The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-26 00:00:00

CITY COMMISSION OF SEWERS.

OPENING or THE FLEET DITCH.
The following is the report of the Surveyor upon this
subject : •

PTO THE HON. THE COMMISSIONERS OF SEWERS OF TER
CITY OF LONDON.
"Sewers-office, Guildhall, Oct. 25.
" Gentlemen,---In reference to the complaint made to
you of the inconvenience and annoyance suffered by the
inhabitants of the Crescent, Bridge-street, owing to the
opening made into the Fleet sewer at that spot to enable
certain works of reparation to be performed therein.
" Some weeks have elapsed since I mentioned to your
hon. Court that a portion of the Fleet sewer between
Fleet-street and Blackfriars-bridge was in such a condi-
tion as to require extensive and immediate repair ; to
perform this reparation I then received your instructions.
" The reparation, which consisted in putting in a new
invert and underpinning the side walls, was commenced
by beginning to construct a dam across the sewer, so as
to enable the bed of the sewer to be laid dry. The dif-
ficulties attending this preliminary operation have been
of no ordinary kind.
"The Fleet sewer is well known to you as the largest
in the metropolis. An area of land six or se yen times
the size of the whole city of London is drained by it,
the waters of that area being carried into it by many
hundred collateral sewers. At the point where the re-
paration is needed the accumulated waters of this large
area and of these hundreds of sewers run, and the flow
is probably from 18,000 to 20,000 gallons per minute
during the day in dry weather; with but slight rain the
flow is so much increased that no man can stand against
it. With a very moderate quantity of rain falling uni-
formly overwthe drainage area, I question if a horse
could maintain its footing against the current of the
sewer ; with heavy rain the sewer is half filled.
" The sewer is also within the tidal influence, and,
with these difficulties, as regards the water, to contend
with, the work Las been commenced.
" I beg also to state that, in order to give as little
occasion for public complaint as possible, the works in
this sewer have been performed hitherto without opening,
any portion of the sewer itself; the only portion of in-
gress and egress being one small hole in the branch
sewer in Crescent-place. The hole complained of is but
three feet wide, and three feet long, and 27 feet distant
from the nearest dwelling. Down this small orifice the
workmen have descended and conveyed very bulky mate-
rials, at great labour, and, therefore, at considerable
cost. Moreover, mechanical appliances, which are used
with so much advantage in works similar in their nature,
and by the aid of which, with sufficient space, an
amount of work 500 times in extent to that done in the
Fleet sewer could have been performed in the same
space of time with ease, cannot be used, owing to the
insufficiency of space, and manual labour, applied at im-
mense disadvantage, is all that can be used. I will fur-
ther state the men have been working frequently with
two-thirds of their bodies immersed in the sewer waters,
amid an uncertain light and a deafening roar of water,
and, at times, with but little chance of their lives if they
had once lost their footing.
"With regard to the length of time the hole has been
opened, it should be known that, even in fine weather,
the hours when men can work are very limited. Half
of the 24 hours the tidal water is in the sewer ; when
it is out, the men can with difficulty work three hours
of the morning, especially on Saturdays, and at other
times, if any rain comes down, the work has to be sus-
pended at once. The possibility of proceeding, there-
fore, it will be seen, depends much upon a conjunction
of fortunate conditions ; and, unfortunately, the wea-
ther has been very bad indeed during the whole of the
months of September and October (usually months in
which there is a large portion of settled weather), and
during which I fully anticipated I should have been
enabled to prosecute the work quickly and well. I be-
lieve I may assert that the sewer has never been entirely
free for 24 hours either from rain actually falling or the
drainage waters from the upland districts after the rain ;
and actual progress has only been made in one tide out
of every three or four. Two or three times, when dams
have been all but complete, heavy floods of rain have
washed the larger portion of them away.
"I venture to think that it will be obvious to your
hon. Court that the ordinary difficulties, even in fine wea-
ther, are great, and that they are very muchincreased
in wet weather, and that they have been increased, more-
over, by carrying on the work from so small an aperture.
When, therefore, the time this hole has been opened is
complained of, it should be known that to prevent larger
inconvenience that has been done.

