The Express.
London, England, 1846-10-06 00:00:00

OF THE POLL.

Carroll.

Wood
Hooper

1,653

1,644
, 324

PARLLIMENTARY PAPER.

METROPOLITAN SEWAGE MANURE.
The select committee, which was appointed last
session to consider sundry plans for the application of the
sewage of the metropolis to agricultural purposes, reported
in favour of the Metropolitan Sewage Manure Company
Bill, which has *ince passed into a law, svi:h certain moditi-
cations. They declined to recommend its postponement or
rejection for the sake of Mr. Wicksted's plan, for carrying
off the entire sewage of London, in • tunnel of frsm
tight to twelve feet in diameter, and at a depth of from 40
to SO feet under the level of the streets, being of opinion
that the first experiment of dealing with sewage water had
better be tried upon a smaller scale and at a less formi-
dable expense ; and, as regarded Mr. Higgs' plan, they con-
ceived that the public mind was not at present prepared to
risk the cetablishment of any such reservoirs as he proposed
to construct, although, by the precautions he contemplated,
he would probably preclude the possibility of any dele-
terious or offensive consequences. It appeared, indeed, that
the main ground of complaint against the bill by the owners
or occupiers of land was, that power had been taken in
it to construct reservoirs or tanks for the reception of stag-
nant and offensive sewage water. That power was, in con-
sequence, relinquished by the promoters. Tim committee,
however, seemed to concur in the propriety of such a step
out of deference to public feeling only, being of opinion
that the loss of such 'provision would, in some degree, impair
the efficiency of a measure which proposed at all times to re-
move from the Thames the daily-increasoig refuse of London.
As explained by Mr. Smith, of Deanston, the operations of
the company are to be limited to the King's Scholars' pond
sewer—the contents of thut sewer to be received in a well
constructed for the purpose, thence to be raised by steam-
engine pumps, and earned by a main pipe about eleven miles
in the direction of Egliam, with branch pipes to the sur-
rounding farms; the distribution of which, however, will
depend much upon private arrangement. When used: for
irrigation, the liquid is to be discharged from one of these
service pipes into the channels usually employed for that
purpose; when applied to tillage land the service pipe is
to be brought to some convenient distance in the field, there
to communicate with a hose made of canvas, and capable of
being elongated and conveyed to particular spots, from
whence the water may be thrown by •jet over as extensive
a surface as the pressure upon the pieta will admit—that
pressure being derived from a stand-pipe about two feet in
diameter, and 150 in height, the entire distribution to be
conducted by the servants of the company, with a view to its
proper control, aided by an adjustment at the steam-engine,
to indicate the quantity of water taken at the extremi,ies, so
that the speed of the pumps may be diminished or increased
accordingly.
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The company expect that the farmers will find it their in-
terest to allow it to be used exclusively for irrigation during
the night and during the day by jet and otherwise, so as to
equalize the supply in the 24 hours, and prevent the waste
which would otherwise occur in the absence of reservoirs.
Looking, however, to the difficultios that usually attend a
first experiment, and to provide for extraordinary floods,
means are to be adopted for allowing any surplus to flow into
the Thames without going back into the sewer ; at the same
time that the company confidently anticipate, after the far-
mers shall have ha,l experience of the value of the manure,
that the demand will be greater than the supply. The sup-
ply is calculated at 60,000,000 tons annually, producing, at
21. per ton, an income of 50,0001, which would leave above
the outlay a net profit of 13,000/. on an estimated expendi-
ture of 120,0001. It will require 28,000 acres to consume the
60,000,000 tons, of which it is expected that two-thirds will
be taken for the irrigation of meadow, and one-third for the
enrichment of talon land. As the proe•?ss of pumping will
be conducted in a closed building, so constructed as to carry
any foetid exhalations that may arise from the water during
the short period it is exposed to the atmosphere, into the
furnace of the steam engine, there to be destroyed, the
committee arrived at the conclusion, not only that
this station-house will be unobjectionable. but that
by the proposed means the liquid will be removed in a
far less offensive state than that in which it is now found,
when backed in the open sewer by the high tide? and stag-
nating fur hours together in the immediate vicinity of a
thickly inhabited district, to be subsequently poured forth at
low tide into the open bed of the river. The only remaining
danger or inconvenience to be apprehended was from the
breakage of the pipes or the ultimate distribution of the
water upon the land ; but as it had been clearly established
in evidence, first, that sewage water is not corrosive in its
nature or liable to generate explosive gases, and next that its
distribution is not attended with an offensive eflluvium
unless in hot weather, when, oaring to its rapid absorption
into the earth, the unpleasantness is of very short duration,
the committee had no hesitation in believing that it may be
as safely conveyed in iron pipes as the water of the Themes
is at present by the several companies who supply the metro-
polis ; and that in its application to the 'land it vs ill be less
offensive than manure in its solid state. The report con-
tains some very interesting evidence from scientific men,
supported by that of skilful farmers, and showing, that un-
der an improved system of husbandry, by the application of
the science of chemistry to that of agriculture, the soil, no
matter what its nature or locality, may be rendered by many
degrees more productive and more profitable. A minute
chemical analysis of the sewer water of London, besides
being unintelligible to the general reader, would be out of
place in a mere abstract. All capacities, however, tan un-
derstand the result, as given in the evidence of Mr. Miller,
Professor of Chemistry in King's College. He found in it
considerable portions of ammoniacal salts, alkaline salts, and
earthy phosphates, substances which are found in the soil in
only small quantities, but which are nevertheless absolutely
essential to the maintenance of vegetable life. These ingre-
dients are principally derived from the ashes of our bodies, re-
suiting from the food we have digested; and as we have received
them either directly from plants, or indirectly through animals
from plants, it is evident they must be the food of plants, and
that plants receive them from the soil, which they gradually
exhaust. Mr. Miller stated also this curious tact—that the
money value of those ingredients as poured into the Thames