The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-09 00:00:00

INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.

On Tuesday James M. Rendel, Esq., President in
the chair. The discussion on Mr. G :age Donald-
son's paper, on the " Drainage of Richmond," occu-
pied the whole evening.
The system of pipe-sewers and house drains, of
small area, as compared with that of main brick
sewers of considerable area, with pipe house drains as
feeders, was fully discussed ; and it was shown that
the latter system was much to be preferred, in-
asmuch as the small area of the newly-introduced
pipe sewers rendered them incapable of carrying off
the sewage ; that they very frequently beco.ne stopped
up by accumulated matter from the houses ; that
when this occurred, as their dimensions prevented a
man from passing through them, great expense was
incurred in breaking up the streets, the pipes were
broken to a great extent, and at hazard, in seeking
for the stoppage ; and that even the weight of the
earth in sinking frequently destroyed those pipes.
The system of back drainage, through different pri-
vate properties, was objected to. Brick drains, above
fifteen inches in diameter, were shown to be less ex-
pensive than pipes of the same area, and their dura-
bility to be much greater. It was stated that, in
spite of constant streams of water through the pipe
drains, it was not possible to keep them
free from accumulations caused by grease,
hair, and other extraneous matters, even at
Richmond, which was perhaps as favourable a
locality for the trial as could have been found ; the
removal of the stoppages frequently cost as much as
the original laying of the pipe drains, in consequence
of the liability to aggregation i❑ them, as already
stated. The street sewers should, in general, and
especially were the declivity was small, and the depth
under ground was considerable, be of sufficient dimen-
sions to allow a man to pass up easily, to discover and
remove obstructions.

With respect to the alleged advantage of the di-
minished friction from the smooth interior surface of
the pipe drains, it was shown that consideraDle mis-
apprehension existed on that part of the subject, for
that, in point of fact, fluid frictio❑ was not dependent
upon the so-called smoothness of the surface, and was
practically the same in a rough cast-iron pipe, smooth-
drawn lead pipe, a pot drain, and a brick sewer ; but
protuberances might have the effect of obstructing
the motion of heavy solid substances adventitiously
present. It wa4 shown, that the form of the trans-
verse section of the sewers had much less influence
on the action of the sewer than had been recently as-
serted by certain public authorities.
The experiments on the flow of water through
pipes, as detailed in a recent blue book of the Board
of Health, with the expressed object of demonstrating
the ignorance of civil engineers on this subject, were
brought under review. Some of the experiments had
been repeated by Mr. Hawksley, with the utmost
attention to minute accuracy. The results were
found to be so utterly contradictory of the statements
made and the doctrines taught by the General Board
of Health, and so strikingly in conformity with for-
mulm well known to engineers, and with deductions
from philosophic principles, as well as the determina-
tions of practice, as to fully warrant all persons en-
gaged in sewerage and other hydraulic works, in
continuing their adhesion to the established data.
The experiments were shown, and the formula was
given.

At the monthly ballot the following candidates
were duly elected :—Messrs. P. P. Baly, T. Drane,
and J. Gibbs, as members ; and Messrs. F. Barry, B.
Baylis, R. Daglish, jun., T. Hutchings, T. M. John-
son, C. IV. Lancaster, H. Marten, G. Plucknett,
Braithwaite Poole, and Captain Mark Huisb, as asso-
ciates.

The papers announced to be read at the meeting
of Tuesday, April 13th, were :—" Account of a
Swing Bridge over the River Rother, at Rye, on the
line of the Ashford and Hastings branch of the South-
Eastern Railway," by Mr. C. May, M. Inst. C.E. ;
and "Description of the Viaduct erected over the
River Nore, near Thomastown, in the county of Kil-
kenny, to carry the Waterford and Kilkenny Rail-
way," by Captain W. S. Moorsom, M. Inst. C.E.

