishes of his corporation. Markets for general merchandise are usually handsome buildings, which are erected in the most central positions of the town ; they contain : 1. The corn exchange (this is sometimes erected in the cattle market). 2. The fish market. 3. The dead meat market (this is sometimes erected in connection with the public slaughter-house). 4. The game and poultry market. 5. The fruit, vegetable and flower market. 6. The butter, eggs and cheese market. 7. The miscellaneous goods market. 8. Public conveniences. 9. Offices and dwelling for the clerk of the market. 10. Committee room for the market committee. The floor of the market should be on a level as much as is practicable with the adjacent streets ; steps up or down are objectionable for the public, and galleries or upper floors should also be avoided unless the available area of the site is limited. In order to avoid interference with the floor space the roof should be supported on as few columns as are com- patible with safety and economy. The interior of the building should be lofty, and it must 430 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. be thoroughly well ventilated ; the great fault with nearly all existing markets, is the cutting draught to which buyers and sellers are usually subjected. Plenty of light is essential, but the rays of the sun should be excluded by frosted glass or other contrivance, or the goods exposed for sale will be damaged. The floor should be of asphalte or other similar material ; it is surprising what a " mess " is always made in a market. The stalls must be so arranged as to show to best advan- tage the goods offered, and plenty of " gangway " should be left between them for the passage of the public. Fish stalls should be constructed of iron, slate, or similar material, plenty of water being provided in this department ; fish-washing troughs filled with running water are very desir- able, and a fountain can be introduced with pleasing effect. Butchers' stalls should be of thick wood to resist the chop- ping, and plenty of standards and rails provided with iron hooks must be fixed above them. A great number of movable iron " offal boxes " should be placed in different parts of the market, which must be cleared at least once a day, and the market should be frequently flushed and cleansed with water from hydrants fixed in different parts of the building. Many other points will no doubt suggest themselves to town surveyors, who have the important work of designing either cattle or general markets to undertake, but the few suggestions which have been given may be of some use. CHAPTER XXX. CEMETERIES. AMONGST the -many duties that a town surveyor has to perform is sometimes included that of laying out land for a large burial ground or cemetery, and its management after construction. Power is given to all local authorities to become burial authorities by the Public Health Interments Act, 1879, and so strongly is the need felt for what is called extramural interment, that the Local Government Board may compel a local authority to provide and maintain cemeteries. Power is also given for the compulsory purchase of land for this purpose (see sections 175, 176, of the Public Health Act, 1875), and the cemetery may be placed either within or without the district over which the local authority exercise their jurisdiction, and many other privileges are granted in order to encourage the acquisition of land so far removed from habitations as to make the burial ground as sanitary as the practice of burying human bodies can be made. In connection with the closing of disused burial grounds and their conversion into recreation grounds, see the Open Spaces Act, 1887, (50 & 51 Viet. c. 32), and the Disused Burial Grounds Act, 1884 (47 & 48 Viet. c. 72). A cemetery must not be constructed within 200 yards of any dwelling house, without the consent in writing of the owner, lessee, and occupier of such house; but there is no prohibition upon anyone to prevent their building a house close to a cemetery after it has been established.* * Vide * The Cemeteries Clauses Act,' 1847. (10 & n Viet. c. 65, s. 10.) 432 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. Chapels may be built in cemeteries for the performance of the burial services, and the grounds may be laid out and embellished as the local authority may deem fit. The cemetery must be enclosed by walls or other sufficient fences or iron railings eight feet in height ; it must be properly sewered and drained, but such drainage must not flow into any "stream, canal, reservoir, aqueduct, pond or watering place." * Cemeteries are divided into consecrated and unconsecrated portions by bond stones or other suitable marks ; a chapel must be built upon the consecrated portion, although it does not seem to be compulsory to do so upon the unconsecrated portion. The selection of a proper site on sanitary and other grounds for a cemetery is one of the greatest importance, and a town surveyor, or anyone who has this duty to perform, cannot do better than keep the following words of the late Mr. Eassie before him : f " A well-chosen cemetery is one whose soil is dry, close and yet porous, permitting the rain and its accompanying air to reach a reasonable depth, and so expedite decay. The formation is also well covered with vegetable mould, which assists in neutralising any hurtful emanations, and encourages the growth of shrubs. The subsoil is also of such a kind as to need no under-draining, and such as will prevent the water lodging in any grave or vault. It will also stand exposed to the north or north-east winds which are dry, and which do not hold the putrefactive gases in solution, like the moist south or south-westerly winds. " An improperly chosen graveyard may be said to be one where the soil is dense and clayey, and impervious to mois- ture. It will be insufficiently drained, necessitating the use of planks to walk upon in wet weather. It will be too close to * Cemeteries Clauses Act, 1847, s. n, 15, 18, 20. t Vide ' Cremation of the Dead,' by William Eassie, C.E. &c. &c., p. 50, Cemeteries. 