The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-03 00:00:00

THE SUN. LONDON, MIONDAY EvENING, NOVEMB.EIt :3, 1856,

are about to submit to the Board of Works is a
wretched abortion, and the decision has been
arrived at in a spirit unworthy of the responsible
position they occupy. Whatever be the expen-
diture involved in tie adoption of a plan which
will answer the intended purpose, by carrying
the sewage to a poisi from whence it cannot pos-
sibly.return to pollate the Thames and load the
air of the metropolis and the adjacent towns with
noisome exhalations, that purpose. is well worthy
of it. We disdain--all right-thinking men must
—setting a money value on human life. We
leave that to the slaveholder ; and we cannot
suffer it to be takes for granted that the entire
burden of carrying the sewage to Sea Reach will
fall on the metropolitan ratepayer. Neither can
we admit the possibility of a plan of deodorisation
being discovered ty way of excuse for inaction.
The duty of the Metropolitan Board was to decide
on a plan equal to the occasion, and to appeal to
the justice of the Government for the aid they
had a right to seek. It is not to be believed that
aid would have been refused. The evils to be
remedied, if to e large extent matter of local
concern, to be remedied by local effort, are
of national interest also. The pestiferous effiu.
via of which the metropolis is to be rid
though specially injurious to the poor, surges over
and beyond the confined alley, area, and square.
It penetrates the abode of royalty, invades the
seats of legislature and judicature, and is fraught
with danger to the most eminent of all classes in
the land. Of this the Government cannot fail to
be aware, and, being so, are not likely to evade a
responsibility in the due exercise of which every
individual member is personally interested. .
Nor is this the only source of ! aid to which
the Metropolitan Board have a right to look. The
drainage to be carried out to sea must pass through
tracts of marshy land, to the value of which a
well-considered plan would greatly contribute.
The owners could not expect to have this done for
nothing—indeed, it is said, they would be but
too glad to pay a fair modicum towards the taxa-
tion. Are do not see why Greenwich, Woolwich,
Gravesend, &c., shiluld not be now or hereafter
called on to avail themselves of the metropolitan
sea outlet ; and, of course, if they do so,
to contribute in due proportion to the cost.
The more, in fact, the question of expenditure is
examined, the more invalid will appear the plea
on which the Metropolitan. Board would justify
their perierse inaction, for. not a man of them
but is well aware the plan they have decided on
will not be carried out. We may seem to press
too heavily on the Board—but a moment's reflec-
tion will show we do not. What have they done
in other matters t Where is the new street from
Southwark to Westminster ? Where any improve-
ment called for of any moment ? The Board, to
all intents and purposes, are sunk in the sewage,
and that flood would be a godsend that carried
them, one anal all, out to sea. They are not
the men we took them for, and, what is more,
they are not the wen wanted. They are talkers,
and not doers ; great at squabbles, but little
where great deeds are to be done. Away with
them, and let us have fresh men in their place.
We eannot possibly lose by such an exchange.