The Press.
London, England, 1854-09-16 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

drainage and sewage of the district, without which it
was impossible the health of the district could be
preserved. Another ground of complaint was, that a
large amount of sewage was turned into the canal,
and the water became in a most filthy and unhealthy
condition. _ _ .

Sir Benjamin Hall, who received the deputation
with great courtesy, said

"he was most anxious to do everything in his powerito
assist in checking evils of the kind mentioned, or in re-
moving any nuisances which might be considered detri-
mental to the public health; but he wished it to be known
that that department had no control over the Commis-
sioners of Sewers. He knew that the Commissioners of
Sewers were most anxious to do their duty, and to see
their works carried out properly and efficiently, and, at the
same time, as expeditiously as possible; but the task was
such a heavy one that they could not do all they wished.
In any future legislation upon the subject it would be neces-
sary to place the district sewers under the control of the
local authorities, and make them responsible for the proper
management of the sewage of their respective districts,
whilst the main sewers should be placed under the control
of a central board, in accordance with the recommen-
dations of the royal commission appointed to inquire
into the Corporation of London. It would, in his
(Sir B. Hall's) opinion, be quite impossible to secure
anything like a sanitary condition of the inhabi-
tants of the metropolis unless they attained three
great objects. Ist, that the Thames shall be purified by
the construction of intercepting sewers; 2nd, that every
street shall have a sewer run through it; 3rd, that the
owner of every house shall be compelled to make a drain
from his house to that sewer, which shall be properly
trapped, and thus abolish all cesspools. The whole ques-
tion of offensive trades must also come under considera-
tion ; and, if those trades were to be permitted in the
metropolis, all the appliances that art and science could
suggest must be enforced, for the purpose of preventing
the annoyances to, which the public were at present
exposed. Another and very important inquiry must also
be instituted when Parliament assembled, as to how far
the metropolitan water companies had complied with the
engagements entered into in 1852. The period of three
years given the water companies to bring their supplies
from the tidal influence of the Thames, and from other
sources, expired next session ; and a question so important
to the sanitary condition of the public as the water supply
must be fully gone into. The whole subject of sanitary
reform, and the amendment of the Board of Health Act,
and the Nuisances Removal Act, should be considered as
soon as that board could have any leisure, so that hills
upon those important subjects might be brought in early
in the ensuing session. At that moment, however, it was
impossible to do more than attend to the present
epidemic, and reply to the innumerable letters which
reached the board, and which were much increased in
consequence of persons writing to them on subjects which
did not come under the jurisdiction of the department.
It must be recollected that he (Sir B. Hall) had only
been at the head of that office about three weeks ; that the
law was most imperfect ; that when he entered upon
office the cholera was on the increase ; and that he had to
make all the necessary arrangements for meeting the dis-
ease, and checking it as far as possible. This, he was
happy to say, had been effected to a very great extent, and
he had been, generally speaking, ably and cheerfully
assisted by the local authorities. The gentlemen of the de-
putation would see that at that time the Board of Health
did not control the Commission of Sewers; but he should
be happy at all times to receive suggestions from local
authorities which they conceived would in any way tend to
promote the public health and improve the sanitary con-
dition of the people."
The Vestry- Clerk read a letter containing sugges-
tions for flushing the district by means of the River
Lea trust, and the deputation retired.

According to the Journal des Pyrhnies Orientates,
the terror of cholera in some parts of Spain has
amounted to absolute folly. In Catalonia several
communes formed a sanitary corden to keep away all
communication from outside. At Montblanc a
woman taken ill was buried, it is believed, before she
was really dead. The town of Sitges declared itself
independent, placed armed sentinels all round the
approaches to the place, and refused to admit any
strangers or carts from the country districts. At
Maspoujols, in the district of Reuss, a woman having
died, the alcade had the door and lower windows
of the house bricked up without allowing her two
daughters to come out, food being conveyed to them
by a hole left in one window. A letter from Valentin
states that the Marquise de Camachos, after having
passed a fortnight at Alicante, was about to leave that
place when she was taken ill with cholera. Two
medical men who were called in having made a report
of the circumstance to the authorities, these latter
ordered the street to be occupied by soldiers, and
had the patient removed in alitter to a foundry called
Bi:tanica. She died there in four-and-twenty hours,
more of fright than illness.

An old sailor belonging to the French navy, named
PIERRE BROULHONET, died a few days since at Cette,
aged 04. He was present at the battle of Savanna,
during the war of American independence, and lost
an eye there. He was the oldest invalid pensioner
of the French navy.
M. Alois BIERNACKI, one of the oldest of the
Polish refugees in Paris, died on the Bth inst. at the
age of 76. He was formerly nuncio at the Polish
Diet, and at one time Minister of Finance.