433 the abodes of the living, too small to permit proper planting, the graves covered, it may be with flat stones which prevent the passage downwards of the air and rain, and surrounded moreover by high walls which exclude the fresh air. The ground will be stony and insufficiently covered with vegetable soil. No natural outfall will exist, and the drainage water must be pumped up, the bare idea of which is horrible. It will be near also to water-bearing strata, or to a reservoir. Long before decomposition has taken place owing to the smallness of the site, and the impossibility of obtaining any more land except at high building prices, the organic matter hidden out of sight will be far too large in proportion to the area." Dr. Parsons, in a memorandum prepared by him on the ' Sanitary Requirements of Cemeteries,' and published by the Local Government Board in their eleventh annual report, says : "The soil of a cemetery should be of an open, porous nature, with numerous close interstices, through which air and moisture may pass in a finely divided state freely in every direction. In such a soil decay proceeds rapidly, and the products of decomposition are absorbed or oxidised. The soil should be easily worked, yet not so loose as to render the work of excavation dangerous through the liability to falls of earth. It should be free from water or hard rock to a depth of at least 8 feet. If not naturally free from water, it should be drained if practicable to that depth : to this end it is necessary that the site should be sufficiently elevated above the drainage level of the locality, either naturally, or where necessary, by filling it up to the required level with suitable earth." " Loam and sand with a sufficient quantity of vegetable mould, are the best soils ; clay and loose stones the worst. A dense clay is laborious to work and difficult to drain ; by ex- cluding moisture and air it retards decay, and it retains, in a 2 F 434 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. concentrated state, the products of decomposition, sometimes to be discharged into graves opened in the vicinity or some- times to escape through cracks in the ground to the surface. A loose, stony soil, on the other hand, allows the passage of effluvia." And with reference to the site to be chosen for a cemetery he further states : " Nevertheless, in view of the evils which in former times have undoubtedly arisen from the practice of intramural sepulture, and also because the erection of houses near a cemetery interferes with the free play of air around and over it, it is desirable that the site of the cemetery should be in a neighbourhood in which building is not likely to take place ; and also that so far as practicable a belt of ground should be reserved between the graves and the nearest land on which a house may be built, in order to obviate to some extent the risk of contamination of ground-air and subsoil water with decomposing matters. This is especially necessary where houses are constructed .with cellars. It is, therefore, highly desirable that interments should not be made up to the extreme edge of the cemetery, and it would be possible without great waste of space to reserve in all cases a strip of ground free from interments, 15 to 30 feet in width, around the whole cemetery on the interior of the boundary fence. This strip would afford room, on the inside for a gravel or asphalte walk to give access to all parts of the cemetery, and on the outside next the fence, to a belt of shrubs or trees, the rootlets of which, penetrating the soil, would arrest and assimilate any decomposing matters percolating to the exterior of the cemetery. Obviously a cemetery should not be placed on elevated ground above houses, where the soakings from it may percolate to the sites and foundations of the dwellings below. . . . "Sites are of course unsuitable which are liable to be flooded or to landslips, or which are in danger of being Cemeteries. 435 washed away, or encroached upon by streams or the sea. Very steep sites are not desirable. The cemetery should be accessible by good roads from all parts of the district." As to the unsuitability of clay as a soil for cemeteries Louis Creteur in ' Hygiene in the Battle Field ' says, that the bodies of soldiers slain during the battle of Sedan were buried in chalk, quarry rubble, sand, argillite, slate, marl or clay soils, and the work of disinfection lasted from the beginning of March till the end of June. In rubble the decay had fully taken place, but in the clay the bodies kept well, and even after a very long time the features could be identified. With regard to the amount of land necessary for a ceme- tery, Dr. Parsons calculates that about a quarter of an acre of land for every thousand of the population of the community to whom the cemetery belongs, is the "usually estimated minimum ; " but this is far too small a proportion even for a cemetery possessing every advantage, and he further states, " The desirability of providing more than this bare minimum of space is obvious, and is generally recognised." It must be remembered that as a rule, quite one-sixth of the total area of a cemetery is taken up by the roads, paths, ornamental grass or beds of flowers and shrubs, the chapels, mortuaries, lodges, &c., and sufficient width should be allowed between each grave space to permit every grave being reached without trampling on others ; a standard of 1 10 burials per acre has sometimes been taken, but this appears to me to be rather a small one. In laying out ground for a cemetery, the following are some points that require careful attention : 1. The position of the entrance or entrances ; there should if possible be only one, as a lodge is necessary at each, which entails expense. 2. The best position for the lodge or lodges, the chapels and mortuary. 2 F 2 436 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. 3. The direction of the roads in the cemetery : these must be wide enough for the hearses and mourning coaches, and there must be convenient places provided for turning round. 4. The direction of the paths : * these and the roads should be as straight as possible, so as to economise available burial ground ; paths should be sufficiently wide to allow an entrance to be made in them to the adjoining vaults or walled graves, these being frequently covered with a massive tomb or ledger very difficult to remove. The vaults and walled graves, being of a better class, are generally put in the borders of the burial ground, close to the paths. 5. In some soils deep and careful drainage is necessary. This should be carried out with ordinary drain pipes laid at a depth of at least 10 feet, and so communicating with each other and the graves spaces, that even in a clay soil each grave as it is sunk should be found free from water. 6. Surface drainage, especially of the roads and paths, is also necessary. 7. Provision must be made for the disposal of the soil excavated from the graves, as very little punning or ramming of the soil thrown in after a burial should be permitted, and thus there is always a large quantity of material to be other- wise disposed of. The cemetery must be divided into Church or consecrated ground, Dissenters' ground, and Roman Catholic ground, in such proportions as may be found to suit the particular requirements of the locality in which the cemetery is placed. These divisions must again be subdivided into sections according to the class and description of the proposed grave, and each of these subdivisions and grave spaces must be accurately marked with a distinguishing letter and number, so that on reference to a plan and a register book, any person's * The roads and paths in a cemetery require to be carefully made, in order that they may be available during any weather. Cemeteries. 