The Press. — London, England, 1858-07-10 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JULY 10, 1858. The witness then withdrew. The CHAIRMAN: I wish to state, on behalf of the committee, that we are all under vety considerable i difficulty as to what answer should be given to those ' persons who have applied to be heard here. I have lone my best to answer those applications, but, not withstanding my efforts to comply with the wishes of all parties, I feel it would be physically impossible for the committee to uullergo the examination of all the persons who have made application to us. We therefore have decided, as the session is drawing to a close, to call evidence according to the best of our ability. It may be that we may not happen to call those persons who are most able to give testimony upon the subject ; but we hope that, under the pres sure of time and the exhaustion of our physical strength, the public will think that we have done best in hearing such parties as in our own judgment we shall select daring the short period remaining to us for taking evidence on this subject. The committee then adjourned till Thursday. On that day the witnesses examined were Mr. Mopham, Mr. Haywood, and Mr. Bszalgette. They were examined on the practicability of burning the noxious gases in the sewers by means of furnaces. The opinion of the witnesses seemed on the whole unfavourable to this plan. Mr. HAYWOOD said t No doubt the system of the furnace and air-shaft would diminish the bad smells in the streets, but, as regarded the condition of the river Thames, it would not have the reteotest effect upon it whatever. The state of the Thames was caused by what ran into it. Mr. BAZALOETTE was of opinion that the sewer could be much better ventilated and purified by a copious supply of water than by any other process. He had no doubt that that supply could be easily obtained. No beneficial effect could be fully obtained as hug as the sewers remained in a stagnant posi tion. There should be a free outlet at all times, instead of the sewage being allowed to remain stag. nant for several hours in the day. It was then suggested that Mr. Bazalgette should, before the committee again met, make an investiga tion ieto the effect which had been produced by the system of ventilation carried on by Mr. Gurney, at the House of Commons, in the Victoria sewer, the College-street sewer, the Wood-street sewer, and the other branch sewers in the neighbourhoA of the Houses of Parliament. The committee then adjourned till Monday next. THE LATE FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE SOUTH EASTERN RAILWAY. On Tuesday last, a most important investigation was conducted before the county coroner, Mr. Thomas Thorpe Delasaux, and a jthy composed of the residents of the village of Chi:ham, under the foremanship of Mr. William Howard, at the Alma Inn, touching the death of Alfred Wood, twelve years of age, caused by the frightful injuries which he re ceived at the recent accident on the Ramsgate and M rgate branch of the South-Eastern Railway, within a few yards of the Chilham station. Mr. Robinson (from the law otflces of the South. Eastern Railway Company), Mr. Knight (superin tendent of the line), the traffic superintendent, and locomotive superintendent, were in attzeidance on behalf of the company, and also Mr. Cosheatl, local superintendent. Mr. Towne attended on behalf of the friends of the deceased boy Wood ; Mr. Stephen Plummer (of the firm of Plummer anti Sons, of Canterbury), on behalf of the Rev. Thomas Wood, one of the sufferers; and Mr. Bartholomew for the Rev. D. Darnell, vicar of Welton, who was seriou,ly injured on the occasion, as well as several members of his family. Mr. Sharland, of Gravesend, repre sented the friends of the deceased man Channon. Henry Wood, the first witness examined, said : I am station-master at the Chilham station of the South• Eastern Railway. On Wednesday last I ob• served the 3.30 fast train approaching the station a few minutes before six. I can't say the exact time. When I first saw the engine some steam was escaping from the under part of the boiler. The engine was then about one hundred yards from the station, where I was standing, as far as I could tell. Nothing had occurred to the carriages then ; they were then on the rails. As soon as the steam was clear I saw the carriages were thrown off the line ; they were all off the line. At that time I should think the train was travelling at from twenty to twenty five miles an hour. There is a curve where the accident occurred, but I can't say the extent of it. I can't say that was the cause of this occurrence, but I suppose when the crank-axle of the engine was broken it made a hole in the boiler. I believe that was the cause of the occurrence. I can't say what was the cause of the crank•axle breaking. I can't say whether it was caused by the speed at which the train was going or not. I believe the train in question was going at its usual rate. I believe the deceased was in a third-class carriage. The engine and tender