§ MR. JOHN HUTTONTo ask the First Commissioner of Works whether he has had his attention called to the condition of the sewers in the neighbourhood of the Houses of Parliament; and whether he can make any statement upon this subject.
(Answer.) No complaints have reached me lately. Some years ago attention was called to the unsatisfactory state of the sewers in the neighbourhood, and a Committee of the House of Commons reported on the need for improvements. The County Council considered, on representations from the Office of Works, methods for ventilating the Metropolitan main sewer, and the Council communicated with the Vestry as to altering the district sewers under the charge of that body. I think very little has been actually done, but some of the inlet ventilators in the street were altered. My hon. friend is no doubt aware that, as a result of an inquiry by a Committee in 1886, the drains of the Houses of Parliament were completely cut off from all risks from the public sewers.—(Office of Works.)