43 7 grave may be easily found, however long a time may have elapsed since the interment took place, and although no head- stone or mark over the grave is there. It is needless to say that the plan of the cemetery has to be most carefully pre- pared and the ground equally carefully set out, to prevent any chance of error occurring, or serious consequences might result. It may be well to remark that no body can be re- moved after burial without an order from one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, or (in the case of removal from one consecrated place of burial to another) by faculty from the ordinary.* The following description of the different sections neces- sary in a large cemetery may here be of use, the fees charge- able for the privilege of burying in each section advancing with the letters appropriated to the sections. Section A. This is appropriated to workhouse paupers or very poor persons only,| the depth \ of the grave may be limited to 6 feet, and the size should be 9 feet by 4 feet ; only coffins made of wood should be allowed in this section. Section B. This is of a slightly superior class to the last, * 20 & 21 Viet. c. 81, s. 25. f The following is a description of the manner of burying the poorer people in the cemetery of Pere la Chaise, near Paris. ( Vide ' The Parks, Promenades and Gardens of Paris,' by W. Robinson, F.L.S., &c., p. 109.) "A very wide trench or fosse is cut wide enough to hold two rows of coffins placed across it, and 100 yards long or so. Here they are rapidly stowed in one after another, just as nursery labourers lay in stock ' by the heels,' only much closer, because there is no earth between the coffins, and wherever the coffins, which are very like egg- boxes, only somewhat less substantial, happen to be short so that little space is left between the two rows, those of children are placed lengthwise between them to economise space j the whole being done exactly as a natty man would pack together turves or mushroom spawn-bricks/' . . . Let us hope that what- ever else may be " taken from the French," we may never imitate them in their cemetery management. J Depth of burial varies from 6 to 10 feet, but there must be 4 feet of earth upon the top of the last coffin if an adult, 3 feet if a child. A proper grave should be dry when opened, and have a sufficiency of soil over the coffin to absorb any gases of decomposition ; it should allow an adjoining grave to be opened without collapsing, and should if possible, dispense with the necessity of shoring or close timbering the sides, and should allow sufficient space for a headstone to be placed over it. 438 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. the depth and size may however be the same, but a larger fee can be charged, and the position of the section with reference to the paths should be better and more convenient. Section C. This is again superior to either of the former sections. Extra depth and size may be allowed, and the position should also be better. Section D. In the previous sections only "common" graves as they are called should be allowed. In this section either walled graves, vaults, tombs or common graves may be placed ; the common graves may be of extra depth and size, the space for a vault may be 8 feet 6 inches by 6 feet* This section should be exclusively the borders of the paths and other spots easily accessible and prominent to view. Section E. This is the best section. No common graves should be allowed in it, and the spaces allotted for burial may be isolated and of various sizes according to agreement and payment. Here costly tombs and monuments are erected, the position of the section being generally near the chapels.f In all the above sections it is necessary to provide for the burial of children : these require smaller space and in some instances they can be buried with their mother, but in separate coffins. Unfortunately it is necessary to allow rather a large percentage of available space for the interment of children, as the infant mortality in this country is so excessive. In connection with the question of the plan and the sections for burial, it may be well to give the following rules and regulations for the management of a cemetery : * In a tomb or walled grave, the coffin should be enclosed in an air-tight case, by means of a stone cemented down which must never again be moved ; or con- crete may be used. It is a good plan to put some charcoal with the coffin to absorb any gases of decomposition in case of the vault opening accidentally at any future time, and in order to guard against such an occurrence it is better to leave at least 2 feet of earth on the top of the grave below the surface of the ground in walled graves. t *' No body shall be buried in any vault under any chapel of the cemetery or within 15 feet of the outer wall of any such chapel." (Vide s. 39, Cemeteries Clauses Act, 1847.) Cemeteries. 439 Cemetery Rules and Regulations. 1. All charges for interment, monuments, and grave- stones must be paid at the time the order is granted ; no kind of work allowed to be done, or any corpse brought on the ground without the production of an order. 2. Certificates of death to be produced (showing the name of the parish, &c., and all other requisite information) on paying the fees. 3. Two days' notice to be given for interment in graves (exclusive of Sunday), and three days if a vault or brick grave be required. In default, an extra charge will be made for working by night. 4. The time when the funeral procession will be on the ground to be named in the notice. An extra fee of will be charged when the funeral procession is minutes later than the time appointed, and for every minutes afterwards. 5. The hours of interment are from A.M. to P.M. from Michaelmas to Lady-day, and from A.M. to P.M. from Lady-day to Michaelmas. 6. All brick or stone work in the graves, and all founda- tions and fixing of memorials, or planting, shall be under the supervision and control of the local authority or their appointed agent. 7. No grave or vault shall be re-opened byv other persons than members of that family without the written consent of the parties interested and of the local authority. An extra fee for the interment of strangers will be charged at the dis- cretion of the local authority. 