The Express.
London, England, 1858-07-21 00:00:00

SPORTDIGI INTRLLIOKNCE.

A SPECIAL EDITION of ths " EXPRESS,"
sestaildsg the results of the day'. Races, is pub-
Embed every evening during ths Sporting Sauce, at
sex oideek.

Ir the Metropolitan Parliament have not attained
-to clearer notions than the Imperial Parliament as
to the best mode of setting about the purification of
-the Thames, the Ratepayers of the Metropolis have
•eiertainly a cheerful prospect before them. Qua
tot moderato:a : every member had his
nostrum, and every member's nostrum differed hem
that of every other member. Well might Mr.
LOPEZ (of Southwark) exclaim, in the very per-
plexity of his heart, that, however doubtful it might
he, whether sewage admitted of solution, it wee plain
the enrage question did not. One or two points, how-
ever, were elicited in the chaotic discussion of Mon-
day night which are deserving of attention. One
that the Government Bill, as interpreted by its pro-
motors, leaves the Board of Works free, and does not
tie them down to the adoption of any particular
scheme. It will be eminently desirable that before
the Bill becomes an Act this point should be made
too clear for the possibility of doubt. Another point
to be borne in naiad is the testimony of ROBERT STE-
PHENSON. This able and clear-headed person declares
that he has carefully sifted every imaginable scheme,
and that he finds no possibility of doing without some
system of intercepting drainage. There is one other
point, and that is that the Board of Works,
though they may not number amongst them any
first-rate names, have at all events given painful
and diligent attention to all the schemes that have
been submitted to them, and also that they may rea-
sonably be expected to take no important step with-
out further and very anxious investigation, now that
the entire responsibility for the great work is,
for the first time, imposed upon them. If, indeed,
we were driven to conclude that the Board of With,
after being invested with plenary powers, would
merely fall back, without further investiga-
tion, on the scheme vetoed by Sir B. HALL,
there might be considerable cause for wfill-
grounded apprehension. But it may reasonably
be hoped that this will not be the case. They can
hardly, for instance, neglect the consideration of the
evidence which has so recently been submitted to
the House of Commons' Committee; and they will
naturally be anxious, for their own sakes, not to
incur the odium of an enormous expenditure in brick
and mortar, unless conscientiously convinced that
such expenditure is absolcitely essential to the end
in view.

It may well be doubted, quite irrespective
of all questions of cost, whether it would la
wise to abandon altogether the system of dram
which has now for some years been so peter
veringly carried out, with effect,, on the whole, so
beneficial to the public health. But if this
be so, what remains to be done unless it be
the adoption partly of deodorising works, partly of
intercepting sewer? We are quite of opinion that
the Metropolitan Board of Work', before arriving
at a final decision, is bound once more seriously and
dispassionately to review the whole question. In
order that they may do so, every expression denoting
• foregone conclusion, or pledging the Board to a
specific plan, such as the phrase " providing outfalls,"
and the hke, should carefully be eliminated from the
Government Bill. No fetter should be left on their
discretion. The whole power and the entire respon-
sibility should be theirs. Under these conditions we
are really not aware that anything better can be done
than to leave the question of Metropolitan Drainer is ,
the hands of those to whom is ostensibly entrusted the
Local Management of the Metropolis. Somewhere
the power must reside, if the thing is to be done at
all. If we wait till all the doctors are agreed la
their specifics, till the whole fraternity of engineers
are of one mind in their recommendations, our fate
will be that of the classical rustic ; the river of
pollution will roll and welter with ever growing
noisomeness while we are disputing on its banks;
Willer re Wetter. There is a thing to be done, and
thatapeedily. We mast get some one to do it. Whoever
undertakes it mast have fall powers. There must
be no double government, no redo. Well, thee,
where is this depository of power to be found ? Is
there any single man so pre-eminently fitted for the
function that all voices would unanimously coma/ in
his selection ? There ' House of
Let the
There

his selection ? There is sot. Ii the House of
Commons adequate to the work ? Let the
discussion of Monday night answer. There
remains, then, the Metropolitan Board—men who
I have already investigated the subject with con-
siderable esaidnity, and may fairly be expected,
under the pressure of freshly imposed respon-
isibility, to go through a further process of exhaustive
inquiry before committing themselves to decisive
action. Really, it is difficult to tee what better
'election could, under the circumstances, have been
made. If we are to adopt the principle that nothing
shall be spent till everybody is agreed, the year
1968 may still find the grandchildren of Tuwarres
disputing, in the midst of 'teach to which that of '
last June was fragrance, over plans and sections,
with the descendants in the third remove of Mr.
F. O. With.
Arrta Monday night's debate in the Hones of
Linda there may probably be same essfosion in the
public mind as to how matters new stand with re-
'peel to Indian appointments. Lerd Denim, in-
deed, openly admits that he is not a warm friend of
the eompetitive prinsipie, nor most he suppose that
his " viondrses tale" about the three competitive
sadists at Woolwish is yet forgotten. Notwithstand-
ing this, however, it may possibly be inferred from