The Press.
London, England, 1854-07-15 00:00:00

Town.

Cost of Construction
of Self•Cleansiug
Pipe Sewers.
s. d.
Rugby
Woolwich 15,500 0 0
Croydon
Tottenham

,
Ottery St. Mary
St. Thomas, Exeter
Barnanl Castle
Southampton
Coveutry
Lancaster 7,600 0 0

Onuskirk 3.000 0 0

Hiiehin 13,300 0 0
Alnwiek
Morpeth

Total Coat 98,857 IS S
Aver. Cost each Tuwu 7,081 3 5

Cost of Construction
of Sewers for Men
to Cleanse.
A' a. O.
.... 14,970 0 0
• 47,963 ci 0
• 29,600 0 0
.... 10,000 0 0
.... 2,113 0 0
.... 6,163 0 0
.... 3,709 0 0
• 5J,713 7 0
.... 30,086 0 0
▪ 12,000 0 0
.... 0,000 0 0
.... 7,00 0 0
.... 7,500 0 0
.... 3,000 0

249 994 7 0
17,919 17 7

From this table it appears that the " crotchets"
of the Sanitary Reformers, as carried into execution
by the General Board of Health, have saved these
fourteen towns upwards of 150,0001.
That the towns themselves appreciate the economy
and efficiency of the new works is shown by the fol-
lowing examples of their replies to inquiries on this
head from Plymouth, Brighton, Weymouth, and

Burslem :
Fsom Ruoay.—Tbe tubular draining quite answers our ex-
pecastions. Our annual expenses are less than anticipated.
The water•olosets in the smaller tenements answer eery well.

The whole woiks were completed within the original estimate.
The general district rate will be Z.l. or 3d., and the highway rate
9d. instead of bd., as heretofore.
Piton 'l2orrEnHAM.—Both the main sewers and the drains in
connection with them consist of glazed earthenware tubular
pipes. Both the main sewers and house &tains have acted
admirably, and have effected a marked improvement in the com-
fort of the inhabitants, more particularly of the poorer classes.
The whole of the main works have been executed within the
estimates. The rates for " Private Improvements Works," and
for "Public Works," of sewerage, are not yet ascertained; but

will be very trifling.
FROM ST. THOMAS*, EXETFR.—The tubular system has now
been in operation here fur two-years with perfect success. The
district is pelfeatly fiat, and. presents au unusual absenee of
natural facilities for drainage. Although the main sewer is •
stoneware pipe of only eighteen inches diameter, laid with the
very inconsiderate fall of 1 in 1,000, it has, to the astonishment
of many, kept itself free from deposit without the assistance
of artincial means of flushing, and proved sufficient to convey
away, notonly the house drainage of the town, but also the rain-
fall on the area within its range. Nearly all the houses in the
town have now been connected with the new system by small
stoneware drains, and there have answered the expectations of
the Local Board equally well with the public sewers. Some
minor works remain to be completed, hut those which have
been finished, and those which yet remain to be done, will fall
within the cost originally estimated.

These examples which (from regard to your space,
I forbear to multiply) not only disprove the pretended
" crotchettiness" of the General Board, but go far to
dispose of the next charge, viz., "that it is regarded
with mistrust and aversion throughout the country."
So far is this from being true, that the Local Boards
lean greatly ou the General Board for advice and in-
formation. From a parliamentary return before me
it appears that, in reply to questions from the Local
Boards, the General Board has, during its five years'
existence, sent out no less than 1,070 legal opinions,
and above 100,000 letters of advice and infor-
mation.
Mistrust and animosity no doubt there are, and of
the bitterest kind; but they are manifested by those
only with whose interests, real or supposed, Sanitary
Reform has the misfortune to clash.
The London Water Companies, for example—a
powerful Monopoly, commanding sixty votes in the
House, and carrying on a lucrative trade in sewage•
tainted water, which the Board of Health has
courageously denounced—are to a man its bitter ene-
mies. So are the Civil Engineers, a rich and powerful
body, whose man-size sewers-ot'•deposit are super-
seded by our small-size self cleansing system. So
tar the parliamentary agents and attorneys, whose pro-
fessional emoluments the cheap procedure under the
Health Act reduces upwards of 75 per cent. So are
the owners of ill-conditioned tenements—everywhere
the most active and vociferous " Defenders• of the
Filth." So are the bone-boilers, and the pursuers of
other noxious trades, menaced with restrictions under
the amended Nuisances Act.
These class hostilities only prove that the Board
of Health has unflinchingly done its duty to the
public, in scorn of consequences to itself. Such
hatreds honour it as much as the support and grati-
tude of the towns whose local government it has im-
proved, whose sanitary evils it has abated, and whose
district charges it has reduced.
1 now come to the practical question which presses
for immediate decision.
Much as the Board of Health has done, much yet
remains for it to do. Mr. Chadwick's useful career
is but half run. Towns have been watered and
drained on improved principles ; but the application
of the sewage to the soil—the transformation of a
source of disease and expense into a source of food
and revenue—is a problem still remaining to be
worked out. Already several towns are preparing,
under the auspices and with the aid of the Board of
Health, to attempt this great achievement—the Tu-
bular organisation of town and country—the estab•
lishment of a complete C rculating System, urban
and rural, in place of the present system of Stag-
nancy.