8. In all unbricked graves, coffins of wood only shall be used. No interment will be allowed nearer the surface than four feet for an adult, or three feet for a child under 12 years. Every coffin in a bricked grave or vault to be separately entombed in an air-tight manner. 44-O Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. 9. No palisades or iron railings to exceed feet in height, except with the special consent of the local authority ; and no palisades, or enclosure of any description will be permitted to a grave until a headstone or tomb has been erected. 10. A drawing of every monument or gravestone to be submitted for approval, and a copy of the intended inscription if it contains more than name, age and date. Inscriptions to be arranged so as to face the paths as far as practicable. Any question which shall arise touching the fitness of any monu- mental inscription, placed in any part of the consecrated portion of the ground, shall be determined on appeal by the Bishop of the Diocese. 11. All graves and vaults, monuments, gravestones, fencing or other enclosures, to be kept in repair by the persons interested in their preservation. If suffered to go out of repair and become unsightly, the local authority will remove them altogether, and they will not be allowed to be replaced without the consent of the local authority. Graves will be kept in order by the local authority for a fee of per annum. A plan of the ground, showing each grave space, is kept at the office of the surveyor to the local authority and may be seen without charge. The public are admitted to the cemetery, on weekdays, from 7 A.M. to 8 P.M. from Lady-day to Michaelmas, and from 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. from Michaelmas to Lady-day. On Sundays from 2 to 8 P.M. in summer and 2 to 5 P.M. in winter. All further information may be obtained at the office. The local authority forbid any gratuity being received by their servants. The local authority reserves a right, from time to time, to make any alteration in the foregoing charges and regulations. In connection with the above rules, a scale of fees of the charges for interments must be prepared as well as for head- Cemeteries. 441 stones, foot-stones, ledgers, and tombs, or for enclosing any grave with curbing, iron-pailings, posts and chains, &c. The practice of allowing persons to plant small shrubs and trees upon the graves of their friends, should be deprecated, as not only do they tend eventually to make a cemetery look untidy, but they are placed so close to the graves that when they grow up their roots often split open a vault or walled grave, and even damage valuable tombstones. Trees which are suitable for cemeteries, and which would thrive even in a town atmosphere, are the weeping willow, cypress, yew, cedar, juniper, birch, ash, weeping elm and a considerable number and variety of drooping and other de- ciduous trees. These should, however, be planted under the control of the local authority, as otherwise a cemetery would soon be overrun by them. The regulations issued by the Secretary of State for the Home Department in January 1863, for burial grounds pro- vided under the Burial Acts, may be of use for reference, and are given in extenso : 1. The burial ground shall be effectually fenced, and, if necessary, under-drained to such a depth as will prevent water remaining in any grave or vault. 2. The area to be used for graves shall be divided into grave spaces, to be designated by convenient marks, so that the position of each may be readily determined, and a corre- sponding plan kept on which each grave space shall be shown. 3. The grave spaces for the burial of persons above 12 years of age shall be at least 9 feet by 4 feet, and those for the burial of children under 12 years of age, 6 feet by 3 feet, or if preferred, half the measurement of the adult grave space, namely 4^ feet by 4 feet. 4. A register of graves shall be kept in which the name, age and date of burial in each shall be duly registered. 5. No body shall be buried in any vault or walled grave unless the coffin be separately entombed in an air-tight .j42 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. manner ; that is, by properly cemented stone or brickwork, which shall never be disturbed. 6. One body only shall be buried in a grave at one time, unless the bodies be those of members of the same family. 7. No unwalled grave shall be re-opened within 14 years after the burial of a person above 12 years of age, or within eight years after the burial of a child under 12 years of age, unless to bury another member of the same family, in which case a layer of earth not less than I foot thick shall be left undisturbed above the previously buried coffin ; but if on re- opening any grave the soil be found to be offensive, such soil shall not be disturbed, and in no case shall human remains be removed from the grave. 8. No coffin shall be buried in any unwalled grave within 4 feet of the ordinary level of the ground, unless it contains the body of a child under 12 years of age, when it shall not be less than 3 feet below that level. For further information upon the subject of the Interments Act, 1879, and much useful information in connection with cemeteries, I refer my readers to ' Notes and Practical Sugges- tions upon the Interment Act, 1875,' by T. Baker. I cannot close this chapter upon cemeteries without a few words upon the subject of cremation ; as from my official experiences in the practice of burial, I am so deeply con- vinced that cremation should be substituted for it for very many weighty reasons, that I feel it is necessary for me to give a few of them : i. Nothing can be more unsanitary or dangerous to the living than the burial of the dead. This has been enlarged upon over and over again by men who have well studied the subject and are competent to give an opinion, and to that opinion I add my testimony.* * It is scarcely necessary to mention the reappearance of the plague at Modena, where 600 years before the victims of a plague were interred, and how similar disturbances of the grave sites caused immediate outbreaks of disease, or Cemeteries. 443 2. Nothing can be more loathesome and degrading to the dead bodies of our friends, or more revolting to our feelings, than the horrible practice of placing the remains of those we love in the soil of a common churchyard or cemetery, to be devoured with other bodies by worms. 3. In placing a dead body under ground we can never be sure how long the remains will be left undisturbed, a new street or railway will soon destroy all traces of its resting place,* and even the law only allows a grave to remain undisturbed for a short 14 years. 4. In the event of friends or relations dying abroad their remains cannot be sent home for burial except at great expense, cremation would reduce the body to a few silvery ashes which could easily be brought home and secured on arrival in a suitable and safe position.! 