The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-18 00:00:00

The Northern Middle Level extends from near Kensal

green Cemetery to Old Ford, and has been carried through
the metropolis with but little impediment to the traffic.
Originally a contract was let by public tender for £264,583,
but, the contractor having failed, the work was again let
for £329,800. At the last annual report work to the value
of £258,000 had been executed, and up to the present time
the work done amounts to £314,000.

The Western Area Sewers, for the drainage of Hammer-
smith and Fulham, have progressed to the value of £62,000.

The Northern Low Level Sewer, which will extend from

Chelsea to Abbey-mills, West Ham, and will take the drain-
age of Brompton, Chelsea, Pimlico, part of the cities of
Westminster and London, Radcliff, Shadwell, Limehouse,
and Poplar, the total area of which is about 22 1-3 d square
miles, is about commencing. The extra portion of the work
has been let for £229,000.

The Southern Outfall Reservoir at Crossness, comprising

four compartments, constructed to hold 27,000,000 gallons
of sewage, is favourably progressing, and work to the value
of £228,000 has been executed. The work done, by the last
report, was £125,000. The contract is for £300,000. A con-

tract has been taken at £44,900 for the erection of the appa-
ratus necessary to raise the sewage, and work to the value
of £11,225 had been done on this contract. On a similar
contract to the extent of £22,300 for the Deptford pumping
station, work to the value of £lB,OOO had been executed,
and on a contract of £113,136 for the erection of buildings,
work to the value of about £96,196 has been finished.
The Southern Low Level Sewer runs from Putney-bridge
to Deptford, and it will completely relieve the low tide-
locked districts from the floodings to which they have been
long subjected, and it will effectually remedy certain dan-
gerous nuisances which have long been complained of in
connexion with the uncovered portions of the Falcon-brook
and the Heathwell and Effra Sewers. The contract price
of the work is £234,000, and the work executed up to the
present time amounts to £133,000.
The Greenwich Sewers have been let on contract for
£22,940, and are being proceeded with.
The cost of sewer works executed during the year under
the board amounts to £685,120, exclusive of the sums paid
for land compensations and other contingencies. The result
of these works is that nearly one-third of the entire sewage
and refuse litters of the metropolis is now diverted from the
metropolitan area, and carried to Barking and Crossness.
With the exception of the Northern High Level Sewer, the
completion of which will depend upon the progress of the
Northern Thames Embankment, the whole of the main
drainage works will, it is expected, be completed this year.
Having regard to this, the state of the open sewers has en-
gaged attention, and it is estimated that a sum of £BOO,OOO
will be required to repair and cover these in. It has been
resolved to borrow the money for the execution of this ne-
cessary work, and throw the repayment over 30 years. The
sewers in the worst condition will be at once, undertaken,
and the whole will be completed within four years.
TILE POLLUTION OF THE THAMES.

On this subject the report states that the board, with the
view of purifying the river within the limits of the metro-
polis, undertook works involving an expense of about
£5,250,000, which, "it appeared to the Board, would be of
little avail if the:towns of Kingston, Teddington,- Twicken-
ham, Richmond, Isleworth, Brentford, Chiswick, and other
places, were permitted to pour the contents of the sewers
into the stream within the tidal influence. . . . A large
portion of the water supply of the metropolis is, under the
provisions of the Water Act, 1852, taken from the river
above Teddington-lock, and it appeared to the Board that
the advantages which that act professed to give would be
destroyed unless some means were taken to preserve the
purity of the river above that point by compelling the
authorities of the towns of Hampton, Chertsey, Staines,
Eton, Windsor, Maidenhead, Marlow, Henley, Reading,
Abingdon, Oxford, and other places," to stop draining into
it. In the hope that some steps might be taken, the chair-
man, at the request of the Board, addressed a letter to Vis-
count Palmerston urging that the subject might be brought
before Parliament. The letter was referred by his lord-
ship to the select committee then sitting to inquire into the
plans for dealing with metropolitan sewage.
THE THAMES EMBANKMENT AND THE NEW CITY. STREET.
The.works authorised by the Act of 1862 consist of a
solid embankment commencing at the Middlesex end of
Westminster-bridge and terminating at the eastern boundary
of the Inner Temple, to be continued from that point by a
viaduct to the western side of Blackfriars-bridge. Upon
the embankment a roadway 100 ft. wide will be formed, and on
the viaduct one of 70 feet, and the scheme " embraces" the
formation of several new streets. Two contracts have been
entered into for the first portions of the work. One of these
for the embankment from Westminster to Waterloo-bridge,
comprising the formation of a river wall, faced with granite,
and a roadway about 3,740 feet in length, in connexion with
which a portion of the Low Level Sewer and a subway will
be constructed, as well as new steamboat piers and landing-
places. This contract is for the sum of £520,000, and up to
the date of the last monthly report the work done and ma-
terials on the contract were to the value of 4'78,000, of which
£24,000 is for work. The second contract is for the forma-
-1
tion of about 1,970 feet of the granite-faced river wall and
roadway, to extend from the east side of Waterloo-bridge to
the eastern end of the Inner Temple-gardens. It includes
the continuation of the Low Level Sewer and the subway,
and the construction of a commodious pier bl place of the
Temple-pier. The contract for this is £229,000, and the
value of the material on the ground, the work done, and
plant at the date of the last monthly report was about .£70,000,
of which the sum of £51,000 represents the work done.
The new street to the Mansion-house will commence at