The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-07 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS.

The weekly meeting of the Metropolitan Board o!
\ll2rks was held Friday, in the Chamberlain's-office,
Guildhall; Mr. J. Ttivaites, the president, occupied the
chair.

THE OUTFALL OF THE MATN SOUTHERN DRAINAGE AT
MTH.

A deputation frOm. the inhabitants of Erith waited:
upon the board to state their objections to the proposer,
outfall of the southern main sewage of the metropolis at=
Erith. The deputntion compri,ed Archdeacon Smith,:
the vicar of Erith ; Capt. Wheatley, lord of the manor -;7
4r. Renshaw and Mr. Beadle, churchwardens; 131-
.tes, Capt. Murrell, and M'Neile, Everett,
Ayres, Wells, Smith, Shaw, and Williams. •
Mr. Davis, the represent itive fiSe the Woolwich district
and neighbourhood, infrodUced' the deputation to -.the
board.

The Archdeacon, in introducing the subject, observed
that the inhabitants of E ith would be subjected to ver)
serious evils should tbe'outfall, as at present proposed,
of the s ,uthern main Inttrcepting sewage be made at
Plurnstead Marshes, the points of which were fully set
out in the memorial.

The memorial was then read, . and set forth that the
mernorialfsts understood that the, board bad sanctioned a
scheme for draining the whole,ot the met ropnlis by means
of a large and deep sewer on each side"of the river, having
outfalla into the Thames on the 'n6s-th•side at barking
Creek, and on the south side of the river at Plumstead
and Erith Marshes. They considered such outfalls would
be most injurious to the health and comfoKtAt,the-irtbso
bitants of Erith and its vicinity,-aacistwor'd p.m* depre-
ciate the valusiof the arlfrc—ent property. They considered
that the accumulated filth and s ill of London and its
increasing suburbs poured into the Thames at a point
ear Erith would form a mass of,peatilential matt• r.
slowly but inceisantlyebbing.'and flowing with the tide,
mid that the d.positisa- of excremental and decomposed
vegetable and animal matter on the slopes and projecting
points of the river banks, could not fail to be injurious
to health, and would most prolAably engender fever,
cholera, and other diseases, not only among the popula
tion of Erith, but also of the neighbouring towns nem
the ever'. The memorialists also believed that under
the 135 h section of the Metropolis Management Ace
the prbposel outfall was illegal. They suggested that.
•Ils point of outfall should he below Gravesend," Where
the liccumajatcd sewage:rnatt;rs would pass int.) Sts
Rea•ib.; fr, m which place it would be borne out to sea
and bec one absorbed in the ocean with such rapidity a-
to prevent any appreciable mischief from the tidal reflux
towards the populou4 parts of the stream. They consi
tiered that although this. extension might cost two mil-
lions, yet, involving as it did the comfort arid constr.
nier:ce of the immense population of the metropolis, the
cost ought not to be permitted to stand in the way of
efficiently and permanently relieving this great nations'
estuary fr im being the common sewer of a population
numbers of which roust be estimated by millions.
Mr. RENSHAW, churchwarden, addressed the board if,
supoolt of the meniorial.

The PRESIDENT remarkedthat while the Metrop Titan
B were molt anxious to make the plan agreeable t•
di parties, there were engineering difficulties in the way
.:1 carrying; the metropolitan se wage to a point lower
down the Thames than
,that indicated, and it wou:d b.
a- t nded with a veryconsiderable ad:lition expellee,
me board, however, would give the fullest consideration
o the memorial.

The deputation then retired.
AN nipaTiNT, PRINCIPLE.
Mr. Marrable, the suThiriptending architect, presented a
report, on the applicationiSf Mr. Munday, asking for the
approval of the hoard to the raising of an engine chiinnry
in Cox square, Spiralfields. The recOmmendati to wa,
;bat the chimney he not raise] on the plan proposed, an,
he suoerintendiog architect suggested that the work
should be done on a plan that he.proposed.
An imp it nit princi la was involved in this question,
a keg discussion ensued. It was contended on the
,ne hand that the superintending architect, the officer
4 that board, was no cane I upon to suggest p'ans to
he substituted for those submitted to him, as by so doir4
the board would take upon themselves a great amount
of responsibility; and especially 8.0, if ithe work which
vas done under the recommendation of the architect
-hould fall down. In that case abundant evidence might
he brought forward to show that those who performed
the work did it under the express sanction of thia b ard,
opposition to the p'an originally proposed ; and it
vould then be sai I, that if they had been allowed to di
eir work in their own way it would have stood, an
there would have been no accident whatever. In opp •
sition to these arguments, it was.contended that if the
superintending arcnitect was to wrap himself up in offi:
cal reserve, and refise to explain too objections to ari.
particular plan submitted to him, that a hundred plan
night be brought forward, and not one of them suit the
particular point of his objection.
Mr. CARPMIEL moved that the application be not.
,ranted, and tort the architect do nut offer any plan iii
substitution of the one submitted to him.
Mr. Dmuty fLuißlsos sear. ded the motion.
Mr. WALLIC moved that the architect's report and
reco,nmen,latiot• be adoptel ; which, having been se
onded, the ques ian wait put, and the numbers were
for the adoption of the report of the archi ect, 13 ;Against
it, 11 ; majority in favour of the report, 2.

THE EFFRA. UNVEIL.
A letter was rec .ived trona Mr. C. Reeves. police sun
ey with a memorial from the incumbent of St. John',,,
Brixton, and others, as to the covering over of a portion
,f toe Effra sewer, near the Brixton-road.
Th s subject was brought bef ire the board a few weeks
back, and the proposal was rejected by a majority of 15
votes to 14.

Mr. DOULTON moved that the portion of the Effra
which was an open sewer, near the Brixton-road, be per-
initte.l to be covered over. He said that the:police, who
xereabout to build a station-house, had offered to sub-
scribis 109/., and the parish of Lambeth would subscrilis
the remaitiill 9001 , which was to be the cost of covering
in the sewer. There was also a school within t wenty feet
of the ditch, and a great deal•of Aver, disease, and death
had resulted, and the Schi)Ol was to be clOSed in a month
unless something were done.
Mr. TAYLOR (representative. for Lambeth) supported
and ,:a.;(1 a large amount of cholera resulted
he motion,
from this op,--n iew r,
Mr. De?uty HARRIsoN m:tv'ed an amendment, to the
,ffeet that the assent of the Metropolitan Board be given
t,, the covering in of the sewer,: providing the police corn-
ioners pay the board 1001., and that the remainder
of the expense be assessed upon the parish of Lambeth.
rhi, was seconde4, and after some discussion the origi-
oat nelion was carried, and the addition contained io
amendment.

FINANCIAL STAIintENT.
The following is the financial statement of the board
for the week ending 14 July :-

CASEI ACCOUNT.
Balance in hands of trea,urer, Ist July,
1856
Cuclis drawn, but not presented

Available balaice 5,408 10 2
Amount of deposit Account 127,522 2 2

Total general balancs £132,930 12 4
A mass of other routine business baying been disposed
Of, the board separated, after sitting upwards .of six
hours.

) •
THE SURGEON or THE SURREY LUNATIC AsyLpm.—
The prosecution instituted by the Commissioners of Lit:,
yi, will be tried at the coming session of
4g:tiost W.—Snape, sargeo6" at the St:Yrey
Lunatic Aiium the Central Criminal Court. Sir F. Thesiger isretained
for
the prosecution " aLd Edwin Jatges, Q.C., for
th? cl.tfcucq.