5. Cremation is the most respectful and beautiful manner enhanced the virulence of epidemics, such as cholera and the like. This happened at London in 1854, although the pits had been dug and rilled up for almost 200 years. In 1843, when a parish church near Stroud in Gloucestershire was in process of rebuilding, the superfluous soil of the burial-ground was disposed of for manure to the villagers, and the result was nearly a decimation of the place. The outbreak of the plague in Egypt in 1823 was traced to the opening up of a disused burial-ground about 14 miles from Cairo, and thousands perished in consequence. A recent investigation was made in the cemeteries of Rio de Janeiro, scarcely four years ago, upon earth taken about spade deep from graves where victims of yellow fever had been buried some twelve months previously, and this soil was found to contain "myriads of microbes," selfsame with those present in persons stricken with the same pest at the time of the excavation. A healthy guinea-pig was incarcerated in a space over which earth taken from a grave was sprinkled, and in five days the animal was dead, its blood being found to be "literally crammed " with the germs of the disease in various stages of evolution. * In a beautiful out-of-the-way valley in Wales, there was a pretty village with a quiet churchyard far from the " busy haunts of man ; " yet here it has been found necessary to disinter all the bodies, as this churchyard is now 30 feet under the surface of the water of an immense reservoir supplying the living with drinking water. t The body of Lord Balcarres was (as is now history) removed from the mausoleum in his own grounds, and only recovered after a most painful interval ; this desecration could not have happened had his body been cremated and the ashes suitably secured. 444 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. for the disposal of dead bodies, as fire is the most perfect puri- fier and type of purity with which we are acquainted and need not alarm (on religious grounds *) any more than the practice at sea of lowering the dead bodies overboard to be eventually eaten and digested by marine animals. 7. Cremation is merely a more speedy means of " burn- ing" a body than burial, decomposition being only a very slow and loathesome combustion. 8. Cremation would settle at once and for ever the vexed question of burial in consecrated or unconsecrated ground, and all the unseemly quarrels which have taken place in connection with it from time to time. 9. The great extent of land that is now wasted in public burial grounds and cemeteries f There is no reason, even if cremation should take the place of burial, why the fees to officials and others should not remain as at present, and the unpleasant assistance of the British-ghoul, the undertaker, with his long face at the ceremony and still longer bill afterwards, could easily be dispensed with, or not, at the option of the friends of the deceased. The opponents of cremation urge that it would be more expensive than burial, and consequently out of the reach of the poorer classes, and also that it would cause so much difficulty in detecting cases of poisoning, that it would tend to encourage persons to poison others who happened to be in their way, and thus crime would go unchecked. If these are the only objections they are easily to be overcome. First, by constructing public crematories, where for a few * I believe it was Lord Shaftesbury whose remark on this point was, "What would have become of the blessed martyrs, if destruction by fire was to annul their chances of resurrection ? " t The metropolis alone has in addition to the numerous burying grounds near its parish churches, &c. (many of which have been, however, dug up and destroyed), the average of which it would be difficult to determine, 22 cemeteries with an aggregate area of 2210 acres. Cemeteries. 445 pounds a day sufficient heat could be maintained to consume almost any number of bodies,* whilst the present great expense of maintaining large cemeteries with their attendant guardians and other costs would be dispensed with ; and Secondly, by instituting a scientific and independent en- quiry as to the cause of every death which occurs. This is so much required at the present day for the sake of the public health, that even if cremation is never introduced it should be at once enforced, so that those who have charge of the public health could have exact and reliable knowledge of the causes of all the deaths throughout the United Kingdom, and thus obtain such valuable information as would greatly assist in the daily fight to subdue and overcome deaths from pre- ventable causes. It is satisfactory to the Author to note that since the first edition of this book appeared in 1883, the objections to cremation have gradually disappeared, and crematories have been erected in a large number of towns and cities in this country. * With either the " Gorini " or u Siemens " systems of cremation very little expense need be incurred if the heat is fairly constantly maintained. The late Mr. Eassie in a paper on 'The Economy of Cremation,' which he read at a congress at the Sanitary Institute at York in 1186, states that : "If cremation were to replace inhumation a safe calculation shows that the cost (including removal to a near crematory) might be computed thus : For paupers IQJ. For the working classes 2/., for the middle classes I3/., &c. (Transactions of the Sanitary Institute, vol. viii. p. 82.) 446 CHAPTER XXXI. MORTUARIES. As the Public Health Act, 1875, contains several clauses bearing upon mortuaries, a few words upon this subject will not be altogether inappropriate. The great and terrible evils arising from the practice of keeping corpses in inhabited rooms by the poorer classes were pointed out by Mr. Chadwick in the year 1843,* and the fol- lowing clauses upon this subject, and the necessity imposed upon the local authority to provide proper mortuaries, are contained in the Public Health Act, 1875 : " Any local authority may, and if required by the Local Government Board shall, provide and:fit up a proper place for the reception of dead bodies before interment (in this Act called a mortuary), and may make byelaws with respect to the management and charges for use of the same ; they may also provide for the decent and economical interment, at charges to be fixed by such byelaws, of any dead body which may be received into a mortuary (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 141). " Where the body of one who has died of any infectious disease is retained in a room in which persons live or sleep, or any dead body which is in such a state as to endanger the health of the inmates of the same house or room is retained in such house or room, any justice may, on a certificate signed by a legally qualified medical practitioner, order the body to be * Vide * A Supplementary Report on the Results of a Special Enquiry into the Practice of Interments in Towns,' by Edwin Chadwick, 1843. Mortuaries . 