" As to the time when this work will be completed, it
depends almost entirely upon the weather, and it is im-
possible
to name any time that can b e relied upon.
" I have directed the hole complained of to be closely
boarded in, and deodorising powders to be used ; beyond
this nothing can be done except closing it altogether.
" With regard to the suggestion that an opening might
be made for the work near the late site of the Fleet Pri-
son, I beg to observe that the sewer at that spot is not
of sufficient width to allow workmen to pass each other
with materials ; and the cost, labour, danger, and time
consumed would probably be doubled, as everything
would have to be carried over wooden stages nearly 500
feet in length, which would first have to be built pur-
posely. The difficulty in carrying on the works from
this spot would be exceedingly great, although there is
little engineering work in the present day that can be
said to be impossible with sufficient outlay of money.
"There is, however, a working hole in Bridge-street,
south of the Obelisk. This might be opened, and that by
the Crescent closed ; but the disadvantages and cost of
performing the work at this spot will be greatly increased,
as, unless wooden stages are put up to travel over, the
only means of conveying the men and the materials to
the working spot will be by floating them down a large
punt, which must be constructed for that purpose.
" I have the honour to remain, Gentlemen, your most
obedient servant, " WILLIAM HEYWOOD.

The MEDICAL OFFICER said that, from personal in-
spection, he was able to bear evidence to the extreme
mechanical difficulties described by the surveyor. There
could be no question that the opening of the sewers was
a source of offensive and unwholesome effluvia, though,
perhaps, the degree might be somewhat over-estimated
by the neighbours, and if the works were unnecessary,
there could be no doubt about the fitness of immediately
closing them. 'Whatever the present evil might he, a
permanently unsound condition of the Fleet sewer would
be a much greater evil, allowing soakage and undermin-
ing houses. Assuming that the works were necessary
for preventing these kinds of mischief, it was of gmt

Yesterday a court was held for the dispatch of public
business,—Mr. Deputy Peacock in the chair.
PLUMTREE-COURT.
The Inspector of Nuisances for the district in which
this court is situated, having reported that it was still
far from satisfactory, as regarded its sanitary condition,
Mr. Deputy HoLT observed that notices had been
served upon various parties interested in the property,
and works were now going on with a view to its im-
provement. (Hear, hear.) It was, however, much to
be regretted that the court had not the power to send in
constables to dispossess the houses of their occupants.
The Medical Officer entered into details fully corm•
berating the justice of Mr. Holt's remarks.
WORKS OF THE METROPOLITAN COMMISSION OF SEWERS.
Deputy HARRISON having alluded to the recent report
of the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers, thought the
court should know whether its surveyor was prepared to
suggest any works for the district under its jurisdiction,
might eventually
of
ually
thefo mermatrpoi
part of
H
of the great scheme
of which
northern drainage
Mr. HEYWOOD—I have done nothing. Immediately
after the resolution of the court of last June, I saw the
engineer to the Metropolitan Commission, and it was
agreed between us that it was one of the works that
might stand over till November, in order that we might
go into the subject together, as it was not one of a press-
ing nature, and as in June, July, and August, works of
an extensive character had to be executed. I did not
know that anything was being done by Mr. Bazalgette
till about a fortnight ago, when he wrote to me, telling
me that he had been driven on by circumstances to com-
plete some portion of the plan which had been suggested
by Sir W. Cubitt and Mr. Stephenson, on the Surrey
side of the river. With regard to the northern aide, I
thought I ought to have been consulted upon the matter,
and Mr. Bazalgette then explained to me that he re-
garded the work laid down purely as a question of dis-
trict sewerage ; that though it could be regarded as an
intercepting sewer, and so far would be a portion of the
system of interception, yet as the main features of the
scheme were intended for purely district purposes, he
thought it was not necessary to consult me upon the
matter. This leaves the rest of the district to be dealt
with. lam quite ready to proceed as desired, and have
been for some time. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. H. L. TAYLOR said there was not much to com-
plain of. He hardly thought the Metropolitan Com-
mission would act without consulting the court. For
many years the city of London had stood prominently
forward, and were unsurpassed in the improvements
they had effected with regard to sewerage. (Hear.)
Mr. T. H. HALL thought the court ought to ascertain
what was desirable to be done with respect to the
northern division ; but that with the southern division
they ought not to interfere. (Hear, hear.) He begged
to move, " That the members cf this commission who
are associated with the Metropolitan Commissioners for
the purpose of the united drainage, be requested to com-
municate with them with reference to the project of
carrying out a system of drainage for the relief of the
north side of the metropolis."
The motion was seconded by Mr. HARKER, and car
ried unanimously.