No steps were taken during the year to supply the parish with these valuable institutions.  I hope, however, that the subject will be taken up again before long, your Vestry having already expressed an opinion favourable to the principle.  I have no doubt that in a few years, and at whatever reasonable cost, Baths and Wash-houses will be regarded as indispensable parts of a well-regulated system of sanitary administration.

SEWER VENTILATION.

The subject of sewer ventilation has made little or no progress during the year, and, as usual, numerous complaints have been received of noxious smells emanating from the gullies and ventilators.  Each case has been dealt with as far as possible; and in many of the cases charcoal filters have been introduced, with the result of putting a stop to complaints.  I am, nevertheless, somewhat sceptical as to the value of this plan, as I cannot divest my own mind of the suspicion that they impede ventilation, and may prove effectual only by preventing the escape of foul air.  The subject was brought very prominently before your Vestry during the current year, in consequence of numerous complaints by inhabitants of Elsham-road of bad smells, not only in the roadway, but also in the houses.  I made an exhaustive report on the locality, and advised measures for diminishing pressure in the sewers, by opening up blind ends, and so allowing the gas to circulate, or, at least, to escape innocuously into the open air, rather than into the houses.  I described the sanitary defects which existed in the houses, and recommended ventilation of the house drains by independent pipes carried from the highest point of the drain to some distance above the parapets of the houses, and I pointed out that this remedy alone would go far to remove the cause of complaint.  To what extent the plans have been carried out I have not yet ascertained, but it is certain that a long period had since elapsed without any communication on the subject having been received in my department.

It is much to be wished that some effectual plan may be soon discovered for ventilating sewers; and, although I do not profess myself competent to decide what direction such a discovery is likely to take, the most promising idea I have yet heard proposes the extraction of foul air by the action of fans placed in suitable localities, the present ventilators being retained in the capacity of inlets for pure air, instead of outlets for foul air; acting, in fact, like the down draught in a mine.  We all know, by reading, what great lengths of galleries in mines deep below the surface of the earth are ventilated, and very efficiently, in this manner, and it seems not unreasonable to hope that the system may be found applicable to the purpose under consideration.  Certainly, there seems no reason to doubt the almost illimitable power of steam fans to induce currents in any direction; and leaving the question to be worked out by those who are making a practical study of it, I can but wish them every success, believing an effectual system of sewer ventilation to be one of the chief sanitary desiderata of the present day.

WATER SUPPLY.

Professor Frankland remarks that the water of the Thames is at its source as free from pollution as the chalk well water, but on its downward course becomes largely and progressively contaminated by sewage and the washings of cultivated land, especially during winter.

The average hardness of the Thames water—or the weight of carbonate of lime, or its equivalent of other soap-destroying substances, found in 100,000 parts of water was 21° or parts in 1873, and 19.7° in 1874.  Large quantities of soap or soda are required to soften the water before it is used for washing; but this process could be accomplished for a small portion of the expense by substituting lime for soap or soda, as practised on similar waters at Aylesbury, Canterbury, Caterham, and Tring.  The following table exhibits the degree of efficiency of filtration of the waters:—

The exceptional occasion on which the water supplied by the West Middlesex Company was slightly turbid was in December, when the condition of the Thames was bad for a lengthened time, so that even the large storage of the Company proved insufficient to render them independent of flood water; it being impossible, moreover, to separate by filtration the whole of the finely divided clay to which the turbidity of the water was due.  The Kent Company’s deep well water, having already undergone natural filtration through an enormous thickness of chalk, is always clear and transparent, without artificial filtration.  The appliances of the Companies supplying river water are, excepting in the case of the West Middlesex Company, unequal to the filtration work required of them.  The microscope is called into use in the examination of potable water, and it always reveals numbers of living and moving organisms in the sediment deposited by turbid water on standing.  The annexed table exhibits the results of such microscopic examinations during the past six years:—

Averages for 1874.
(The numbers in this Table relate to 100,000 parts of each Water.)

But it is not to Professor Frankland alone that we are now indebted for information respecting the water we drink, many very interesting facts being supplied by Major Bolton, R.E., the water examiner appointed by the Board of Trade, under the provisions of the Metropolis Water Act, 1871.  Major Bolton’s reports, which, by his courtesy, I receive every month, afford information on all points relative to the machinery for water supply, and to the provisions already made, or in progress, for giving a constant supply, the main object of the Act; and which, I suppose, we may, at some remote future, hope to obtain.  As the information in question is not generally accessible, I make no apology for presenting a resumé of it on this occasion.  And, first, with respect to the constant service, we learn that the West Middlesex Company are giving constant supply to a number of houses, on the application of the owners, and are fully prepared to extend the supply when called upon.  Extensive works and additional engine power of 120 horse power are in course of construction at Hampton.

The number of miles of streets in the Metropolis which contain mains constantly charged, and upon which hydrants could at once be fixed, is 666—including 67 in the West Middlesex, 41½ in the Grand Junction, and 50 in the Chelsea Company’s district.  The companies are prepared to affix hydrants thereon when required by the authorities; but, in fact—although hydrants might be used for street watering—of 2,531 hydrants already erected, 1,996 are for private purposes, and only 535 for public purposes, including 267 for street watering, in the entire Metropolis.