447 removed, at the cost of the local authority, to any mortuary provided by such authority, and direct the same to be buried, within a time to be limited in such order; and unless the friends or relations of the deceased undertake to bury the body within the time so limited, and do bury the same, it shall be the duty of the relieving officer to bury such body at the expense of the poor rate ; but any expense so incurred may be recovered by the relieving officer in a summary manner from any personjegally liable to pay the expense of such burial. " Any person obstructing the execution of an order made by a justice under this section shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds " (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 142). From these clauses it would appear that a mortuary or mortuaries are an absolute essential in every town, although it does not appear necessary to have a separate mortuary for any " body of one who has died of any infectious desease," but it may be taken to the mortuary which has been provided for the reception of dead bodies generally. It may also be assumed that bodies may be viewed by a coroner's jury in the mortuary, although a post-mortem examination cannot be made in it, as by the following section : " Any local authority may provide and maintain a proper place (otherwise than at a workhouse or at a mortuary) for the reception of dead bodies during the time required to conduct any post-mortem examination ordered by a coroner or other constituted authority, and may make regulations with respect to the management of such place ; [and where any such place has been provided, a coroner or other constituted authority may order the removal of the body to and from such place for carrying out such post-mortem examination, such costs of removal to be paid in the same manner and out of the same fund as the costs and fees for post-mortem examinations when ordered by the coroner] (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 143)." * * The latter part of this section (from the words " and where ") is repeated by The Coroner's Act, 1887 (50 & 51 Viet. c. 71). Section 24 of that Act, how- 448 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. It will be observed that the above clause apparently forbids a post-mortem room being provided at the mortuary, although this would appear to be the most appropriate situation for it, and indeed such a room is frequently provided at or near the mortuary. The reason for this prohibition, especially as it is associated with a workhouse, is evidently to overcome the prejudice which would exist in the minds of the ignorant that the fact of taking a body to a mortuary necessitated dissec- tion : a practice which is looked upon with much disfavour by such persons. As a matter of fact, however, nearly all mortuaries at present constructed are designed with a dissect- ing or " post-mortem " room attached. Mortuaries in this country may consist of one of the fol- lowing descriptions : 1. Elaborate groups of buildings, comprising mortuary, chapel, coroner's room, post-mortem room, dead-house, wait- ing rooms, &c., and the pecessary care-taker's rooms and offices. 2. Mortuaries in connection with infectious hospitals. 3. Mortuaries in connection with general hospitals. 4. Mortuaries at cemeteries or licensed burial grounds. 5. Dead-houses provided by the sanitary authority. In arranging for the erection of a dead-house or mortuary in any town, the surveyor may find the following particulars and suggestions of some use to him : A mortuary must be provided in the grounds or near all cemeteries that are in active operation ; but in addition to these, others ought to be erected in central positions of the town, so ever, provides that when a place has been provided by a sanitary authority or nuisance authority for the reception of dead bodies, during the time required to conduct a post-mortem examination, the coroner may order the removal of a dead body to and from such place for carrying out such examination ; and the cost of such removal shall be deemed to be a part of the expenses incurred in and about the holding of an inquest. Further powers in connection with the removal of bodies of persons who have died of an infectious disease, are conferred by the Infectious Disease (Prevention) Act, 1890 (53 & 54 Viet. c. 34). Mortuaries. 449 that bodies can be easily conveyed there, not only with a view to meet the objections mentioned in the opening of this chapter, but also to avoid the unseemly practice at present so largely in vogue of taking any cases of sudden death, suicide, accidental drowning, violence or accident, &c., that may occur, to the nearest public house, there to await identification and the coroner's inquest* In Frankfort mortuaries have been for some years in existence ; they are simple buildings, with a separate room for each corpse, intended not only to prevent bodies from being kept in private houses, but also to lessen the chance of any person being buried alive. The following is a plan of one of these institutions. ENTRANCE PLAN OF A GERMAN LEICHENHAUSER OR DEAD-HOUSE. To prevent the chance of burying any person alive, each corpse as it is placed in its little dead-house has a ring placed upon its finger ; this ring is attached to a string which is in * There is no law that can compel anyone to receive a dead body into his house. 2 G 45 o Municipal and Sanitary Engineers' Handbook. communication with a bell which hangs in the attendant's room, who is there night and day, a window communicates with each dead-house, so that on the alarm being given he is at once ready to render assistance. In Paris, as is well known, all bodies that are found are placed in the " Morgue " behind " Notre Dame," where they are publicly exhibited, thus assisting identification, although the exposure of bodies in this manner is not very attractive. The following plan, however, of an existing dead-house may be taken as illustrating the ordinary requirements of an English town. PLAN OF A MORTUARY. In preparing designs for a group of buildings such as are set forth in the first on the list whkh I have given, the fol- lowing requirements should be considered : Mortuaries. 45 1 The Mortuary Chapel should be of such dimensions as are suitable for the requirements of the district, bearing in mind that if an epidemic of a fatal character was to unfor- tunately break out, it could either provide accommodation for the extra strain upon it, or be capable of being easily extended. It should be designed so as to combine the cha- racteristics of a chapel with the most perfect sanitary arrange- ments.