METROPOLITAN SE IV ERS COMMISSION.
On Wednesday a special court was held at the prin-
cipal
mr.so,ffii\cie.,Pinet:reek-street, Soho-square, at which the
following commissioners were present: the Chairman,
ahned
thoughtAlaj r D
ita w
rights on t
to
draw
The CHAIRMANMs'aPid"
the attention of the Court to the fact that a report had
been made to him by Mr. Lovick, one of the surveyors
to the commission, with respect to the conduct of a
certain builder, as regarded one of the former clerks of
the works. It appeared that a person, who was in a
certain degree the owner of a sewer at Kilburn, had
applied to the proper officer to remedy certain
imperfections which he alleged existed in the
works executed in regard to this sewer
under the superintendence of the commission,
and at the time he made this request the applicant
had stated that he attributed the inefficient manner in
which these works had been executed to the circum-
stance of gratuities havingbeenreceived by the clerk
of the works from a certain builder. Now this was
a serious charge, and an investigation immediately
took place, when it was most clearly proved that pay-
ments had been made by this builder to the clerk of
the works stationed there, in gratuities to the extent
of 21. in one month. It was perfectly manifest that
if such a state of things were allowed to continue the
commissioners would have no security whatever for
the faithful performance of the works entrusted
to the superintendence of persons who received
gratuities. It was right, therefore, that the Court
should publicly give their officers to understand that
such an offence, if established, would be visited by
immediate dismissal, and it was also proper that
builders and other persons should be publicly informed
of this, as likewise that in such a case the Commis-
sioners would not undertake the liability of keeping
the sewer in order. The name of the builder in this
case was Newman, but the clerk of works by whom
the gratuities had been accepted was not now in the
employ of the commission ; he was one of those
discharged by the reduction of the establishment.
He (the Chairman) had the admission of Mr. New-
man himself that be had paid these sums ; but
he asserted that he did not give them as rewards,
but merely because
Metropolitan
than
commission
those he
to
which Sewers'
was
accepting
under
concurred
h e
yt
remuneration, Ah
were
te
impression
that such payments were customary. It was quite
clear that when such cases came before them, the
commissioners must employ the most severe measures,
and he had just been reminded that by the 29th
r epa
ie rn entitled,
ti
theseteisie idn:
ftseheecest,eiomscricp.ol,ofoytthhoeefrt
the
were liable not only to be discharged, but also to a
penalty of 601. He would move that this clause be
prii‘nitr. p
edaEnTdopoasod Major
posted up troheAmoffisocNe.
observations, and recommended that in case of the
offence being repeated the penalties in the clause should
be enforced.

The financial statement was then submitted, from
which it appeared that there was a balance in hand on
the 3d inst. of 6,0981. 9s. 93., on which cheques bad to
be presented amounting to 2,6521. Os. 6d., leaving an
available balance of 3,5721. 9s. 31. Out of this ba-
lance the Court now authorised payments to the ex-
tent of 1671. 12s. 10d. The ordinary business having
been disposed of the Court adjourned.

[ADVERTISEMENT.] Holloway's Pills a certain
remedy for the Cure' of Sick Headaches, Dimness of Sight,
and Deranged Stomachs.—Extract ofr a letter, from Mr. Dins-
dale, of Newcastle, dated July 1, Bal. To Professor Rol-
Sir,—l have been a great sufferer for some time from
la"de7a.n..ed stomach, sick headach, and dimness of sight, my
digestion was so impaired that I could not venture to eat any
solid food, and I was so weak as to be almost incapable of
walking a hundred yards. I tried a great variety of medicines
without deriving the least benefit, I then commenced taking ,
your Pills, and this invaluable medicine has restored
me to
perfect health."—Sold by all vendors of medicines and at Pro-
fessor Holloway's Establishment, 244, Strand, London.
GENERAL POST OFFICE, MARCH, 1852. On and
from Tuesday, the 6th April. the mails from the United
Kingdom for Norway will be conveyed direct by sea, be-
tween Denmark and Norway, and
warded until further notice.-' and
rate of postage to be
taken
•
on letters addressed to Norway will be the haelf-einite
and so on, according to the scale in operation in thU d
comprises
Kingdom for charging inland letters. This both the British and foreign postage on threa place of their destination, and it may be either.ia, at the option
ieetpters to the
paid in ad-
vance, or the letters may be forwarded
of the sender,
must
except, however, as regardsfee,
the postage upon which, as well as the registrationunParegistered letters,
be paid ill Aavauce,