The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-17 00:00:00

THE BARKING SEWAGE DIFFICULTY.

Mr. Rawlinson's report on the Barking sewage difficulty
is published. The following are some of his conclusions:—
" That the memorialists are not in a position to establish
deterioration of health to emanations from the metro-
politan main sewerage outfall works, as the town
of Barking is without local governing powers,
is unsewered, contains many cesspools, a sewage-
tainted subsoil, and has a defective water supply. The
river Thames is polluted by the metropolitan sewage, and
receives such road and street detritus as the aforesaid
sewage contains. The main channel of the Thames has
not been reduced in depth of water by such detritus. Fish
have been destroyed in Barking Creek, most probably
by chemical refuse. An accumulation of mud has
taken place, both on the shore of the Thames and
at the mouth of Barking Creek, but fram what special
cause has not been proven. The Metropolitan Board of
Works, in their annual report, recognise their obligation
to purify the Thames, and to effect this purpose
have negotiated with second parties for the utilisation of
the northern sewage by irrigation. The Metropolitan
Board have objected to the admission of sewage into the
Thames from towns situate above London, and therefore
inferentially justify the objections to river pollution below
London. Deodorization and disinfection of the metro-

politan sewage by chemicals would be very costly to the
ratepayers, and in the results imperfect. River pollution
by town sewaz,e, in the case of the Thames, may be pre-
ventel."

THE E.A'GINEERS' REPORT. ON THE
HOLBORN VIADUCT.

At a meeting of the Court of Common Council, held at
the Guildhall on Thursday, a report was brought up from the
engineers appointed to inquire into the state of the Hol-
born Viaduct. In the first place, they believed
that the structure was perfectly safe for public
traffic. With regard to the second inquiry, addressed
to them, namely, what was the cause of the defects in the
columns, they had come to the conclusion that there were
no defects in the foundations of the work. (Hear, hear.)
The defects in the top and bottom stones were to be
attributed to the mode adopted, of setting the blocks of
granite on small pieces of lead packing, and the unequal
diffusion of weight thereby occasioned, combined with the
fact that the base and capstones are only 12 and U inches
thick respectively, and the whole effect is further aggra-
vated by the tendency which the contraction of the
iron superstructure in cold weather would have to throw
an. unequal pressure on the edges of the stone,
through the medium of the lead packing. With
regard to the wedges, there was well grounded
reason for believing that no motion had occurred.
Under the circumstances they do not recommend that
anything should be done at present, except to fill up the
cracks and interstices with a suitable composition, and to
wait until the whole work should have been exposed to
the action of the extreme cold of the coming
winter and to the maximum heat of next sum-
mer. It was possible that, in the event of
a severe lowering of the temperature, some slight ex-
tension of the cracks might be observed, but nothing that
could endanger the safety of the structure. After twelve
months experience, steps might be taken to remedy the
most apparent defects and restore the work to its pristine
beauty. This report was signed by Mr. George Bidder,
Mr. T. E. Harrison, and Mr. Edwin Clark. It was ordered
to be printed.

AMERICAN " INTERVIEWING."—A portion of the
daily newspapers of New York are bringing the profession
of journalism into contempt, so far as they can, by a kind
of toadyism or flurikeyism, which they call "interviewing"
The Sun interviews Corbin, Fisk, Gould, Grinnell, But-
terfield, 111Tarland, Mrs. M`Farland, and whoever else
has any story to tell, or: axe to grind, or is unwil-
ling to kick its reporter down stairs. We are bound to
say, however, that the Sun "interviews" with judgment,
and in the main, seeks news and not gabble. But the
Herald, World, and News, as if "interviewing" had be-
come a sine qua non in journalism, use it as a means of
gathering up the " opinions " of any and everybody rela-
tive to matters in general. The Herald "interviews" Gar-
field about resumption ; the News interviews Peter B.
Sweeney about the fifteenth amendment ; and the World,
more enterprising still, sends its reporters at random into
the down-town offices of merchants and bankers, and
asks them what they think about the state of the country.
By all these means, very precious samples of fiapdoodle are
served by these journals which ought to be able to teach
the men they are thus interviewing upon all the points on
which they seek information. Journals which do not
respect their own position are not likely to find it respected
by the people.—Chicago Tribune, Dec. 1.

ANOTHER SEARCH FOR LEICHHARDT.—This time
the expedition which went out to endeavour to solve the
mystery of his death was sent by the Government of
Western Australia, acting on the earnest solicitations of
Dr. Mueller, whose sanguine and affectionate mind will
not allow him to give up his countryman as altogether
lost. The circumstances which led to the formation of
the expedition may be briefly told. A few months since
some blacks in Western Australia told a story of
the death in the wilds of two white men and
their guide, an aboriginal. Believing these might
be remnants of Leiehhardt's party, Mr. John Forrest
was sent out by the Government of West Australia to see
if he could find any traces of them. Again has the
enterprise been unsuccessful, and, as before, no foundation
whatever could be found for the story. Indeed, the
adventurous little band had a narrow escape from destruc-
tion themselves, the natives they met being savage and
unapproachable. In their journey they camped on the
shores of a dry salt lake, which extended beyond the line
of vision, and is situated in 23 deg. 58 min. 50 sec. S., and
119 deg. 39 min. E. Thus the fate of Leichhardt still
remains a mystery, and we have now real cause to fear
that it will never, in ow 4ay, be solved.—Melbourne Age.