The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-21 00:00:00

' provision of engine power for such rare occasions would be
saved, and the existing sewers made available.
"At present it would perhaps be premature to enter into
the details of this scheme ; but there are two important
points which will require your early attention, viz., the
engines to be employed, and the mode of ventilation of the
sewers. I would, therefore, suggest that I should be autho-
rised, at an early opportunity, to visit some of the best and
most efficient pumping and ventilating establishments, and
report to you further on these subjects.
" The estimated cost of this work will be as follows :
High-level Sewer. £. £.
.. 195;600
20,400
42,000

Main line
North branch
South branch

258,030

Low-level Sewer.

Main line - -•- - - -
140,000
North branch
Engines, pumps, &c.
Land, building, &c., requi•fed for the per-
manent establishment,

100,000

379,000

Total £637,000
REPORT OF TrAE CONSULTING ENGINEERS, SIR W. CUBITT

AND MR. STEPHENSON, M.P.
" We :rave now the honour to report to you our opinion
upon true plans, report, and estimate of Mr. Bazalgette,
your engineer, for the entire and effective drainage of the
to:etropolis south of the Thames.
" During the period in which Mr. Bazalgette has been
engaged in collecting the facts and materials necessary to
enable him to report on this important measure, we have
had various opportunities of advising with him on the sub-
ject, and of making such suggestions as appeared to either
of us necessary for more efficiently carrying it into effect ;
so that, in fact, the report of- your engineer, having our
entire concurrence in its principle and details, may almost
be conaisipred (the amount of the estimate excepted) as the
report elf your consulting engineers also. Neverkheless,
although agreeing with the report, we think it advisible to
accompany our approval with a brief statement of the out-
lines of the project.
" The object of the measure, as stated more in detail in
the report of your acting engineer, is to drain, take off, or
intercept all the rain-water and sewage which now falls
into the Thames, from the district which lies between the
rivers Wandle and Ravensbourne, and does not at present
fall into those rivers, the whole of which comprises an area
of at least 24i square miles, or 15,680 acres, of one-half of
which the rainfall can be intercepted and taken off by
gravitation; but the other, or lowest half, the greater part
of which lies below high-water level, would have to be
pumped up and delivered into the river at some point
belowiLondon—say Deptford Creek—in the first instance,
and subsequently at some point lower down the river,
should such an extension be deemed advisable.
" It maybe here observed, that the pumping station at
Deptford Creek would afford a most excePent situation for
the manufacture of ' sewage manure,' by which means the
sewage-water would be deodorized and delivered into the
Thames, divested of its most offensive and deleterious mat-
ters, which by that process would (as is affirmed) be sepa-
rated and converted into a most valuable product fcir agri-
cultural purposes.
" To prevent mistakes and apprehensions on the vast
subject of draining this great metropolis, and particularly
as regards its cost, we deem it proper to state in this place
that, the special object of this report is not the sewerage,'
properly so called, of the metropolis south of the Thames,
but in reality the construction of a work by means of
which the sewerage of the southern portion of London may
be freed from flooding in the first place, and well drained
in the next—in short, to produce the same effect that
would be produced by raising the land on the south side
of the metropolis twenty feet; in which case every main
sower could discharge itself into the river, either deodo-
rized or not, as might be deemed advisable, without
pumping, and the cost of sewerage would be the expense
of the sewers only to effect the drainage of the basements
of all the houses ; and the whole expense of what is herein
recommended, is the construction of a set of under-
ground main intercepting drains or arteries,' sufficiently
low to do that by the artificial means of pumping
which the Thames cannot do of itself by natural means ;
and it follows, of course, that the cost of putting things in
this position, and constructing this • arterial drainage,' is
altogether over and above the usual cost and expenses of
carrying into effect the sewerage of a town, a circumstance
which cannot, in our judgment, be too strongly impressed
upon the minds of those who are crying out (and certainly
not without reason) for improved sewerage ; for supposing
that the arterial drainage,' with its plant cf steam engines
and pumps, cost, in the whole, three-quarters of a million
sterling, it will probably cost another quarter to complete
the ' sewerage' of the district even as it now exists,
leaving alone further extensions of the southern portions
of the metropolis.
" Now, looking to the fact, that no real benefit can be
derived till the plan be fully carried out to the extent only
as herein contemplated, and that the sooner it can be
done the better, the question is, can 750,000/. be raised
forthwith to complete this 'arterial drainage,' and secured
by special rates upon the whole district to which it equally
applies, leaving the raising and expending of money for
the common sewerage to be managed as at present in the
different districts ; the first would be a uniform and stand-
ing rate for a given long period, till the sum borrowed was
paid off with interest, which would be followed by a small
uniform rate, to cover the current expense of pumping,
&c. ; and the second, a rate varying both in district and
amount, according to the wants and current expenditure
of the district in which the new sewers or other works are
situated.
The raising of the funds necessary to carry any mea-
sure of this kind into effect, and securing the repayment,
is of equal, or perhaps even of greater importance than
the measure itself, and cannot, in our opinion, be too
strongly impressed upon the commissioners, and by them
