The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-02-11 00:00:00

THE GAS AND SEWAGE QUESTIONS.
To the Editor of the Observer."

pcwhichooinndcei ndgetpd:ewAailtehdO Old Inhabitant,"
Sea,—!
ar:dadrawiliwthay grveea.ttipolDesalired zheapl oenndentireleey
to
tihney ooupri,,cioolnuimen.spsome time back relsdive
toretbsseedeffebcyt
your
reform
was required in both these departments, still I . had no
hope that anything would come of it. Judge, then, of
my surprise to had that both matters have hems Lama in
hand by the commissioners, and that one, at term
them, bids fair to be brought to a successful i
astounding mass of facts and figures that werealLseed
in the report of the gaa committee at the last amptlea of
commissioners, must have startled those who fended we
were having gaa at as low a price as it was possible for
the company to let us have it without injuring themselves.
On the principle of giving "honour where honour is
due," I must say that there is great credit owing to Kr.
Newnam, who has been the prime mover in the affair,
for the immense trouble he must have been at in getting
information, compiling statistics, dfc.; and I have no
doubt that he, with the other able gentlemen who form
the committee will leave no stone unturned till they have
succeeded in their object of reducing the price of gee in
Stourbridge.
Emboldened by the above fads, I beg leave Woof*
the medium of your valuable journal, to draw attention
to another subject which I think is of ma more imperb
once than the ones just spoken of. At the last commis-
sioners' meeting, alter having read an elaborate report as
to the beet and most efficient means of thoroughly tlndni
ing Stourbridge, Hr. John Taylor, our respected Tout
Clerk, made this pertinent enquiry—. What is-to be done
with the sewage when it has been thus carried away?'
and he went on to state that the value of the sewage
matter yearly would amount to considerably over £3,000.
He then went on to point out that there weew ream
systems of utilisiog the sewage; and remarked ditt
by irrigation—which was probably the best at all—could
be eerily adopted in Stourbridge.
After reading the above statement as to the value 01
the town sewage, one cannot help asking,—is it peembie
that at • time when each succeeding summer seems to
be drier than its predecessor, when the heritage is burnt
up in the fields like tinder by the overpowering rays of
the sun, end an enormous proportion of eels/mend IsSirs
have to be slaughtered simply because there is no fodder
for them to subsist apon ; is it possible, this being the
CA6O, that we have been going on year atter year des-
troying and literally t-rowing into the river in Stour-
bridge she nearly X• 1,000 worth of material for remedyieg
this state of thins?
I am afraid that it is too true that we have been guilty
of this enormous amoont of culpable negligence. In
Dickens's beautiful novel, "The Bleak House," there ia
a lady whose mind is so engrossed with the wants of We
heathens at Borioboola Ohs, that she completely ignores
the evidence of her own family, and let, her children
grow up in ignorance and dirt, totally flamed tor. and
neglected. In a similar manner we have had our minds
so full of the idea of getting our meat cheaper by having
the surplus stock of Australia and other countries pre-
served and brought over to us, thatwe have been entirely
oblivious of the existence of the valuable matter for
producing more which is actually flowing beneath our
feet, and serving no better purpose than to pollute Out
river, and causing it to bear on its bosom to the venoms
districts through which it passes the seeds of disease and
death.

To further enforce this I will cite the case of Warwick,
where the system of irrigation hes now been suesessfully
carried on for some time. Like ourselves they had been
in the habit of slowing their sewage matter to run into
the river Avon until, at length, the Lord of the Manor
threatened the Corporation with an action for polluting
the stream. In thou dilemma they determined to try to
utilise the sewage, and bought a large farm for the par.
pose of making a trial of the above system. The result
waii a complete success, exceeding their most sanguine
anticipations. They found to their astonishment that
they had been wasting year after year the means of pro-
ducing crop upon crop of beautiful Italian rye grass. It
is true that at first the farmers fought rather shy of it,
thinking it was too rank in growth to be beneficial to
their cattle ; but when the hot summer came scorching
up all the vegetation in their own helds, and they saw
those owned by the corporation with luxuriant .oul Ter.
dant crops upon them —looking, in fact, as if the waters
of another Nile hat pare,ed over them—one after another
tried it, and found, contrary ti their anticipations, that
the cattle thrived far better upon it than upon grass
grown in the ordinary manner. The consequence is
that the demand has now gut to be far greater than the
supply, and whole acres of it are bought up before it is
even ready to cut.
I sincerely hope that now this matter hae been brought
louder their notice, the Commisaioners will at once take
it in hand, and see if we cannot utilise the sewage in
Stourbridge. That the system of irrigation can be
adopted in this town we have the anthorrty et Mr. Tay.
lor, who is a eurvayor of great experience and ability ;
and that it can be worked with profit the example of
Warwick is sufficient testimony. If it be true that that
men is a benefactor to his species who causes two blades
of grace to grow where before th-re was only 0011, hog
much mare will our Commissioners deserve the gratitude
of the peple of Stonrbridge if they bring the above plan
into operation.
Trusting that I have not trespassed too mueh upon
your space,
I ass, Sir, yours respectfully,
PllO 130S0 PUBLIC°.
Stnurbridge, Neb. Bth, 1871.