30 OCTOBER 1880, Page 14

THE SMOKE DIFFICULTY CONQUERED.

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]

SIR,—As no one goes to "romantic Ashbourne " now-a-days by the Derby-dilly, the wonders of Osmaston, which abuts on the high-road, are unseen. There, at any rate, the smoke difficulty has been overcome, and the mansion is in exactly the condition to which we should like to see London reduced. There are no chimneys to disfigure the line of the roof, but the flues are con- ducted downwards, and collected together at the base of one lofty smoke-shaft. The draught thus procured is sufficient to. make every fire burn brightly, and I can from experience testify to the fact that the kitchen range does its duty. Might not the same principle be extended to our great towns, with advantage