The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-22 00:00:00

ARMIDALE.

We copy the following items from the Armidale
Express of the 2d inst.

ARMIDALE AND ROCKY RIVER MAIL.—The first direct
mail from Armidale to the Rocky River was despatched
from the Armidale post-office ou Thursday morning last.
In future regular mail communication will take place
between the two localities on the following days :
Mails from Armidale on Mondays and Thursdays, at 10
a.m. ; from the Rooky River on Sundays and Wedues,
days, at 2 o'clock p.m. We have much satisfaction in
iteing enabled to inform the public of the establishment
of such a boon.
A SECOND " RALPH STACKPOLE."—We have been
favoured by Mr. Bradshaw, chief constable, with the
following particulars in reference to the capture of a
daring rascal on Thursday evening last. A little be
fore 10 o'clock p.m., the Government stables, which
are situated in the rear of the Armidale lock-up, were
broken into, and two hogskm saddles removed to the
outside of the building. A short time previous to
this a slab was taken from the back of the chief con-
stable's house ; but it is su osed, when the would-be
the attempt,
his n a
m and
e a bolted olt ed
burglar heard that officer mpopvin
(whoinside subsequently
be abandoned
gave
o
ff.A
Edwards)villain was apprehended
rushing out of the stables, by the civet constable an
Mr. Bligh, after a violent resistance. Yesterday, he way
whilstd
brought before the bench, the pollee magistrate and T.
J. Markham, Esq J.P. and sentenced to be confined
in Maitland gaol 'for two years, with hard labou,s ca
labour. An
more forbidding countenance than the prisoner
scarcely be imagined. The community is indebted to
Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. Bligh for their promptitude and
success in arresting such a rascal.
RATES Of CARRIAGE.—The following are the terms
made for' the conveyance of
of several contracts lately
goods from Grafton and Morpeth to Armidale
Grafton-15s, per cwt., if delivered within one month, ,

THE MAIN DRAINAGE OUTFALL.

(From the Morning Advertiser.)
If people mean work they must shut their eyes to inciden-
tal grievances, and do anything in the world rather than
occupy their time with collateral discussions. Whether Sir
Benjamin Hall has done this, or the Beard of Works that, or
whether this or that might have been done better, are all
questions for discussion when there is nothing more important
in hand. When the grand drainage scheme has been agreed,
upon and carried out it will be time enough to debate such
matters; and when that time comes we undertake to say
they will be so glad to have arrived at their destination that
they will readily shake hands over any little differences they
may have had upon the road. Now this is exactly what the
Board and Sir Benjamin have agreed to do. There are a great
number of small matters upon which ho or they might, were
they so inclined, raise a very pretty quarrel. But, with much
good sense, they have resolved not to split straws, bat to go
heartily into the great work before them, hand-in-hand, and
do their best to meet the expectations and the wants of our
monster metropolis.
The Admiralty has stepped in to cement this happy union,
and have given the Chief Commissioner and the Board the
aid of Captain Burstall's calculations, which have already been
employed who,' the fate of plan A had to be decided. Ac-
cording to this able officer's statement with regard to plan B
the water which passes point B at half a mile below the
Half-way House will, during spring tides, reach the town
of Woolwich before it is arrested by the ebb stream, and at
neaps a quarter
,of a mile below the Royal Arsenal. " I
should, therefore," he says, "submit that the nearest point
to London at which the outfall be made (so as at all times to
be certain that the first portion, discharged at an hour and a
half before high water, would not flow in or near the inha-
bited part of the metropolis,) be the upper part of Erith
Reach, 15 miles from London-bridge, seven-eighths of a mile
from Erith church, and a quarter of a mile below Jawing-
tree Point, nearly opposite Rainham Creek." But even at
this point Captain Burstall admits that the sewage would not
be perfectly clear of the eastern limit of the metropolitan
area at spring tides. Upon this point of outfall, however,
the Board and the Chief Commissioner have agreed, and pro-
bably the public may now, as far as the authorities are con-
cerned, consider this part of the business settled.
Fifteen miles, then, from London-bridge, the river, which
hitherto has flowed at that point as silvery as steam-boats
will permit, has been condemned ere long to receive the filth
of both sides of the metropolis. An extension of London in
that direction, any improvement of property, any idea of
seeking salubrity, is at an end. From the time when the
monster throats at Erith Reach and Rainham Creek begin to
vomit forth their pestilent contents proprietors may bid fare-
well to any dreams they have indulged of rising villages ; and
they will look at their handsome villas with a sense of dis-
may, as they reflect that " the sewage is coming." The affair
is not definitively settled, but if we may estimate the hope of
a better arrangement by the satisfaction which the chairman
and deputation of the Board of Works have apparently felt
at the Chief Commissioner's assent to Captain Burstall's point
of outfall, the prospect of a more satisfactory plan proceed-
ing from them, unless some pressure from without is brought
to bear upon them, is slight indeed. We maintain, then,
that however the new plan may recommend itself as more in
accordance with the Act of'Parliament, it makes such a very
small advance upon plan B, that we can only consider it as a
piece of
,patch-work, which falls short of what we hoped
would be the decision of the Board and the Commissioner.
And here we must say the blame does not lie with Sir
Benjamin Hall. He has no objection to the drainage being
carried down to Sea Reach ; ,aud though he saddles this con
cession with the qualification that the metropolis ought not
to be made to pay for that extension beyond its own limits,
he by no means shuts out hope that the Government will
contribute, not only to that, but to any other feasible
scheme. The fault, then, lies with the Board of Works, who
have not given. the proposal of sea drainage sufficient consi-
deration. We adhere to our former opinion upon this sub-
ject. We see all the unfairness we have already pointed out
in plan B in the new plans ; and we sincerely trust that the
Board of Works will yet see the propriety of taking a larger
view of the whole question. They have had their confabu-
lation with Sir Benjamin Hall. Let them try if they cannot
come to some understanding with the proprietors of the
Thames marshes. These gentlemen have declared their will.
ingness to be taxed for any plan which will comprehend their
wants in the effort to relieve the wants of the metropolis.
Why should their co-operation be slighted ?

