The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-21 00:00:00

PROPOSED DRAINAGE OF THE MARSHES OF-I

THE THAMES-(THIS DAY.)

A meeting of gentlemen favourable to the movement
for draining the marshes on both sides of the Thames,
from London as far as the Nore, was held to-day at the
Bridge-house Hotel, London Bridge, to receive the re-
port of the committee appointed on the Ist November
to consider the propriety of calling a public meeting in
the City of London, or to take such steps upon that re-
port as might be thought advisable.
Sir Culling Eardley, Bart., presided.

The following is the report of the committee :
"The committee appointed to inquire into the sanitary
and agricultural state of the marshes on the sides of the
Thames, the means for their improvement, the existing
legal powers for this purpose, and the propriety of ap-
plying to Parliament for an extension of such powers,
beg to state

" That the marshes on both sides„of the Thames con-
tain about 32,000 acres of land.
" That the portion of this extensive tract, of which the
fullest information has been obtained, is the,distric, be-
tween Woolwich and Erith, , and which may be fairly
taken as representing the whole.
" Of the district between Woolwich and Erith aliiout
1-18th part of the marsh consists of open ditches, which,
in many cases, have not been cleaned out for a great
length of time, and they are rank with rotten anal de-'
caying vegetation.
" Ague and allied disorders prevail throughout to
Gravesend and Southend, and occasionally extend to
the adjoining high grounds.
" Attention has been specially directed to the sanitary
state of the district between Woolwich and Erith, und,
taking into account the natural advantages of its situa-
tion, and that its population includes a large portion of
soldiers—picked men in the prime of life—the rate of
mortality in Woolwich is high, and the amount of tiick-
ness excessive ; the proportion of cases of sickne:?.s to
deaths being calculated as nearly double the ordiiiary
rate (40 : 1 instead of 26 : 1) ; and that the excess of
sickness and mortality is greatest in the parts of Wool-
wich nearest to the marshes, viz., the Arsenal district,
where the rate of mortality considerably exceeds that of
London, and that in the last six years there have been
1,749 recorded cases of sickness amongst the work men
of a single department of the royal works—men neces-
sarily in the prime of life.
"That the general character of disease in WoolWich
and its neighbourhood is indicative of malarious influ-
ence : ague and allied disorders being notoriously preva-
lent ; the cases and relapses of ague in a single year
(1847) being estimated at no fewer than 8,000 ; and that
such diseases are especially prevalent in the Arsenal dis-
trict and in Plumstea,d ; in illustration of which, the fact
may be referred to, that in the year 1847 there were 405
cases and relapses of ague among 420 convicts in the
Justitia hulk, near the marshes, whilst in the same
period there were but 69 cases among nearly the same
number of convicts in the hulk, stationed at the dock-
yard ' • that between April, 1848, and April, 1849, there
were 112 registered cases and relapses of ague (or nearly
28 per cent.) among the 402 workmen of the carriage
department of the Royal Arsenal ; that the crews of
vessels detained above two or three weeks near Plum-
stead invariably suffer ague and allied disorders ; and
that last year, when, owing to the coolness of the pre-
vious summers, the malaria was confessedly less intense
than usual, one-sixth of the population of the hamlet of
Piccardy was affected with ague.
" It should be added that the medical men on both
sides of the Thames—from Woolwich to Gravesend—
bear a strong and uniform testimony of the baneful in-
fluence of the marshes in their respective neighbour-
hoods, and their testimony is Confirmed by the most
eminent physicians of London.
"The committee have also to state that, in the opinion
of Professor Airey, supported in some degree by that of
Professor Babbage, the marsh lands are in a great mea-
sure the cause of the London fogs; and that in the
opinion of many of the most eminent physicians of the
metropolis, they exercise a most injurious influence on,
the health of its inhabitants ; an opinion which is con-
firmed by the occurrence of malarious affections in
many parts, but especially In the eastern districts ; and
by the remarkable correspondence
.between the increase
of cases of ague on board the Justitia, and that of deaths
from fever in London.

" With respect to the condition of the marsh lands as
affecting agriculture, Mr. Russell and Mr. Dickson, two
large occupiers of land in the Piumstead and Erith
marshes, have given in evidence that they are losers
to a large amount annually in consequence of the present
system of penning up private ditches ; while Mr. Wm.
Cotton, a gentleman universally known in the city of
London, and owning large property in Essex, has proved
that the measures which he has adopted in lowering
his ditches, and for improving their outfall, have mate-
rially improved the value of his land.
"As to the means of improvinc, the drainage of the
marshes, with a view to remedy the evils alluded to, the
committee have to report- -
" That, in regard to the Essex -side of the Thames,
and the district between Woolwich and Erith, the com-
mittee have been in communication with the eminent
engineers, Messrs. Walker and Burgess, and Messrs.
Easton and Amos, who report that in both there is a
natural drainage. 'With regard to the Plumstead and
Erith marshes, Messrs. Easton and Amos state that the
drainage can be accomplished by new sluices (through
the banks), and by sinking the whole of the ditches to
one common level, or nearly so ; and that the fresh
drinking-places required in some of the lands would be
furnished at a little expense.

