The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-27 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS.

This board sat yesterday, after a short recess, in the
Council Chamber, Guildhall, for the transaction of busi-
ness devolving upon it ; Mr. Thwaites, the chairman,
presiding, There was a large attendance of members,
and no fewer than 73 different subjects upon the paper
for consideration ; but that to which the most public
interest attached was a supplemental report read by Mr.
Bazalgette, the engineer of the board, on the northern
and southern drainage of the metropolis, in obedience to
a resolution of the board on the 12th of August last,
which referred back to Min his previous reports, in
order that he might report to them anew on the whole
question. Mr. Bazalgette states in the document
read yesterday, of which we give the material portions,
that the metropolitan drainage scheme, as originally pro
pounded by him, is capable, without any material alte-
ration of design, of being adapted to a variety of points
of outfall into the Thames, at various distances below
London, or to the deodorisation or utilisation of sewage.
Although the sewage of London cannot at present be
profitably applied to agriculture in a commercial point of
view, it may be advantageously deodorised and rendered
inoffensive at Barking Creek and Woolwich marshes, or
even nearer to London, and the Thames thus purified at
hes eost than by constructing sewers to a great distance
below the metropolis. He is still of opinion that, in the
absence of deodorising works, the sewage may be dis-
charged into the Thames without nuisance at Halfway
Reach, beyond the limits of the metropolis, in the manner
already proposed for the south side of the Thames. Va-
rious propositions have, however, been made with regard
to the position of the outfall and mode of discharge into
the river, and with respect to the application of the
sewage to agriculture. There appear to him to be four
different modes by which the metropolitan sewage may
be disposed of :-1. By retaining the points of outfati
originally proposed at Barking Creek and Woolwich
marshes, but dispensing with the reservoirs at those
places, and substituting for them deodorising works, and
discharging the purified waters into the Thames at all
times of the tide, after having abstracted from them the
deodorised manure, which would be available for agri li
-
cultural purposes. 2. By discharging the sewage into
the river at Half way Reach, beyond the limits of the
metropolis, at and near high water, so that it should
not reflow up the river within the limit of the `metro-
polis, excepting on occasions of heavy storme, which
occur on from 20 to 30 days per annum, and last for
short periods only on those exceptional days, on which
occasions the sewage would be highly diluted. 3. By
discharging the sewage into the river at Long Reach
during the first half of the ebb tide, reducing the ca-
pacity of the reservoirs, and preventing the reflow of the
sewage into the river within the limits of the metropolis.
4. By conveying the sewage on the south side of the
Thames underneath that river to the north side, and die-
charging it at Sea Reach at all times of tide, so that
it would not return within the limits of the metropolis,
and dispensing with reservoirs, or by occasionally distri-
buting such sewage, or any portion thereof, as liquid
manure over the lands or marshes through which it would
be conveyed on its route to this outfall. The extension
to Halfway Reach would involve an increased expendi-
ture of 345,1301. ; to Long Reach, 918,060/. ; to Sea
Reach, 1,763,3241.; and the addition eVdeodorising works
to the original scheme, 1,273,4801. The substitution of
deodorising works for reservoirs at Barking Creek and
Pluinstead-marshes would involve the smallest expendi-
ture of capital, but the largest annual outlay. A further
saving of probably nearly 500,000/, might be effected by
terminating the sewers and establishing deodorising
I works on the south side of the river, and the West Ham
marshes on the north side, which would in his judgment
accomplish the object desired without creating a nuisance.
He was still, after mature coneideration, of opinion that
the second proposition, or the extension of the outfalls
to Halfway Reach, would fully satisfy the requirements
of the Legislature, and be effective in a sanitary point of
view, as already explained in his former reports upon
this subject. At the conclusion of the report Mr. Les-
lie asked whether, regardless of expense, Mr. Bazalgette
considered the propo:al he bad made would be equal to
carrying off the entire drainage and the rain-water of
the metropolis ? Mr, Bazalgette replied in the affirma-
tive, adding that he gave the preference to his second
proposition. On the motion of Mr. Hows, seconded by
Mr. Doulton, the report was ordered into consideration
at a special meeting of the board on Wednesday next.
Mr. Leslie gave notice that he should then move that
the report be entirely negatived.

CASE OF CHILD MURDELL—A millworker, hawed
Mary Wood, has been apprehended in a village near
Edinburgh for the murder of her infant child by drown-
ing it in the Union Canal. She had given birth to
the child about a fortnight previous in the Edin-
burgh Maternity Hospital, and had just left that insti-
tution ;,be day before its body was found in the water.
It is said that the unhappy woman has confessed the
crime with which she is charged.