* The walls should be of stone lined with glazed tiles, and everything should be kept as flush as possible so as to avoid projections on which dust could accumulate, the whole being easily and readily cleansed and disinfected. The floor may be of asphalte or other impervious material, and be well drained, great care being of course taken to exclude rats. The ventilation must be perfect, the buildings should always be of low temperature even in the hottest days of summer, any windows should be in the north side, or else external louvre blinds should be provided. All the group of buildings should, if possible, be surrounded by a free belt of air. Their position should be isolated with respect to other buildings, and of course it is highly necessary that they should be as far away as possible from any dwelling-house, a disused burial ground being sometimes selected as a convenient site ; in fact, they should as much as possible be isolated and unobtrusive. The furniture of a mortuary chapel should consist only of trestles or of brackets against the walls upon which to rest the shells containing the corpses. The Dead-house should be a room smaller than the mortuary chapel, but its construction may be the same. It is here that all bodies should be brought uncoffined for the purpose of awaiting identification, or preparatory to post- mortem examination, or of bodies of those who have died * It is important to remove the idea of a " parish dead-house," otherwise its object will be defeated, as persons will object to allow the bodies of their deceased friends to be taken to it. 2 G 2 452 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. from dangerous contagious maladies, and rendering immediate removal necessary ; these are placed upon slate tables at a height of about 3 feet from the floor. In conjunction with the dead-house should be The Post-mortem Room, which requires plenty of light ; it must also, like the mortuary chapel and dead-house, be thoroughly ventilated and drained and be easily cleansed. Its furniture must consist of the necessary post-mortem table of slate, zinc, or wood covered entirely with lead : this table must slightly dish towards the centre and be drained into a pail or on to a grating. Plenty of water is essential, con- veniently laid on, and the room must be fitted with good arrangements for gas or other means of artificial lighting. Some method is also necessary for the purpose of heating water whenever it is required. The Coroner s Court may be simply a large room with convenient seatings and tables for the coroner and his jury, accommodation being also provided for the press, witnesses, &c., with the necessary retiring rooms and offices. In addition to the above requirements the following accommodation should also be provided : A caretaker or resident attendant should have accommoda- tion at or near the main group of buildings. A Laboratory and Weighing Room should also be provided in connection with the post-mortem room ; and a Store Room for spare shells and disinfectants, &c.* If possible also it is well to provide a Hearse House ; and in connection with the mortuary establishment, the disinfecting of bedding, clothing, &c., which have become infected, should also, if possible, be carried on. Before, however, proceeding to discuss the question of disinfection, I will give the following drawing (see next page) * For further information on the subject of the erection of Mortuaries, read the Model Byelaws (No. xv. Mortuaries), issued by the Local Government Board in 1882 for the use of Sanitary Authorities. Mortuaries. 453 of a mortuary chapel, &c., as proposed by the late Dr. W. Hardwicke, the well-known Coroner, in a valuable paper upon the subject of Public Mortuaries which he read before the Royal Institute of British Architects in the year 1869. With reference to the question of disinfection, which as I stated can be conveniently taken in connection with that of mortuaries, the following is the clause of the Public Health Act, 1875, which deals with it : " Any local authority may provide a proper place, with all necessary apparatus and attendance, for the disinfection of bedding, clothing or other articles which have become infected, and may cause any articles brought for disinfection to be disinfected free of charge " (38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 122). See also 38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, ss. 120 and 121. For the purposes of disinfection it is necessary to " pro- vide a proper place ; " and in order to centralise this place as much as possible, no more convenient or " proper " place can be found than near to the Mortuary. If there is a refuse destructor in the town, this neighbour- 454 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. hood might also be selected as a convenient and proper site for obvious reasons, and in connection with this the waste heat from the destructor might be employed for the purpose of disinfection, as is the case with a 24-cell destructor and disinfecting installation designed and carried out by the Author at Liverpool. Up to the present time the disinfection of articles of cloth- ing, bedding, &c., has been effected either by dry heat main- tained at a temperature of from 220 Fahr. to 240,* steam boiling under pressure at a temperature of 212, or simple washing in boiling water. When the articles are at all stained, it is necessary to wash them before applying either dry or steam heat, as other- wise the heat fixes the stains permanently. Steam penetrates nearly all articles more rapidly than dry heat, especially where the former is applied under pressure ; but the effect of steam upon leather or other articles which suffer from moisture is detrimental to this method of disinfection. The following are the points to be aimed at in the selection of the " necessary apparatus " to effect the proper disinfection of articles under the Act. Uniform distribution of heat throughout the whole of the interior of the chamber, and this heat must be constantly maintained at a given temperature, a trustworthy index of this interior heat must be plainly visible to the attendant, who must have some simple means for regulating it under his control, or better still, it should be automatic in its action. The apparatus should not be costly of construction or main- tenance, and it should be rapid in its action. The points to avoid are scorching, which produces changes of colour and texture, and weakens the textile strength of articles. Overdrying, which renders articles brittle. The fixing of stains so that they will not afterwards wash out. * At a dry heat of 250 light textures, such as white wool, begin to scorch, which of course must be avoided. Mortuaries. 