possible, from facts and experience. The information would naturally be acted upon in the course of time as students got older and it should be correct as far as it could be obtained. With regard to grease traps he would call attention to an ordinary yard gulley which was usually fixed, he thought, to collect greasy sediment from the ordinary house sink. With Mr. Rogers Field and other gentlemen who had spoken, he fully agreed that the principle was wrong. He had seen as much as four to five gallons of sediment (of the most objectionable nature) taken from tittings of that description. He wished most strongly to endorse the opinion that they were the wrong sort of fittings to use, although they were at the present time being fixed in large numbers, and to really good houses. Grease traps should only, he thought, be used in exceptional cases where a large quantity of grease was likely to collect from the preparation of savouries, sauces, &c., and stop up the drains. The principle of breaking up the grease by a flushing tank was the right one to adopt in all cases where they were used. With regard to the tray below valve closets, he particularly stated that valve closets should be of the pedestal kind, without wood casing. Consequently no tray was necessary, as any splashing would fall on the floor and be washed up as it occurred." The tray was objectionable, as it always got splashings from the closet and became offensive. Where they had a pedestal closet there was no necessity for a tray under it.

A MEMBER: How do they get over the difficulty of placing a valve closet on a boarded floor without a tray?

Mr. BLAND said it was advisable to have the floors of all closets prepared of such a material that splashings were not likely to sink in.

With regard to the question raised as to Sanitary Inspectors and their staff being frequently too limited, what he desired more particularly to suggest was that the sanitary engineering branch of the present inspectors' duty had recently become so important, that it would be better to place it in the hands of thoroughly qualified Sanitary Engineers, who would be under the direct control of a new Board of Health. By that means undue local influence would be removed, and he thought greater protection to the public would be obtained by a higher class of work. He could only express his sincere thanks for the manner in which his paper had been taken up.

"On the Ventilation and Lighting of a Church," by JOHN T. BRODIE, Assoc. M. Inst.C.E. (MEMBER.)

THIS paper gave a general description of the church of Holy Trinity, Whitehaven, with details of the ventilation by means of eleven fixed hoppers in the windows and seven outlet ventilators in the ceilings. The installation of electric lighting in the church was also described.

[For discussion on this paper see page 560.]

On "The Diameters and Inclines of Drains and the Flush, etc., necessary for Household Purposes, together with the results of Actual Experiments made by the Newcastle and Gateshead Water Company in conjunction with the Northern Architectural Association," by ARTHUR B. PLUMMER, F.R.I.B.A.

ABSTRACT.

IN March of this year, as Hon. Sec. of the Northern Architectural Association, I received a letter from Messrs. Oliver and Leeson, Architects, drawing my attention to the fact that the Newcastle and Gateshead Water Company were again requiring in their revised regulations (then issued), that service cisterns in connection with w.c.'s should not allow of a flush of more than two gallons. I was desired to get up a memorial amongst architects and others requesting that four gallons might be allowed. Previous to taking any steps in the matter I called upon Mr. Smith, the Secretary, who at once kindly went with me to the Company's yard at The Manors, Newcastle, in order to introduce me to Mr. Askwith and to draw my attention to excellent fittings and cisterns recommended and used by the Company.

With the use of such fittings it was reasonably maintained that a two-gallon cistern was all that was necessary for flushing purposes within a residence, and it was mentioned that water companies were not required to provide water for flushing drains outside a dwelling but simply for domestic purposes.

The representatives of the Water Company next invited Mr. Leeson and myself to a further interview at The Manors' Yard, and thereupon very kindly arranged to fit up various cisterns and w.c. fittings, and lengths of drains for our further private inspection before inviting the members of the council of our Association to give the matter their consideration. On May 29th, Mr. Leeson and I spent a morning at the Manors' Yard, together with Mr. Alfred L. Forster and Mr. Askwith of the Water Company. We made a number of experiments and tests in connection with the various apparatus then fitted up.

There were two lengths of drain laid (each about 83 ft. long). One length was formed of 6 in. drain pipes, with a fall of 1 in

40, having a Buchan Trap 19 ft. from where the drain gradient commenced, with an obtuse bend at 12 ft. from the discharge mouth of the drain.

