The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-14 00:00:00

Utilisation. of Metropolitan Sewage.

A special Court of Common Council of the City
of London was holden on Saturday, at the Mansion

House, for the purpose of taking into consideration
a report of the Coal, Corn, and Finance Committee
of the Corporation upon the subject of the utilisa-
tion of the sewage of the metroFolis, the matter
having been referred to them upon the requisition
of a public meeting of the inhabitants of the City.
The LORD MAYOR presided, for the first time
since his installation into that office, and he pre-

faced the proceedings by making a few observations
expressive of the satisfaction he felt at being ap..
pointed, through the suffrages of his fellow-citizens,
to the proud position he occupied. He at the same
time expressed a hope that he should receive the
same kindness and consideration that had ever been
accorded to his predecessors in preserving order and
decorum during debates in the Court, (Hear, hear.)
The report that was the subject of the meeting
has already been made public. It was to the effect
that the committee, fully aware of the importance
of the subject, not only to the ratepayers, but to all
classes of the community, had attentively considered
it in all its bearings, and had been favoured with

the assistance and advice of Lord Robert Montagu,
M.P., and Dr. Brady, M.P., both of whom had
acted as chairmen of committees of the House of

Commons upon the utilisation of metropolitan
sewage, and they had collected all the information
in their power, and the result they had arrived at
upon the present state of knowledge of the subject,
was that nothing should be done at present ; but fur-
ther and thorough investigation should be instituted
without further delay, either by the sanction of
Parliament or of the Imperial Government.

Mr Deputy BONE, the chairman of the Coal, Corn,
and Finance Committee, in moving that the report

be agreed to, said that he should not have taken upon
himself, on behalf of the committee, to cause the
Court to be assembled on the present occasion, but
it was considered absolutely necessary to do so on
account of the course which it was believed was
about to be undertaken by the Metropolitan Board
of Works. He believed it was contemplated by that
body either on Monday or Tuesday next, to decide
upon some plan for the use of the metropolitan
sewage ; and the committee, having regard to the
facts disclosed before the committees of the House

of Commons, and the extreme importance of the sub.
ject not only to the ratepayers of the City, but to
those of the whole metropolis, felt that there was
not sufficient data to act upon, and that more infor•
mation should be obtained before any decision was

arrived at upon so important a subject. (Hear.)
With this view the committee felt it to be their duty
to make the present report without any delay ; and
he trusted that, for the reasons he had stated, it
would be agreed to by the Court. (Hear, hear,)
Mr H. A. ISAACa seconded the motion, and in doing
so he said there could be no doubt of the importance
and value of the sewage of the metropolis; and he
thought that no scheme for disposing of it ought to
be carried out that did not promisa to obtain the full
value of the commodity. (Hear, hear.) Accord-
ing to the evidence giving before the committee of
the House of Commons, it would seem that there
were two systems by which it was proposed to get
rid of the sewage of the metropolis, one of which
was to put en enormous quantity upon a small
portion of land, and the other to spread it mo-
derately over a large portion; and he thought

there could be no doubt that the latter was the
course that ought to be adopted. (Hear, hear.)
He believed, however, that the plan proposed to
be carried out by the Metropolitan Board of Works
was to endeavour to reclaim about 12,000 acres of
sand on the shores of the German Ocean by deposit-
ing an enormous quantity of the sewage at that
spot, and that was to be done in conjunction with a
company who were to receive 7-1- per cent. interest,
and any additional profit that might be derived
from the operation was to be divided between the
company and the Metropolitan Board of Works. It
seemed to him that this plan was one that was not
likely to succeed, and that, instead of its treating
the sewage as an article of great value and import.
ance, it treated it as a thing to be got rid of. (Hear.)
He then went into some details to show the value
of town sewage when applied to land in moderate
quantities, and said he believed that if the question
underwent further consideration some plan would
be devised by which the utilisation of the sewage of
the metropolis might be made the means of great
benefit to the country, and relieve very materially
the over=taxed ratepayers of the metropolis, at the
same time converting what was at present a
nuisance into a blessing. (Hear, hear.)
Mr HARRIS expressed himself satisfied with the
tone of the report, and said he hoped it.would tend
to a satisfactory result, and he was only surprised
that, looking at the admitted value of town sewage,
something had not been done long before. (Hear.)
He thought there could be no doubt that the prin.
ciple to be adopted was to apply the sewage to land
with moderation, and all who knew anything of the
subject were aware that if manure was applied to
grass in very large quantities that the effect was
the grass was so rank that cattle would not eat it.
Mr H. N. Pimarrs said he cordially agreed with