The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1878-01-22 00:00:00

'lotto anb ;tints.

Many • hard-put tradesman, at this union of bad
trade, I. forced to exclaim "Poor Trust is dead ;" but
It is not so with Mr. Henry Edwards, U. P., who
trusts the poor of Weymouth, whether times are good
or bad. Lately he has trusted them again to eg
him with gratitude, and his generously-conoeived
has swelled from 192 capital blankets to 230. "AM?
I am warm," will be the thought of the poor souls,
when the bitter rawness of the morning tempts them
to lie a l' We longer, and though reminimenoes of early
youth might warn them against prayers in bed, such
" blanket-prayers" for Mr. Edwards must be accept-
able to Him who has said of good deeds to the poor—
" They cannot reoompense thee' but thou shalt 134 re-
oompensed at the resurrection of the just."
With the gloomy dragon of war swallowing up the
life and wealth of two countries, and gaping for that
of England too, one would suppose it time to husband
our resources. But it I. just now that the Government
Board threatens to put such • burden upon Wey-
mouth as may sink it to poverty. Our sewage is now
running away to sea, and the town is healthy and
clean. But the Government Board want+ us to lift
an enormous weight, the whole masa of sewage, and
the water with it. "Lilt and strain I" is the com-
mand of the Government Board. Such a lift as that
mut be done by the giant dteam for us, pad he will
demand a costly palace in the form of a pumping
station, while Isis wages ere to be £l,OOO a year, at
' loot, with a year rise of salary. If we could
escape any evil thereby, I should still uk—" Is the
pme worth the out?" But we are without a /miasma,
and yet are asked to pay £l,OOO a year in order to meet
one. I quite admit that many of us, Sir John Coo&
amongst us, at one time thought that sewage irriga-
tion was the way out of the difficulty, and I visited
the *swage farm at Rumford. on the invitation of
Lieut.-Colonel Hope. There the real secret revealed
itself, for although town refuse is fertilising, and
although it is wonderfully little nuisance when
freshly pumped, it requires poor, light, very porous
land, to show its good effects, and whine it remained
any time stagnant, it killed the herbage. At Wey-
mouth we have very little such light land, for although
Professor Huffed pointed out some near the Ferry
Bridge, that is only from one quarter to one-sixth of
what we should require. Heavy lands have indeed
been converted into etterme farms, but by t
the expedient
of first burning the fertility out them II; ou this
wars restored by sewage. If ever we discover means
of getting the town-dirtied liquid to such places as
Moreton Heath, then the successes of Rosendael and
Romford may be repeated. Perhaps our neighbour
Dorchester, which is similarly.harassed as ourselves,
may apply that hint. But Weymouth ecomically
washes herself, and throws the dirty water into the
sea; she gets plenty of clean pure water from Sutton,
and her dirty stuff troubles her no more, for the
water which comes back from the sea is clean. If
Common Sense were asked what wasi to be done, it
would reply —" Let it go as quickly u you can ;" but
the Government Boss* with the instincta of
who srpathies with their brethren in want Year:,
reply— No; keep the stuff back; detain It; pump
and stir it up, and then try and strain the muck.'
The straining manoeuvre has already been tried by
Mr. Austin; but with such small names that the
whole apparatus has been removed and sold off at an
enormous sacrifice. And until the Government Board
tall us how we ar• to strain, and what we shall gain by
it, our Local Board are to be commended for their
firmness in delaying the ruin of the town. "When
they do agree, their unanimity is wonderful," so it Is
now.

Whether we could get even that small piers of land
suitable for sewage clarification near the Ferry Bridge,
I doubt, for the Port Sanitary Authority intend to
have their Hospital not far to the westward, if they
can arrange terms. A few fields away, and on the shore
of the Fleet water, lea bit of land which they can have
for Ets2, or thereabout, if I are rightly informed. Is
not land realm going up in Folios if somewhere about •
couple of acres, far from the busy town, can fetch that
amount? But the Government Board seem determined
to force the Port Sanitary Authority to build snob •
hospital, and I recommeLd them to study Mr. John
Floyer, M.P.'s statement to the Court of Quarter
Semions respecting the County Lunatic Asylum.
No; I don't 'tweet that the P. 8.4. should start
In boarding lunatics, or that they should give the
Government Board an invitation to take l
there; but perhaps they can take in patianti=
other places glad to dispose of and pay for them, and
so the profits from patients sent from alsewheie may
be • scams of revenue to the P.S.A. The well-known
bwinese capabilities of the Chairman and members
.y be exercised on this, and even the dull reports of
Quarter Seeeions thus turned to aecounC Only the
P.S.A. must not put their price too low.