The second length was formed of 4 in. glass lined pipes, with a fall of 1 in 60, having a Buchan Trap at 6 ft. from the start of the drain gradient, with a right angle bend at about 12 ft. from the discharge mouth of the drain. (See Plans, p. 557, and Tables, p. 559.)

Various w.c. apparatus were fitted up in connection with these two lengths of drain, and were placed at heights representing the ground and first floor levels of a dwelling house.

We first tested the 6 in. drain with a ground floor Shanks' two-gallon flush syphon cistern with a 14 in. flush pipe. The distance from the water line in the cistern to the top of the wash-down basin was 3 ft. 8 in., and from the top of the basin to the bottom of the pipe where the drain gradient commenced was 3 ft. 8 in. A mixture of soft soap and sawdust weighing 10 ozs., without paper, was placed in the basin. The first flush cleared the basin, but it was not till the sixth flush that half the charge came out at the mouth of the drain, and at the eighth flush the remainder came out.

We carried out eight other similar courses of tests with various flushes, &c., detailed particulars of which have been retained. We noticed from the foregoing tests that although the 4 in. drain was not of so steep a gradient as the 6 in. drain, and although it also had a much more acute bend in it, the result of these experiments was decidedly in favour of the smaller drain pipe. Sufficient had been done during this morning's work to convince those present of the importance of these experiments; it was felt, however, that the only way to obtain exact results was to make a very large number of similar experiments in connection with each drain and apparatus, and to strike an average of the results in each case.

The water companies' representatives proposed that the Northern Architectural Association should send a representative to work in conjunction with their Company's agent in connection with these proposed further tests, and in accordance with this suggestion such arrangements as were desired were subsequently agreed upon.

I think we may take it for granted that no water company would desire to supply less water for flushing purposes than such an amount as may be the minimum quantity necessary. It would be undoubtedly penny wise and pound foolish to supply too small a flush, as in such a case two or more flushes would be found to be necessary, and would undoubtedly be used by consumers instead of one of adequate amount. Now that

pedestal closets are being universally introduced, and are used at all times and for all sorts of household purposes, the much greater amount of water wasted and used than was formerly the case, becomes a matter of serious consideration for any Water Company.

I am clearly of opinion that all syphon cisterns are a mistake, so far as Water Companies are concerned, and they are not necessary from other points of view. Of course in the case of syphon cisterns, the full amount of the flush, say two gallons, is obliged to be used upon every occasion, whereas with other cisterns only half a gallon can be used if desired, and in many instances may be all that is necessary, on other occasions it is however, quite indispensable that the handle should be pulled till the full two-gallon flush is obtained.

Various architects have for a long time been convinced, that many local authorities often compelled drains to be laid of unnecessarily large diameters in connection with private properties, and have felt that if only such authorities could be convinced that such is the case, it would be a decided advantage. If the Water Companies' experiments help to prove that drains of as small a diameter as necessary are more easily flushed and kept clean with a minimum flush than drains of an unnecessarily large diameter (which more easily choke up and become foul), we may reasonably expect that some good will be the result of these experiments.

I know of instances where in the case of drains from even single w.c.'s, nothing less than a diameter of six inches will be allowed by local authorities. I may mention that the Education Department seem to understand the importance of not having large drains; in their Code of Regulations they state that four inches in diameter is sufficient to receive the discharge

of as many as ten w.c.'s. I find that the bye-laws of the various local authorities in the north of England practically leave the question of the diameter to the discretion of such authorities. It is generally stated that "the drains are to be placed in positions, of such size and of such materials, and at such levels as may seem to the Council sufficient for the purpose of effectually draining the same," or else it is stated that "every drain shall be of adequate size, and if constructed or adapted for conveying sewage to have an internal diameter not less than four inches." It would seem to me to be desirable that the maximum as well as the minimum size of drains should be stipulated and considered, and that a regular scale of sizes of drains should be drawn up and included in the bye-laws (as in the case of the various thicknesses of walls); if such scale were not binding in every case it would at any rate be able to be