“That the directors be authorised to take such steps as in their judgment may be necessary or expedient to obtain a fresh intake, with reservoirs and other works connected therewith, and lay the necessary main pipes from the site of such proposed intake to the works at Seething Wells, with the least possible delay.”

GAS.

During the first half of the year the parish was supplied with cannel gas of 20 candle lighting power, and at the increased price of six shillings and threepence per thousand cubic feet.  Since July common coal gas of 16 candles has been exclusively supplied at a charge of five shillings per thousand.  The subjoined table, taken from the quarterly returns of the chief gas examiner, shows the results of the daily testings of the gas supplied by the Gas Light and Coke Company, at the testing station at 123, Ladbroke Grove, Notting Hill:—

The next table shows the maxima, minima, and averages of lighting power stated quarterly:—

Ammonia was in excess on 19 occasions in the month of January, but of a total of 25 testings: the average for the entire month being 4.11 grains (maximum 7.5.)  This excess above the maximum allowance (2.5 grains in 100 feet of gas) was due to unavoidable causes, in connection with alterations being then made in the purifying machinery, which, having since been perfected, the ammonia has sunk to an almost infinitesimal quantity.

In the Appendix I have given the quarterly returns of the chief examiner, showing the results of the daily testings—for which I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Wakefield, the Clerk to the Metropolitan Board of Works.  These returns show in detail the facts above stated, and prove that the gas has been up to the Parliamentary standard, as estimated by the prescribed tests.  Nevertheless, complaints have been made by persons living in various parts of the parish, of the deficient lighting power of the gas.  It must be assumed, therefore, that in some cases the burners in use have been in fault.  There can, indeed, be no doubt that many consumers fail to obtain a proper light, owing to the habitual use of bad burners, or to the neglect to cleanse good ones.  Burners that were of sufficient capacity for the cannel gas, with which the parish was supplied during the first half of the year, are inadequate, and are not adapted to burn common gas so as to produce a good light.  Some consumers who have reported the sufficiency of the light when proper burners have been employed, have complained of the great increase in the amount of their gas bills, and in a few instances, I understand, the dissatisfaction has been so great as to lead to a discontinuance of the use of gas.  It is a remarkable fact, often observed—a fact that makes us almost despair of ever getting “cheap gas”—that the bills seem always to increase when the price is lowered!  How this is brought about I do not pretend to explain; but, so far as my experience goes, it would seem that gas bills never were lower than when the price per thousand feet was at its highest.  I do not think that extravagance in consumption—as a result of decrease in price—can be admitted to be a sufficient explanation of the phenomenon.  There are mysteries in gas manufacture and supply, which may be revealed hereafter, and the discovery may both enlighten us on the point now mentioned, and also explain the occurrence of complaints of bad light, concurrently with the satisfactory results of the nightly examinations of the gas at the appointed testing station.

The dissatisfaction with the gas led your Vestry to adopt a curious experiment during the current year, viz., that of burning mineral oil with the Silber light in a certain number of street lamps in the Kensington Road.  I offer no opinion at present on the comparative value of the two sources of light; but I may mention the fact already well known, and referred to in my monthly reports, that the lighting of the streets in this parish is very unsatisfactory, inasmuch as we are still using burners adapted to consume three feet per hour, as in the days of cannel gas, whereas 4½ feet burners, at the least, should be employed.  A suggestion has been made that the average meter system should be adopted in this parish, and it has my cordial approval—already expressed in my monthly reports—as it is only fair and proper that public bodies should pay for the gas they consume and no more.  The average meter system has been adopted in the parishes of Paddington and St. Pancras.  It has given entire satisfaction, and in a very short space of time the first cost of applying the meters to every twelfth lamp will have been defrayed by the saving in expenditure on gas.  In Paddington the Vestry have undertaken all the necessary work of lighting and repairing the lamps.  The gas has been burned for a somewhat shorter average period nightly, and a further large saving in expenditure has thus been effected.  With reference to the cost of gas in this parish, I may be permitted to mention that during the year the revenue of the Company was many thousand pounds more than necessary to pay the ten per cent. dividend—which, in fact, might have been paid without the increase in the price of the gas, sanctioned by the Commissioners appointed by the Board of Trade, in the month of January.  If, however, the price had not been raised during 1874, it is probable that the price charged in 1873 would have been maintained.  But, in the face of the enormous over-taxation of gas consumers in 1874, and the reduced cost of coal, the Company could not apply to the Board of Trade for a revision of the price in 1875, the result being that the charge reverted on the 1st of January to the Parliamentary price of three shillings and ninepence per 1,000 cubic feet.

I am, Gentlemen,

Your very obedient Servant,

T. ORME DUDFIELD, M.D.,
Medical Officer of Health.

Vestry Hall, Kensington,
         August, 1875.

Note—The forms for Tables I.–VI. have been settled by the Society of Medical Officers of Health to ensure uniformity of Statistical returns.

Estimated population 1874, at the middle of the year, and in 10 previous years; number of inhabited houses; Births, Deaths and Marriages (gross numbers).

Notes.

Population at Census, 1871, 120,234.

Area in Statute Acres, 2,190.

Average number of persons in each house at Census, 1871, 7.8.

Showing Birth and Death Rate: Deaths of Children, and Deaths in Public Institutions 1874, and 10 previous years.

† = No information.

(The Deaths in Public Institutions of non-residents being excluded.)