The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-30 00:00:00

on the ground with her head literally
severed from tier body Oee of nor amines
was also cut off, as if in struggling to prevent the
murderous knife from lacerating her throat. Medical
aid was immediately in attendance, but life was quite
extinct. After the foul deed hal been perpetrated,
Turner; sfLer passing Mr. Bannister on the etairs, as
alluded to above, on leaving the house met the ser-
vant girl coming in, and made an attempt to strike
her with the knife, but she turned her head on one
side and evaded the blow. The murderer then ran
off at the top of his speed, and has not since been
heard of. He is a married man, and has one child;
is a tailor by trade, and was formerly a local preacher
among the Wesleyan Methodists. His age is about
45 years, he stands about five feet 8 ineht s, has very
small black eyes, and had on at the time of the mur-
der a pair of drab trousers and black coat. The most
extraordinary part of this awful tragedy is the great
ease with which the murderer made his escape, as it
was only about half-past eight o'clock in the even-
ing, and numbers of people were stirring about the
neighbourhood. The electric telegraph was imme-
diately set to work at the Belper station, and the
news conveyed in a few minutes to Derby, Notting-
ham, and other midland counties. In Belper the
greatest excitement prevailed on the awful tragedy
becoming known, and a mob of some hundreds soon
collected round the deceased lady's residence. Mr.
W. Wragg, superintendent constable of Belper, and
formerly one of the detective officers of the Derby
police, was unable to render any assistance in finding
the murderer, in consequence of having received
severe injuries in attempting to prevent the fight a
few days ago between the pugilists Paddock and
Paulson. It appears that Turner cohabited with a
woman in Derby, and this afternoon Sergeants Hardy
and Fearn proceeded to the house of the woman, but
could find no trace of the murderer having been there.
The deceased, Mrs. Barnes, was about 60 years of
age, of eccentric habits, and the owner of considerable
property in Belper and Derby. The inquest will
commence to-morrow (Monday), before Mr. Henry
Mosley, coroner for the district.

GREAT LONDON DRAINAGE COMPANY.
Yesterday a meeting was held at the London
Tavern, for the purpose of calling public attention
to the plan proposed by the above company for drain-
ing the metropolis, by means of intercepting tunnel
sewers on either side of the Thames. The circular
which had been issued to request the attendance of
parties desirous of co operating in the prosecution of
the scheme stated that the measure had been before
Parliament in the session of 1848, " and was then
withdaawn, in consequence of the Metropolitan Com-
missioners of Sewers having declared that they were
contemplating the adoption of a more efficient scheme.
The result, however, has been that the Commission
have approved and proposed for adoption the plan as
originally suggested by the company, and it is there-
fore determined to renew the application to Parlia-
ment in the ensuing session. All the standing orders
and other preliminary proceedings have been com-
plied with. The interests of owners and occupiers of
house property in the metropolis are seriously impli-
cate d in the success of the company's plan, inasmuch
as the ratepayers of the metropolis will be relieved
from the heavy rate which would otherwise have to
be levied upon them, whilst at the same time the
very important sanitary improvement so long desired
will be effected, and the shareholders will derive ample
profit."
The attendance of the public at the me eting was
extremely thin. Mr. Walker occupier the chair.
Mr. J. J. MOREWOOD opened the business by read-
ing the notice convening the meeting, and then pro-
ceeded to explain the general nature and objects of the
scheme. He said it was intended to preserve the
river Thames from pollution, and to afford the means
of efficiently draining the whole of the metropolis.