455 The melting of fusible substances such as wax and varnish. Alteration of colour of any of the articles or of the gloss, &c., of dyed and finished goods, or any shrinkage or cracking, &c. A great number of machines have been from time to time invented for the purpose of achieving the objects I have enumerated, some of which are no doubt familiar to my readers. I believe the following list comprises the names of the machines which are at present best known. Benham's, Bradford's, Fraser's, Heron Roger's, Jennings,' Leoni's, Longstaff s, Washington Lyon's, Nelson's, Ransom's, Scott's, Taylor's.* It is necessary that the Local Authority should make provision for the collection and removal of the infected clothing and bedding from the infected houses, in such a manner as will reduce to a minimum any risk of spreading infection during the process of removal. For this purpose covered and hermetically sealed vehicles should be provided by the local authority of the necessary pattern, in which the articles can be removed from the houses to the disinfecting apparatus with as little handling as possible. Before concluding my remarks on disinfection, it is well to state that plenty of carbolic acid should be kept in a mortuary. Sheets saturated with carbolic acid are used to wrap around the dead bodies of infected persons, and sawdust saturated with carbolic acid can be freely used with great advantage. * For further information upon Disinfecting Machines see ' Extracts from the Annual Report of the Medical Officer of the Local Government Board for 1884, Disinfection by Heat, being a report by H. F. Parsons, M.D.' (Printed in 1886.) 456 CHAPTER XXXII. BORROWING UNDER THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD. THERE are a number of clauses in the Public Health Act, 1875, which empower a local authority with the sanction of the Local Government Board, to borrow money on the credit of the rates for the purpose of " defraying any costs, charges and expenses incurred or to be incurred by them in the execution of the Sanitary Acts." (Vide 38 & 39 Viet. c. 55, s. 233.) The exercise of these powers of borrowing is subject to the following regulations : 1. Money shall not be borrowed except for permanent works.* 2. The sum borrowed shall not exceed at any time in- cluding all outstanding loans, the assessable value for two years of the district. 3. Where it exceeds the assessable value for one year, the Local Government Board are not to give their sanction until one of their inspectors has held a local enquiry. 4. The money cannot be borrowed for a longer time than 60 years, and it must be paid off within that time. 5. Certain regulations as to sinking funds, &c. (Vide ^ & 39 Viet c. 55, s. 234 et seq.) Under section 235, which gives local authorities power to mortgage any lands, works or other property possessed by * The Local Government Board have held a steam roller, a steam pumping engine, a steam fire-engine, a stone crushing machine and closet tubs for the use of the poorer classes, to be " permanent works." Vid* * The Law of Public Health,' Glen, nth edition, p. 513. Borrowing under the Local Government Board. 457 them for the purposes of disposal of sewage, it appears as if this money can be borrowed without applying to the Local Government Board for their sanction. Although the Author understands that this reading of the clause is not acknowledged by them, it is held to be the correct reading by eminent legal authorities. The power to borrow money granted to local authorities under the Public Health Act, 1875, has undoubtedly given a considerable stimulus to the execution of important sanitary works which could nqt be carried out if they had to be paid for out of the current rates. It is also a fair and equitable arrangement that permanent works should be paid for by those that reap the benefit of them, and it is now so arranged that the money borrowed is repaid within a certain speci- fied time by equal annual payments, in order that the rate- payer of the present shall not be unduly taxed for the benefit of posterity. No regular or fixed times have been settled by the Local Government Board over which they will allow the repayment of loans to be spread ; but it appears that the duration of the proposed works somewhat guides the length of time allowed, as will appear from the following list, which has been prepared by the Author with such information as he could gather together: CEMETERIES. 1. Land 30 to 50 years/ 2. Buildings \ (a) Chapels, r 30 years (b) Caretakers' Lodges ' 3. Laying out and planting .. 20 ,, ^FIRE APPLIANCES. 1. Fire engines j (a) Steam, 10 years (b) Manual > 2. Fire escapes 10 45 8 Municipal and Sanitary Engineers Handbook. LIGHTING. I. Gas works The period varies works. (l>) Construction of new works .. .. 15 to 30 years 2. Lamps and lamp columns ........ 10 years 3. Electric Lighting ............ 10 ,, MISCELLANEOUS. 1. Refuse destructors ............ 20 years 2. Steam Rollers \ 3. Horse Rollers [ ............ 10 4. Stone Breakers ' 5. Disinfecting Apparatus .......... IO to 20 years 6. Urinals ................ 10 years 50 years for pur- chase of land, 7. Public Walks and Pleasure Grounds . . . . { 20 years for fencing and lay- ing out. 8. Bridges ................ 20 to 30 years 5 to 10 years for seats. The 9. Seats and Shelters ............ i period for shel- ters is according to the nature of the building. 10. Telephonic Appliances .. . ....... 10 years PRIVATE STREET IMPROVEMENTS. The period allowed is usually the same as that given to the owners for repay- ment of the cost of the works. Sometimes a year is added to cover the time spent in the execution of the works, but it is not usual to let the period for the loan exceed five years. PUBLIC BUILDINGS. I. Hospitals The period de- pends on the (a) Temporary special circum- stances of each case. () Permanent 30 years (c) Floating 20 ,, 2. Baths 30 years 3- Offices 30 Furniture .. .. 10 to 15 years Borrowing under the Local Government Board. 459 PUBLIC BUILDINGS continued. 4. Municipal Buildings 30 years Furniture .. .. I o to 15 years 5. Public Libraries 30 years Books 6 to I o years 6. Slaughter Houses 30 years 7. Markets 30 8. Stables ~ 20 to 30 years 9. Depots 30 years 10. Fire Brigade Stations 20 to 30 years n. Mortuaries 30 years PUBLIC STREET IMPROVEMENTS. 1. Land 30 to 50 years 2. Road formation (a) Macadam 5 to 10 ,, (b) Granite blocks 20 to 30 (c) Wood 10 years (d) Asphalte 10 3. Curbing and channelling 20 years 4. Paving Footways (a) Tar 10 (b) Gravel 5 ,, (c) Asphalte 10 (d) York paving 20 ,, (_^ _ __ MAR 1 1957 LIBRARY USE AUG 1 9 1958 W \ 9 19J LD 21-100m-6,'56 (B9311slO)476 General Library University of California Berkeley YC 13372 95782