SATURDAY,

ditual an faun!.

STEAM BETWEEN LIVERPOOL AND FRANCE.—The
establishment of a line of iron screw-steamers

between the Mersey and the River Loire commenced
on Saturday, by the launch of a new iron screw.
steamer, named the Loire, from the building-yard of
Messrs. Thomas Vernon and Son, Liverpool. Her
tonnage is 573 tons ; and she will be fitted with en-
gines, by Messrs. Hawkes, Crawshay, and Son, of
70-horse power. It is intended that she shall call at
Bordeaux, Charente, and Nantes, and the object of
the projectors is to avail themselves of the good un-
derstanding which now exists between this country
and France in order to realise the full advantages of
commercial intercourse. At the. conclusion of the

launch, which was most successful, the party present
partook of a dejeuner, at which Mr. Thomas Vernon
occupied the chair. Mr. Tamplin, the vice-chairman,
having expatiated on the probabilities of a great ex-
tension of trade between France and England, under
_

the fostering hand of the Emperor of the French,
and under the influence of free trade, said this new
line of steamers would form the connecting link be-
tween Liverpool and the most fertile districts on the
banks of the Loire. There was no doubt that a good
trade was to be done, especially when the French
restrictions upon grain were removed ; and it only
rested with the owners of this vessel to give that
means of development which all trades must have to
make them successful.
THE FRIENDS OF LIEUT. PERRY are about to peti-
tion her Majesty the Queen, praying that she may be
graciously pleased to order the entire proceedings of
the late courts-martial at Windsor to be submitted to
the consideration of the judges of the land, and that
her Majesty will then give her final and impartial
decision on their view of the merits of the case. The
Gazette announcement took every one by surprise, as
it was thought the two vacant lieutenancies would
have been purchased by the two oldest ensigns; but
there are obvious reasons why the usual course should
have been departed from in the present instance by
the appointment of two lieutenants from other regi-
ments. Lieut. Connell and Lieut. the Hon. Mr.
Herbert (brother of the Earl of Carnarvon) have, in
all probability, passed through the ordeal of " draw-
ing " and bed-smashing, and will be free from such
annoyances in the 46th. The ensigns of the 46th
will also be kept in statu quo ; not one of them will
get a step for the present, as all of them would have
done had the two seniors purchased the vacant com-
missions, and two new ensigns been placed at the
bottom of the list. Popular feeling in Windsor is
greatly excited against the officers of the 46th. They
are saluted with "Non mi recordo," and "I don't
recollect," at every turning. As they go to drill the
women congregate at the corners of the little streets
and lanes, and use still more abusive, if not more
expressive, terms. No wonder, then, that the officers
—many of whom were not at all mixed up with the
affair—are extremely anxious to turn their backs on
the royal borough. On Saturday afternoon two
ballad-hawkers arrived from London with a plentiful
supply of papers—printed in the old Seven Dials'
style—entitled " The Court-Martial at Windsor." With
stentorian lungs they commenced singing the doggrel
verses in Park-street, and were speedily surrounded
by a crowd of customers. When the singers arrived
near the Town-hall they were set upon by a party of
soldiers, and only escaped a good trashing by being
taken under the protection of the police. They were
subsequently ordered to desist from either singing or
selling so offensive and irritating a production.
PRINCE CZARTORYSKI has just addressed a letter to
his countrymen of more than usual importance at the
present juncture. He begins by declaring that
"Divine Providence seems now disposed to restore
to them his protection," and tells them that "if they
are called upon to take a part in the contest, au
energetic, and, so to say, a military Government will
be necessary so long as that contest shall last ;" but
that " independence once conquered, the nation
alone would have the right to decide on the form of
her government, and would spontaneously feel the
propriety of taking into account the advice of friendly
powers." He recommends them to "receive the
overtures made to you from whatever quarter they
come ; but before you put entire faith in them,
before you proceed to any spontaneous act, ask—
require real guarantees; " and advises them not to
compromise themselves until "the powers, or any
one of them, shall have declared that independent
Poland shall be strong and exist in her own right for
the wellbeing of Europe; when that power shall
occupied with the formation of a national army, undbere
Polish chiefs, employing, with that view, the Polish,
soldiers who fill the ranks of contending armies.
He reminds them how often they have been deceived;
and sums up his recommendations in three words--
" Wait for events."
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AND SCIENTIFIC PRo-
GRESS.—The return of the British Association
ears to any
great town which it had visited some y post
marks vividly the progress of the age. From year t 44