The necessity for such a measure was universally ac-
knowledged, and the only remaining questions were
which was the right plan to adopt, and how was it
to be carried into effect ? The promoters had been
waiting for six years in the hope that some other
body might step forward to undertake the work. In
1847, when the attention of the Government was
specially directed to the subject, a sanitary commis-
sion was appointed to inquire whether the health of
the metropolis could not be improved by a better
mode of house, street, and land drainage, and by a
better supply of water for flushing the sewers and
drains. The first report of that commission speci-
ally enumerated the sanitary evils resulting from
the retention of the refuse in the sewers without
the proper means of carrying it off, and called
attention particularly to the dense and noisome
fogs which enveloped London just before the
cholera made its appearance. Well, the plan
of that company had been brought before the late
Westminster Commission of Sewers, in 1845, and that
commission declared that it had found a mode in
which a system of house-to-house drainage could be
carried out without injuring the sewers or polluting
the river. And here it must be observed, that we had
been going •on with the old Act of Henry VIII.,
which not only did not enable, but absolutely pro -
lnibited the commissioners from making any new
drains or compelling any man to drain his house into
a sewer; and it was not until the Westminster Com-
mission applied to Parliament, in the year 1847, that
they obtained powers to construct additional sewers
and to enforce house drainage, on the credit of the
plan which he was now advocating, and of which the
commissioners had highly approved. Many circum-
stances had, however, interposed to retard the accom-
plishment of the project ; but he was anxious to show
that the promoters had fairly launched it before the
public, and could not be accused of having hidden
their light under a bushel. As far back
as the month of September, 1847, a full de-
scription
of the plan appeared in most of
the morning journals and in many of the weekly
papers, and in refutation or amendment has therefore
been fairly challenged; but no one had come forward
to devise a better scheme. It was taken before Par-
liament in 1848 ; but on the second reading the Go-
vernment thought they would have a better plan, and
the farther progress of the Bill was suspended. It
had also been submitted in March, 1848, to the City
Commission of Sewers, who, after some discussion,
decided not to offer it any opposition, and many of
the speakers warmly commended it. Between 1848
and 1849 it was much advocated through the press;
and when, in 1849, a metropolitan commission was
appointed, no less than 150 different plans for drain-
ing the metropolis were scat into the commissioners
the whole of which they declared to be founded on
insufficient data. Now, the promoters of that com-
pany abstained on that occasion from sending in any
plan to the commissioners, and the result
was, that almost the whole 150 rival schemes
were either copies or letter originals of that
which had been set forth by the Great London
Drainage Company. And further, the plan ethich
the Metropolitan Commissioners of 'Sewers bad ulti-
mately decided upon was identical with theirs ; and
indeed so strong was the resemblance that when he
laid it before the surveyor of her Majesty's Woods
and Forests, that gentleman observed that it was the
plan of the Metropolitan Commissioners. When, in
October, 1345, he went down to the marshes, east of
the metropolis, to decide on the locality for the con•
struction of a deep receptacle to afford a better out-
fall, the point on which the whole scheme rested, he
actually selected the very spot at Barking Creek
which the Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers
adopted in January, 1851. The modifications which
the commissioners had made were really rather ad-
ditions than alterations. They proposed an extension
to Hackney, and things of that kind, and also a
high level sewer. These might be all very
good improvements in their way ; but it was
obvious that the construction of a tunnel
sewer to provide a sufficient outlet, was the
first thing to be done, and it would re quire two years
to complete it. When it was finished, Hackney, or
any similar district, might be called upon to carry
out the subsc quent parts of the scheme, for which the
way would have been paved. The concurrence of the
Commissioners of Sewers he took, therefore, to be de-
cisive as to the merits of their scheme. The next
question was—How was the plan to be carried out ?
Were they to wait till a commission was unanimous
on the matter, and obtained an Act of Parliament to
secure it ; or, could they all, individually and collec-
tively lend their assistance to remove a gigantic evil
in the city which they inhabited ? Well, the pro-
moters of that project, who were only private parties
without any high nrme yet to advertise as their
chairman, although they expected to have the aid of
a leading nobleman, could at present do no more than
lay the matter before the public in such a shape as
( would enable it to be taken up by those who were
able successfully to carry it out, feeling satisfied that
if it were only properly understood there was sufficient
capital to be found in the metropolis for its com-
pletion. They intended to go to Parliament in
the ensuing session, and all the standing orders
had been complied with, the plans deposited, and the
requisite notices served. Their Bill had also been
drawn, and could be inspected by any gentleman who
wished to see it; and the subscription contract and the
1 subscribers' agreement were also prepared because the
l promoters were anxious to have matters so far cut
I and dried and ready to hand as would enable all
parties, whether they had only a few shillings to
spare, or had their pockets full of money, to do some-
thing to assist the common object. Some objected to
proceeding with the undertaking that the question of
drainage was mixed up with a better water supply,
and that the two could not be separated; but he
thought they should first construct the tunnel sewers,
which would prevent the pollution of the river, and
then they would find that the water question had
settled itself, or at least had wonderfully simplified it.
By the preent system of drainage they estimated
th.,t 200,000 tons of valuable manure were annually
wasted, and the farmers::
-of the country were prying
ij to a foreign Government Si. per ton for guano, when
I a substance very similar could be supplied to them