(From the Morning Post.)
Without attributing any uncomfortable energy to Mr.
Thwaites' Parliament, or presuming that their cenncils will
rival the efficiency of one autocratic will, we may fairly as-
sume that the drainage of London elsewhere than into the
heart of the metropolis, into which it so liberally discharges
itself at present, is a thing that is to be clone within no great
number of years. Done it must be, thoroughly, and, if need
be, even by the projected canal, into the sea beyond South-
end. Once we get the nuisance out of London, we must
have done with it for ever, all tides whatever notwithstand-
inz. But forty miles of canal will cost money, and, however
brilliant the engineering may be, that must be considered as
well as the moot point who is to pay for it ; and forty miles
of polluted fluid will be neither beneficial nor ornamental to
the county of Essex. Indeed, all localities discourage the
advances of the pestilential visitor, and it is quite evident we
are in sad want of an sZEdipus to solve the problem—need he
be pestilential al, all t If a successful and inexpensive me-
thod of accomplishing the purification of the sewage of Lon-
don could be discovered, the expense of the canal would be
saved, the nuisance on its banks would be averted, and an
income be created by the sale of manure which would pro-
bably go far to reimburse the expenditure, and possibly even
cover it altogether. And this is not merely a question of
finance, but a question of humanity. The epidemics arising
from those impurities fall chiefly on the poor—the incapa-
city of 'earning, arising from illness, upon those who live
by their daily toil—the widowhood and orphandom, upon
those who have no settled provision. In the forth which our
population is now assuming—aggregation in large masses—
and which the railway system will mould into greater masses
with still greater rapidity, it is becoming the sacred duty of
the governing classes to provide that those masses do not in-
clude within themselves the seeds of disease and premature
death, as they have hitherto done. Many plans, varying, of
course, with local circumstances, have been propounded for
this purpose, but the honour of effecting it has been reserve&
for Leicester. The first step taken was the improvement and
deepening of the sewers of the borough, with a view of col-
lecting the whole into one main drain at a sufficiently low
level where the sewage works were to be erected. This is
precit ely what we are doing, or about to do, in London. The
question is, what next?