were broken away from the other carriages. The engine travelled about, one hundred and fifty yards after I saw the steam escaping from the bottom of it. After the crank axle was broken the engine could travel, as it had six wheels. It was the middle wheel of which the crank-axle was broke. Only the ordinary carriages were with the train; there were none with it of unusual length. It was an excursion train. The excursion-trains are as well appointed and attended as the ordinary trains. The same witness examined by Mr. Towne : I have been station-master here about four years and a half. The line has been repaired since my ap pointment, but I can't say how long since. The train VMS due one minute before six o'clock. It was not to stop here. A telegram was sent to Canterbury about the accident. It was as follows :—" Mr. Wood to Mr. Rolls,—Please send som help : accident here at the station." That was sent at 6.5. I received a telegram from Wye. The train left that station at 5.50, being due there at 5.40. It was due at Chilham at 5.50. Ten minutes are allowed for an express train from Wye to Chilham. An ordinary train takes thirteen minutes. When first appointed here I did nut use a green flag at the curve unless there was some occasion, such as there being something the matter with the road below. Did not know that the company had given any orders to go slow down that curve. The engine driver regulated the time of the train. George Wilkinson was the engine-driver of the train in question. It went about five or six yards past the station. I was standing at the signals at the time I saw the train approaching. Of course I was very much frightened at the time. It is unusual to see the steam coining from the bottom of the holler. I watched the engine till it passed me. About a minute and a half elapsed from the time I saw the steam until the engine passed me. When I heard the whistle I was at the signals at the end of the platform. James Cummings, of Meeting-street, Ramsgate, was next examined ; he said : I am a guard in the employ of the South-Eastern Railway Company. On Wednesday last I left London by the excursion train at 3.30. Did not observe anything particular before the accident took place. We had progressed at the usual rate from London. Just as we were passing over the crossing near the cottage, in the curve, I observed something break. That is about 200 yards from the station. 1 was sure it was with the engine, as I was in the next carriage, and felt the shock. I attempted to apply the break, and partly succeeded in doing so, and was then jerked away from it; but I got hold of the handle again after being thrown about in the van. We then came in contact with a coal truck, and came to a standstill. I then found that the train had parted, and that there was another carnage with the one I was in with the engine and tender. Can't say whether the rails were torn up by the engine or tender. I don't know what caused the carriages to go off. We were travelling at about twenty-five miles an hour at the time of the accident. I judge so by my constantly travelling on the line, as near as I can guess. I be lieve the breaking of the crank-axle was the cause of this occurrence, but I can't say what was the cause of the crank-axle breaking. I have been ten years in the service of the South-Eastern Railway Com pany. Was never on any other line previously. Travelling round that curve at twenty-five miles an hour would not break the crank-axle. Mr. J. Latham, of Folkestone, said : I am in spector of the permanent way of the South-Eastern Railway. About two days previous to the accident I walked from Chilham to Wye, and inspected the line that distance. The rails were then in a perfect slate, and not the slightest danger to be apprehended from trains travelling thereon. The morning after the accident I again saw tho line, and examined it carefully. I found that several fresh rails had been put down in the room of those damaged. About four had been replaced. I looked at the first rail where the accident took place, and found it bent. I can't say by what means it became bent. The break in4 of the crank-axle might have caused the rail to bulge out, but I can't say positively. Mr. John P. Knight, superintendent of the South- Eastern Railway, said [ know the spot where this accident happened. Looking at the curve in clues. Lion, I should say from 25 to 30 miles an hour is not a dangerous speed. From my experience lam able to say that on other lines they travel at the same rate on similar curves. It would not make much difference whether you go round a curve upon an incline or a level. I do not think it would be a material fact, as regards going down a curve, if there was a continuous declivity of three-quarters of a mile. The drivers have written instructions as to the speed to be maintained throughout the line. I do not consider the curve in question a severe one. The declivity supplies the motive power, as the driver shuts off the steam, and therefore the rate of only 25 miles an hour is continued throughout