The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-15 00:00:00

THE METROPOLITAN DRAINAGE.

A paper, issued by order of the House of Com-
mons, contains a copy of a letter to Lord J. Man-
ners., M.P., First Cammissioner of Works, from
the Government Referees for the Main Drainage
of the Metropolis, in reply to the report made by
Messrs. Biddle, Hawksley, and Bazalgette, to the
Metropolitan Board of Work,' rporr rho report of
the referees them o lveo Lis unnecessary to wade
Ihrough the details of this elaborate and almost
exclusively scientific paper. The referees contend
that they have established the conclusion in their
report that the influence of the sewage on the river
is pernicious, and that they have refuted the state-
men• a of Dr. Letheby, Dr. °Wing, and Dr. Barnes
that such conclusion is a great exaggeration of the
influence of the sewage oa the Thames. The objec-
tions against the sewer guagings of the referees are
alleged to be devoid of foundation. We are in-
formed that the drainage for 81. square miles of the
metropolitan district could be conveyed by gravita-
tion, without any pumping, to Sea Reach, 22 milk
di taut from the metropolitan boundary, whereas,
Mr. Bidder and his brethren propose to remove the
drainage of 21 square miles only to Barking Reach,
which is barely outside that boundary, and to
pump the sewage from the remaining 93 square
miles of tire metropolitan area; while a certain
error in the inclinations of the proposed sewers
world prevent even the whole of this limited
area from being drained by gravitation alone.
The referees think the outfall at Barking far too
near the boundary of the metropolis, and they say
that the cost of deodorising the sewage with lime
at Barking Roach would amount in 20 or 30 years
from this time to upwards of 100,0001. a year,
exclusive of the cost of removing the refuse to
some place where it would not ho objectionable.
The referees report that the embankment of the
Thames is desirable, as a means of preventing
deposits of mud on the foreshores, but that it
will not purify the river. The construction of
reservoirs at the mouths of the central sewers,
proposed by the Sewage Commission, is ob-
jected to. And it is shown by Dr. Hcfmann
and his late pupil, Mr. Witt (of the Sehorl cf
Mines), that the several processes for deodorising
the sewage leaves a large quantity of putrescible
organic matter in solution, which is apt to undergo
decomposition and to generate most noxious efflu-
via, while the erection of deodorising works near
London might prove very prejudicial to the health
and comfort of the inhabitants. The system of
the referees—viz ,to cause the sewage to flow in a
diluted state through long channels, would deliver
it to the river at the outfalls in a condition. com-
paratively inoffensive, while at the same time
rt
might be used for irrigation in favourable seasons
of the year. Lastly, the referees are certain. that
competent contractors will guarantee to execute the
works for the amount of their estimates—a total of
5,988,0001., being
3,695,0001. for the outfall chan-
nel, and about 2,293,000/. for the internal drain-
age.

GREAT FIRE AT PORT ELIZAI3ETEL —Thu most de-
structive fire which ha- yet been known in the Raidetu
province (
05,
leny occurred at Por; Elizabeth,
on te night when the stores occupied re-
spectively by Dunell, Ebden, and Co., A. J. Clairmoote
f the
of Cape
Dias
And Co., A Wares and Co., and M. and G. Kemp, were
entirely destroyed. The loss is variously estimated at
from seventy to a hundred thousand pounds, including
premises and stock. Ciairmonte, it is said, is insured
in a Cape company, and. also in an insurance company
in England.--Punt LtactLeth, Mercury.