The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-10-30 00:00:00

THE RECENT HEAVY RAINS.

The Times has the following leader on the recent heavy
rainfall :

We have been passing through a modified recurrence
of the universal deluge. We boast to hold the domi-
nion of Nature, and to be relieved of many old inflic-
tions and burdens in that work. But here is a measure
of the progress actually made. We have a downfall
of water, both in London and the Provinces, far ex-
ceeding the averages and even the highest points
which we record and calculate as if the elements would
always submit to them. Two, three, and even nearly
four inches in twenty-four hours is, indeed, a visitation
in a country which expects about thirty inches a rainy
year, or a rainy district, but prefers twenty. It is evi-
dent that all our plane are made on the lower estimate.
Railways, stations, canals, turnpike roads, towns,
manufactories, bridges, reservoirs, embankments, are
all carefully designed in the supposition that we shall
never have such a downfall of rain as we have had
the past week, not here or there, but everywhere.
Upon all the principles we apply for the just mea-
surement of our brother mortals, this is nothing less
than barbarism, stupidity, or infatuation. The
tribes that provide against floods by living in boats,
or on platforms, or up trees, are wiser than we, who
are caught with all our goods, chattels, and other be-
longings on the ground, three or four feet under water.
But this is only a small sample of the inconvenience
we allow ourselves to be put to. As a general rule,
in London and other great towns, the rising waters
make their first appearance from below, that is from
the basement, or the area, and we know what that
means. It is not exactly water, but something a good
dell worse, that heralds the subterranean storm.
During the last week a good many thousand acres of
paved, macadamised, and built-over surface have
been fertilised, not for grass or corn crops, but for fever.
But the worst of it is that this rude element,
which we allow to be an intolerable master, should
be our humble and very useful servant. If anything
should make us ashamed of our country, it is the
frequent, if not regular, recurrence of this plague of
waters, neither foreseen nor converted to use. We are
always taken by surprise; we always regard the
visitor simply as an unwelcome intruder; we always
take care that he shall not leave a blessing behind. All
things considered, there is no country in which water
is sic) manageal le as England. It is f ull of undalations,
affording a sufficient fall, and everywhere presenting
some spot which Nature has prepared fur, storage,
holding water, indeed, in spite of our hest endeavours
to drain it. Our excesses and defects of water supply
are not so great as those of most other countries Our
rivers do not rise amid glaciers or descend from moun-
tains. The chief of them are only a few hundred miles
long, and till they meet the tide not more than a hun-
dred yards wide. They are all, too, exceptionally
tame and manageable.

But for the Thames, the Severn, and the Trent,
down to our Quses, and Avons, and Axes, and Wyes,
we not only allow them to get the mastery of our fields
and our towns whenever.the sky gives them a turn, but
we even make them more tyrannical and capricious
than they are by nature, and have been doing so for a
century. As much as half a century ago loud com-
plaint was made by all the towns lying upon rivers,
especially those low down their course, that the
floods were more sudden and rcme higher than they
used to do, making the very Blight amends of a
speedier departure. It was stated that works
reckoned upon the old levels were found insufficient.
The only possible account of this change was the recent
introaction or great increase of drainage operations.
All over the country the great object WAS to let the
waters of heaven pass away as quickly as possible
It is true that this was done chiefly by surface drain-
ing, and that even at the date we name there was a
great cry for deep draining, and this might seem not
so favourable for the quick reception and transmission
of the surface water. But if anybody will take the
trouble to watch the discharge of water from the
drain-pipes after heavy rains he will be surprised to
find how soon it begins and how soon it ceases or
dwindles to an almost imperceptible rill. There
can be no doubt that our agriculturists have really
achieved the great task of thoroughly draining [the
soil of this country, so immediately does it throw
off superfluous moisture. One result is that the
spricgs are nowhere what they used to be, arid even
well-remembered trout streams have disappeared
altogether. But the most terrible result is tnat of
which we had a recent example. We had a few
years ago a drought which lasted four or five months,
and nobody could pretend to say that we should not
have one as bad the next year. Of course, the grass
disappears, many crops perish, many thousands of
acres are sown in vain, dairies are dried up, cattle
impoverished, farmers ruined by the cost of forage,
and water makes itself a considerable item in the year's
balance sheet. Absit omen, but we will suppose this to
happen next year. We will suppose the sheep and
cattle everywhere breaking through fences and wander-
ing over the country in search of grass or water, lank,
wild, pitiable objects, ready to follow every stranger for
the chance of aid or guidance. We will suppose the
small farmers and dairymen throwing up their farms.
We will suppose the trees half wrecked by the cattle
browsing on the leaves, and the apple trees stripped of
their bark. We will suppose the flocks and herds driven
miles twice a day to the only water that remains
in the neighbourhood. All this may be supposed,
for it is only a tithe of what actually happened
and prevailed in even the most verdant districts of
' England five years ago. But when this happens again,,