" With respect to the legal powers for such purposes,
the committee are not yet in a condition to say posi-
tively whether it will be necessary to apply to Parlia-
ment for their extension. The committee have, how-
ever, been in communication with two courts of com-
missioners of sewers on the Essex and the Kentish sides
of the river, the clerks of the two courts being them-
selves members of the committee. The Essex commis-
sioners of the Havering-atte-Bower Court, whose com-
mission includes 8,000 acres of marsh land, intend to
apply to Parliament in the ensuing session for new
powers. The commissioners of the Plumstead and
Erith lands on the Kentish side have, at the committee's
request, taken counsel's opinion as to their powers, and
have called together at Dartmouth a /nesting of the
owners and occupiers of the Plumstead and Erith
marshes, to ascertain what can be effected in the pre-
sent state of the law.
" It is obvious to the committee that, whether an im-
proved system of drainage of the Plumstead and Erith
and other marshes be carried out under the provisions of
the present law or some new act, the voice of the public,
when attention has once been directed. to this matter,
will condemn the continuing existence of the present
state of things. The committee have received very gene-
ral assurances of support to any well-organised system of
better draining the marshes on both sides of the Thames
from highly influential quarters, besides a general assur-
ance from her Majesty's Government of ' concurrence in
the ob;ect.
" The committee have not ventured to print the valu-
able and interesting evidence which they have collected
until the sense of the meeting has been expressed.
" The question is a large one. It seems to the com-
mietee to be proved that the health of the inhabitants
of the metropolis is much affected by the state of the
marshes, and the committee venture to recommend that
means be'provided and measures taken to insure a more
extended knowledge of the facts, in the hope that the
interests of the owners and occupiers of the marshes will
thereby be promoted, and that what is due to the public
welfare will be secured. _

~ a E. EABDLBY, Chairman."

The CHAIRMAN, after briefly detailing the circum-
stances which gave rise to the appointment of the com-
mittee, stated that they had now sat two months, and
had collected a great deal of information as to the
agricultural value of the land . proposed to be,
drained, and as to the effect of the present bad
state of the drainage on the health of the imme-
diate localities as well as upon the health of the me-
tropolis. The important subject had been entertained
by Lord Palmerston in a cordial and business-like man-
ner. Mr. Macgregor, the chairman of the South-East-
ern Railway, and himself, had two opportunities of
communicating with his lordship, who showed a tho-
rough acquaintance with the matter, and was able to
tell them as much about it as they were able to tell him.
On the second occasion, his lordship entered very largely
into the remedy which he thought might be applied,
stating that he had a bill in preparation for the drain-
age of the whole metropolis, and that he felt very
much disposed to attach to it provisions for
the drainage of the suburban districts, which affected
the health of the metropolis, and particularly those be
tween London and the mouth of the Thames. The first
question to •be considered was whether the drain-
age of the marshes would conduce to their agricul-
tural value. Upon that point the committee
had ascertained that they were the most valuable lands
in the neighbourhood of London- -so valuable that they
did not require the use of manure, and no doubt if they
were cleared from water, they would turn out to
be as valuable gardens for the supplying the metropolis
with vegetable productions as those at Battersea. There
was another important fact which ought to be mentioned.
Between London and Gravesend there were no less than
700 acres of ditches ; and if only 300 of these were dis-
pensed with, the value of the land reclaimed would be
sufficient to accomplish the entire works necessary for
the drainage of the marshes. A 9 to the engineering
. question, they had the testimony of several eminent men,
that the object could be carried out by means of natu-
ral drainage, and without either steam-engines or wind-
mills to pump up the water to a higher level. (Hear.)
Several other gentlemen then addressed the meeting
strongly in favour of the project, and resolutions were
passed pledging its support, and directing steps to be
taken for an early application to Parliament for a bill to
carry it into effect.
The proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to the
chairman.

THE LATE SUSPECTED MURDER IN SCOTLAND.—A few
weeks ago we reported a case of suspected murder which
had occurred, under rather extraordinary circumstances,
in the parish of St. Fergus, near Peterhead, Scotland,
the victim being a respectal)le labouring man, on whose
life the alleged murderer, Dr. Smith, had effected insu•
rauces to the amount of 2,000/. Dr. Smith having been
apprehended, a full investigation has been made, the
result of which has just been made known to the Lord
AdvoCate for Scootland, upon whom it lies to determine
whether tor not the accused shall take his trial for the
deed. Meantime, Dr. Smith continues in close confine-
ment in the gaol of Peterhead.