upon that department of the Government with'which such
matters rest ; but we again repeat our opinion, that the
capital to be raised for the arterial drains, such as the
Hackney Brook Sewer, on which we have already re-
ported, on the north of the metropolis, and the high and
low level arterial drains on the south, should be consi-
dered as separate and distinct, both in the mode of raising
and rating, and aiso of the repaying money, from that for
the common sewers, which are made to discharge into the
arterial drains."
On the motion of Colonel DAWSON, seconded by Mr.
REDHEAD, the reports were adopted unanimously, and
ordered to be printed.
The CHAIRMAN said that the large amount of the esti-
mates for these important works was evident, but at pre-
sent the commissioners had not the means of carrying
the whole into effect, inasmuch as their borrowing
powers were not sufficient. During the last session,
however, they had obtained powers to the amount of
200,0001., and if they could succeed in raising the funds
necessary, they proposed to commence operations on one
or both of these works immediately. The system which
they intended to pursue must, in a great measure, de-
pend upon the time in which they could raise the money,
and upon the season of the year, and the commissioners
did not wish to pledge themselves distinctly to anything
at present, but they were most anxious to commence
each of these works. The scheme for the drainage of
the south district of London was bounded on the west
by the Falcon-brook, which would admit of its being
adapted to the system of arterial drainage. The com-
missioners had thought it undesirable to embarrass the
report under consideration with other matters, but he
wished explicitly to state that the scheme now proposed
would admit of arterial drainage from the west. He also
wished to make this statement, lest it might be supposed
that they had neglected these very important matters.
VINDICATION OF THE COMMISSION.
furtherM,t
observed
The CHAIRMAN
HS()
he had not been in the
habit of noticing any attacks which had hitherto been
made upon the commissioners. All public officers were
under the eye of the public, and they must not be too
thin-skinned or take umbrage if sometimes pretty free
observations were made upon them ; it was a very whole-
some thing, and he did not object to it if a certain
amount of fairness was shown ; and, upon the whole, he
did not think the Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers,
although they had received some hard knocks, need be
disheartened, and he, for one, was ready for a fair stand-
up fight at any time. The chairman then alluded to an
advertisement, complaining that the representations, in
regard to the disgraceful and dangerous state of the
sewerage in that parish, had been unattended to by the
commissioners of sewers, that nothing had been done to
remedy the evil, and that the local and parish authori-
ties were without power to act in any way, the jurisdic-
tion over them being absolutely vested in the commission-
ers. In reply to these assertions, the Chairman entered
into a lengthened explanation to show that the commis-
sioners were in no way to blame. He stated that since
the powers of the board came into operation on the Oth
January, 1849, there had only been three rates in that
district, amounting in all to 17d. in the pound, and the
total amount of the rates was 4,100/., whilst, on the
other hand, 3,466/. had been expended, and works
were
f
at present in hand the contract price of which
the 6d.0
as
6,900/. The fact was that if they continued
o
of the parish of Botherrs w u
rate, the sewer rate,
been ea
to come.
have five y
anticipated for four or
easel' for complaint,
from their bein any r
So far, then,
d showng the parish of Rotherhithe
the commissioners ha
undue favour, and he confessed he had seine apprehen-
sion that complaints would be preferred from other pa-
rishes been unduly that Rotherhithe had
their expense. He concluded by emphatically stating
that the commissioners could not take into consideration
particular parishes alone, but that ,their operations must
be carried, irrespective of any ecclesiastical divisions.
At the same time, he hoped that at the present time all
public bodies would be found acting together
in perfect
amity and concordance.
Colonel DAWSON quite agreed with the • '
the chairman had expressed, e believed that these
complaints had been made for the most part from igno•
ranee and misapprehension of facts. They had always
published their account
criticism of the s, and had challenged the fair
press, and, in consequence, the tone of
the latter had materially changed towards them. It
had done them the justice to acknowledge that the com-
missioners had an arduous and gigantic duty to
perform, with very Their inefficient and inadequate means.
officers were not unduly renumerated, and the
public were under a great obligation to them and had
likewise a duty to perform, not in idly criticising their
proceedings in a hostile spirit, but in assisting to obtain
for them increased powers and enlarged means. In
Parliament also, it had been stated that they had lost,
and did not deserve, the confidence of the public, who
would willingly vote 50,000/. to abolish the commission.
These allegations, however, had not convinced the Go-
vernment of this fact, and Lord Palmerston himself bad
proposed to confer upon them increased powers, and
the House of Commons had actually voted them the
power to raise 300,0001. of which 200,000/. was to be
expended by them in addition to the ordinary purposes
of the commission between the present time and next
Easter. Before he sat down he would allude to the re-
ports which were connected with the Board of Health,
which were calculated to operate injuriously on the
public mind. It appeared to him most desirable that
.
erwise the
these reports should be discontinued,
com-
missioners might feel it their duty ! as they did not
shrink from inquiry, to bring the subject under the con-
e.
sideration of her Majesty's Government.
The Court then proceeded to the transaction of the
other business upon the paper, which was merely of a
routine character.