At Mr. Wickstcad's works, in the neighbourhood of Lei-
cester, the deodorant used is lime, the process precipitation.
It is thus described :--Tho whole of the sewage matter, in.
eluding the refuse from dyers and scourers, is brought by the
main sowers of the town to the works at the outfall, and in
its passage to the reservoir the proper proportion of cream of
lime is pumped into the pipe through which the sewage-water
passes. It is then passed through agitators before entrance into
the reservoir, and, when admitted, the solid matter begins to
precipitate immediately, while the sewage-water, thus gradu-
ally freed from impurities, flows into the river in a disinfected
state at the further end of the reservoir. From the begin-
ning to the end of the works no unpleasant smell whatever
was perceivable—although the subsiding tanks, and all the
processes mentioned, are in the covered part of the buildings.
The deodorisation is complete. These works were opened in
May, 18.55, and have been consequently in operation day and
night for 18 months, and have completely deodorised the
sewage of Leicester, containing a population of 65,000 inha-
bitants,manu-
factories of the borough. The effect of this treatment of the
including all the refuse from the works and
sewage, and the consequence of its being kept out of the
river and canal, Las been truly astonishing. These streams,
from being of the most polluted and disagreeable character,
arenevr
state,chanced and in a
inte
portion of
clear and perfectly in-
odorous of the town where a branch
of the canal forms a sort of reservoir, fishes and plants have
been observed where none would live before. Here is the
fait accompli--the great sanitary problem of the age solved ;
and though Hr. Wickstcad does not yet claim any very bril-
liant pecuniary results, there is no doubt the process, like all
new ones, may be considerably cheapened, and that its pro-
duct would fetch a much higher price near Loudon. There is
no reason to suppose the Thames more impracticable than the
Soar, or the manufactures of London more refractory to the
laws of chemistry than the woollen and hosiery that are said to
afford occupation to twenty-five thousand persons in Leices-
ter. It is but to multiply the machinery, the area, and the
agent, fortyfold, and visions of Thames salmon, water-lilies,
'and pleasure excursions may again float before our eyes ; a
fish dinner at Greenwich need no longer involve a smartish
race with cholera, and Blackfriars-bridge be no longer made
terrible by its pestiferous contributory.
We recomraend the study of Mr. Wiekstead's process
str .ugly to the attention of Mr. Thwaites and his fellow
eediles. Not only a huge expense may
be thereby saved, as well
as much delay and bickering arising from the really difficult
question in what proportion the expenditure should be divid-
ed between the metropolis, the county of Essex, and the
country at large, but even taking the price of the soil so low
as five or six shillings a ton, a revenue might be expected
that would almost cover the cost, which can hardly be the
case if it is simply to be allowed to discharge itself into the
f
German Ocean ; and another evil will be avoided— that of
diverting such a body of water from the mouth
he 1
s it
Thames, the navigation of which is difficult enoug
by the enormous increase of manure which
bethtiaskpen into
is. The amount of food added to the stock of the nation
would insure daily and hourly, is also to
consideration, especially to be not
the example is set by London—the plan is h
only feasible, but in the kingdom
that once
city
ygth and breadth
will adopt it, and throughout
the
will be at work,
pi.ofitwabhleen_eitveiis.yremems_
shown
of the land this gigantic economy
even at no distant
us independent of guano, and perhaps,thenecessity of the impor-
tation preparing the soil for fresh
date, relieving us altogether from
any the
with respect to exor-
productions, making
tatiou of food, and removing
• 'raasing the yield of land
bitant prices, not merely -I?ft 'by making it profitable to
already under cultivation, n
experiment ha been tried, it has been
e or devoted to purposes
the Board of Works
and
jto the metrOrlis, or show calm
cob
mfr iiinnngfeenurtii
inferior
esvruaelcu tillagesuccessful,
s furhle much
e x
I;tolbVrs
nwoa:
either to apply the system
why it is inapplicable.

.scfagypaniirriyihal,o ; and enain
s2boeoenfixedasfollows
9et3,
3,600 men,
THE ATLANT/0 TEtlis companyLEGEAPHC
waitedo3l.PANir.u—Pooll3l
tThursdayhe d iie
a deputation from t
The
Artillery,,,,i!it arr 2f,
00;7 ,
tore of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, and sub..
sequently
upon the directors of the Manchester Com-
mercial Association, to lay before them the objects and
prospects of the Atlantic Telegraph Company, who,
after making three careful surv,?ys of the route, propose
laying down a submarine cable between Valentia, is
Ireland, and St. John's, Newfoundland, with sevea
wires, a distance of 1,000 statute miles. The estimated
cost is 350,0101., but with facilities that may be obtained
from the Government -1 on each side the Atlantic there is
a possibility of this being reduced to 250,000/. The bot-
tom of the ocean is one level plain over the whole dis-
tance, and admirably adapted for the PurP The
se.
capital is to be raised in 350 shares of 1,0001. each, and
la
it was stated that 53',0001. of this amount bad already
bees subscribed in Liver ed. The deputation, consist-
ingth
of Mr. Field, an Al • Pvican director, Mr. Brett, e
engineer, and Mr. Stathi:',
ing th
body of directors at both' ass°ciatio• g
re at atdtentione .
presidents), and were listened to with
their willingness to take
Several gentlemen announced
up shares. were received by a numerous

From Morpeth-265. per cwt., if delivered within a
month ; 24-4 per cwt., without time being specified.
AnnirnALE MILL Pawn, August I.—Allingham's
Mill—fine flour, 50s. per 1001bs. ; second, 484. ; ration,
455. ; pollard, 16s. ; bran, 14s. Wheat, 17s. per bushel;
the market pretty well supplied. M'Lean's Mill—
Flour, 445. to 465. per 1001bs. ; pollard, 16s. ; bran, 12s.
Wheat, Iss. 6d. to 16s. per bushel ; market fairly sup.
plied.