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and plucks, dead dogs and cats—and leaves them there.
Only about four tides at springs reach the flat at
the back of my place. Never noticed any sewage
matter. Never noticed any nuisance arising at
mouth of present Trafalgar-street culvert, and I pass
it very often, mostly every day. Don't believe it is
a nuisance. Believe if all Nelson drained its closets
into the sewer, it would be a nuisance; but not if a
catch reservoir were made at the mouth of the sewer,
and let off at ebb-tide.

Mr. DREW: I have a regular water-closet com-
municating with the main sewer; the branch drain
is made of arched bricks; it carries off the contents
of the water-closet and the kitchen drainage. I have
observed no bad smells. I think most of the resi-
dents in Trafalgar-street have adopted the same plan,
i.e., of branch drain. Not above half-a-dozen have
got regular water-closets. The only inconvenience we
have had was in the late flood, when the water from
the sewer came back into the yard. I consider the
action of the main sewer and branch drain quite
satisfactory.

Trafalgar and Hardy-streets had to pay £1,400,
and part of interest on it.

The fitting of a branch drain from a backyard to
the main sewer may average £10 per house; in my
case it cost much more; from the sewer to the closet
my branch drain is about fifty yards long.

I had once to take the Inspector of Nuisances to
my next door neighbour, to compel him to remedy
the nuisance of his cesspool. I have known that
they overflow, and soak all the ground around.

Mr. CROSS (Harbour-Master and Pilot): If the
sewage were discharged into the Maitai, I think it
would not be carried right away, but partially left on
the mudflats, and the breeze would bring bad odours.
If carried as far as Green Point, I still think the
sharp bend and eddies, and the back-water, would
cause stuff to linger about the wharves, just as I
have known drowned men carried in under the
wharves, and hang about there.

If carried out to about, or a little beyond, the
pilotage lights, I think then it would get clear away.
I do not think the flood-tide would carry it back.
When a cask, or such like, has been lost
thereabouts, I have known it to be the back-water, would
Waimea Sands; that is where to look for it. If the
sewer were carried out to ebb-half, I think that
would be safe.

The nearest point of deep water to the end of the
present sewer, is about half-a-mile, almost as far as
the coal-hulk.

I think the mud-flats are growing, from the im-
mense quantities of silt brought down by the Maitai
in floods. If a passage were cut through the Boulder
Bank, I think you would have a heavy sea come in,
and spoil landing at the wharves. I do not think the
passage would fill up again. Below the lighthouse
I do not think the beach travels. Further east it
does.

Mr. WEBB (Trafalgar-street): I know the existing
drain—Trafalgar-street; as a drain, it works satis-
factorily. If more privies than at the present were
emptied into the drain, and the channel not kept
perfectly free across the mud-flat, it would be a nui-
sance. If carried down to the Arrow Rock, all
privies might be emptied into it.

I see great difficulties in the earth-closet system.
People prefer water-closets, especially where access
to the back-yard is only through the front; diffi-
culty in getting people to use them properly; objec-
tions to carrying the stuff through the house, where
there is no other access to the back. I should recom-
mend the removal of solid sewage by flushed drains
not by earth-closets, on account of objections in
men's minds, and because sewers would be needed
at any rate, for removal of liquid refuse, as, for in-
stance, especially from breweries, no very offensive.

I consider the town is not now suffering from the
working of the present sewer. The sewer from the
Trafalgar occasions a bad smell; several people hav-
been sick; but when a good supply of water is avail-
able, that would cease.

I think if the present system were extended, and
water supplied, no deposits on the mud-flat would
take place. If our population were four or ten-
fold, the sewer might be carried down to the Arrow
Rock. I don't think the sewer system more desira-
ble, but more practicable, cheaper, and less opposed
to men's prejudices.

Mr. CLEMENTS (Trafalgar-street): Sewage should
be removed by earth-closets, not by sewers. I say
solid sewage is deposited on the mud-flat. If
night-soil were carried through drains, even with in-
creased water supply, it would be carried back by
the tide on the mud-flat. If carried to the mouth
of the harbour, it might be carried up the Waimea,
or deposited on the Boulder-bank. In any case, it
would be a waste of valuable manure. I believe
there is no difficulty about applying it, no more than
in carrying a pail of ash-os through a house; and it
is the most magnificent manure for the garden or
farm imaginable.

At Christchurch, the night-soil is not deodorized
at all, therefore the system is a nuisance there.

At Wellington, they adopt simply two pails; one
under the seat for excrement; the other for dry earth,
with a scoop, with which to throw a scoopfull over
the excrement each time of using. They pay a contrac-
tor 1s. per closet per week for supplying of earth, (if
needed in addition to sifted ashes, which answer
well) for removal of compost. They have a good
Inspector of Nuisances, who takes pains, and shows
people how to use it.

The closets behind Wimsett's, in heavy rains, now
overflow, and cause an awful stench when the same
comes out, similarly in Toi-toi Valley.

A cellar in Trafalgar-street (behind Webster's and
Murrell's), dug by Messrs. Edwards and Co., but
never built over, gets filled when the Trafalgar-street
drain gets flooded in heavy rains, and the liquid lasts
for a month, and the stench is very bad. So the
cellars of Messrs. Jervis, Trimble, Dishor, and Web-
ster, get filled by water backing up the branch drains
from the sewer, and stink.

Mr. OSMAN (Toi-toi Valley): I have much experi-
ence, carting, as to cost of removing deodorized
night-soil, would enter into contract to cart it away.
I think it would sell to pay for the cartage to a depot.
We get 10s. per load for fresh stable manure.
One load of night-soil and ashes, I should
say, is worth three loads of stable manure. I think
a couple of hours each morning would clear the
town, to take each house once a week. It would
only pay the farmers to take it to, say beyond Rich-
mond, by loading their return carts with it; but I
think none would reach there; people in the close
vicinity of Nelson would use all the manure Nelson
makes. I think it a great pity to waste all that good
manure down sewers.

I think one cart going round each morning would
serve all Nelson, taking each house once a week.

After the flood, Jervis' and Wakatu cellars, which
had been flooded, stank dreadfully; an inch of slime
was left on cellar, the casks were all slimy.

Mr. WATTS (Inspector of Nuisances): What I
consider the greatest nuisance is the waste foul
water, soap-suds, dish-water, &c., which are in