the curve, and, if necessary, the breaks may be applied, but that depends upon the state of the rails. By rule 344, section 6, of the instructions to drivers and Witness ; My answer is this—that in Glasgow a portion of one of the sewers receives into it the re fuse of certain chemical works, the effect of which is that the whole sewage matter into which that refuse falls becomes deodorized. Ido not know the reason ; I only know the fact. The CLIAIRMAN : Hence you infer that some disin fectant or some solvent matter might be found out which would remedy the evil? Witness: Well, it may be so; that, at all events, is a thing which is going on every day there. My attention has been frequently called to the state of the sewers in London. _ . Mr. Joint; 'AWES gave evidence as to the levels and capacity of the proposed embankment tunnels for precip;tating and deodorizing the sewage. He explained that two tunnels were proposed to be con structed, one at low level, the other at high level. The sewage would flow into the low level tunnel by gravitation, and it would be raised into the high level tunnel by pumping. The two deep culverts would be considerably above the sewers; one was to receive the sewage from the high level, and the other from the low level. He would apply the lime to the sewage as it runs into the tunnels. He would not allow the sewage to become solid, but would make it a sort of sludge, anti pump it away through pipes; and it would be deodorized. There was nothing in chemistry which could be applied to sewage so as to separate every impurity from tho water. The system pursued at Leicester was by deodorization ; that pursued at Cheltenham was by filtration. Witness did not recollect what was the area of the works at Leicester. It was not an acre. The scheme could not be adopted in the metropolis for want of space. To meet that necessity, therefore, it was proposed that there should be an embankment, and that within that embankment there should be two reser voirs into which the sewage should be discharged. The bottom of those reservoirs would be a little below low water. Sir B. HALL here inquired : Have you and your co•commissioners come to a conclusion that the out- fall from the various sewers will run into your tunnels,—that they will be able to contain the whole sewage, without altering any of those contributory sewers ? Witness : I think you had better put those ques tions to the engineer. lam not an engineer myself. The CRAIRITAN : I understand that the witness is speaking from the report. Witness : Yes. The CHAIRHAN: The engineering part does not coma within your knowledge? Witness: No; I am speaking of the chemical part of the report. Sir B. HALL: This point being at the root of every thing, it must have been brought before the Com missioners. Supposing the bottoms of your tunnels to be level with low water, and the sewers are some 18 or 20 feet high, how far do you mean that the backwater should flow? The sewage must flow back somewhere ? Witness I think the sewers have stop-gates, but Ido not know. I know, however, that the question was fully discussed by the Commissioners. I think it would be advisable first to proceed by deposition, and then by filtration. I believe it to be practicable to work by filtration, according as the tunnels are now yroposed to be constructed. Filtration, how ever, is merely a scheme to save the expense of lime. There would be 400 tons of sewage deposited in a solid state daily. This being rendered soluble and increased at the rate of 1-50th, might be carried off daily by steam through pipes three feet in diameter. Of course, this could not be done unless Government purchased some waste land, on which the sludge could be deposited. It might, however, be pumped into the sea; but, supposing it were required to be used as manure, then it would be necessary for some place to be obtained to which to carry it. There VMS some very bad land at about twenty miles dis tance, on the South• Western Railwa3. By Mr. PERCY : Witness thought there might be apace enough at the mouth of the Ranelagh sewer to make the experiments suggested for precipitating and filtering the sewage. He was not aware that iron pipes, by which the sewage was proposed to be conveyed away, would very soon oxidize. lie was not aware of any experiment as to the effect of London mud upon iron. By Mr. Loritz : The precipitate at Leicester is almost valueless as manure ; but that means that at Leicester they cannot sell it at a high price per ton. If, however, you have to get rid of the substance for sanitary purposes, and can do so by purchasing bad land at some 101. or 151. an acre, and thereby make that land valuable, it may he better than pumping it into the sea, for get rid of it you must in some way. By Sir J. SHELLEY • The land on which the sludge, would be thrown would be capable of being brought into cultivation about a year after. The taking away of the sewage in a concentrated state by barges would certainly be more difficult than to convey it away in a diluted state by pumping.