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A.-Along the Praya wall. There are scavengers who clean them out by hand.
732.-Then the ventilation shafts go right up the hill above the level of the houses one at Glenealy, one below Mr. VERNON's house, one at Castle Road, and the farthest out above Richmond Road?
1.-Yes.
733.--The one in Glenealy is lower down than the one near Mr. VERNON'S?
A. Yes.
734.-The one at Glenealy was the first made?
A. No; I think that was the second; the first was the one above Peel Street.
735. The idea was that you should carry the new ones farther up the hill?
A.-No; the distance of the shaft up the hill depends on the topography of the district. It was difficult to put the one in Glenealy higher up because there was no site anywhere for it above the Gothic bridge. If it had gone above that it would have had to be taken a quarter of the way up to the leak.
736. You would think, then, that a lot of sewer gas must accumulate in that sewer at Richmond Terrace.
A. No, because it is perforated all along with untrapped gullies at the intersec- tions of all the streets.
737. Do you think they are sufficient?
A.-I think they are amply sufficient, but I should explain to the Commission that the untrapped gullies are not permanent ventilators, they are not meant as venti- lators, but they happen to be there and they act as ventilators and very efficient ones.
738. And suppose they were not there, what would you put in their stead?
A.--I would put nothing in their stead until I could get the house drainage of the city re-arranged. It is impossible to do anything with the streets until you get the* landlords to put their houses in order. It is no use trying to trap the gullies along the streets until the tenements have been put in order in respect of the trapping and discon- nexion of house drains or you would only be turning the sewer gas into the tenements. By Dr. Yarr.
739. Has the Government any control?
A.--No, not over the old ones. There has been much correspondence with house owners on the required improvement to house drains. The landlords resent very much the interference of the Board. But all this is provided for in the drainage clauses of the new Public Health Ordinance which has not yet come into force. [Reads sections 43, 44, and 46]. All these are provisions which if observed, will provide a complete system of house drainage, disconnection, trapping, and ventilation. Until that is done of course any attempts at closing the sewer vents in the streets would have the effect of driving the sewer gas into private houses; so it becomes absolutely necessary to begin at the beginning and begin with private houses.
By the Chairman.
740. When does that Ordinance come into force?
A.-I hope soon to receive the news that it has received confirmation. It has been