The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-02 00:00:00

TOIVN DRAINAGE.

A writer of the limes says—l have just read with
much pleasure the letter of your correspondent Mr.
Gilbert W. Child on the all-important subject of
the drainage of towns.

Mr. Child commences by a reference to the fact
that, although the towns in the valley of the Thames
will very shortly be compelled to find some other
receptacle for their sewage than the river, they have
as yet apparently made no effort to provide a sub-
stitute for its disposal. He might with equal truth
and point have included in his opening remark the
great majority of the other towns of the kingdom,
because it is clear that the decisions of the courts of
law and the expressed feelings of the public will no
longer tolerate the destruction of the salubrity and
the enjoyment of our beautiful rivers and seaboards
by the flow thereto of noxious sewage.
Mr. Child then proceeds to commend to public
notice the drainage system of the city of Milan,
which in effect appears to be very much the same in
principle as that which was the universal system in
this country before the interference of the sanitary
doctors who originated the Boards of Health, &c.v._
namely, a cesspool for every house, to be periodically
emptied as occasion required ; the difference in prac-
tice in favour of the Milan system being the im-
proved mode of emptying the cesspools and carting
away their contents.
Mr. Child lucidly explains this process, and
shows that it is a very pretty hydraulic operation
and well adapted to the purpose for which it is used.
Mr. Child having pointed to the urgent necessity
for some improved and comprehensive system for the
removal of the sewage, and inferentially recom-
mended the adoption of the Milan system, proceeds
to establish its decided superiority to the " water
sewage system at present recommended for adop.
tion," and there can be no doubt that its adoption
at Milan has proved, and its adoption in many
places in England would prove, a great advantage,
It labours, however, under many and serious dis-
advantages. It involves the necessity of a cesspool
at each house, the frequent emptying of the cess-
pool, and the expense and delay of performing the
operation at every house ; and it is, moreover, open
to the same objection as was raised by Lord Robert
Montagu ito Moule's earth closets--namely, that it
would, if generally adopted and properly carried out,
necessitate the use of a very large number of carts
and a vast amount of labour.

It would not become me to question the expe-
diency of adopting the plan recommended by Mr.
Child, as any improvement in the present miserable
system is better than none, unless I was prepared to
advocate some other, and in my opinion superior
mode of dealing with the sulliage of towns ; and, as
Mr. Child speaks upon the authority of what he saw
at Milan, I may perhaps be permitted to recommend
a system of town drainage upon the strength of what
I witnessed at West Worthing. There the solid
portion of the sewage, which in fact constitutes the
real sulliage, is separated from the water or fluid
part before the soluble salts which are contained in
the sulliage are dissolved, and is then carried away
without the slightest annoyance either in its re-
moval from the sewers or in its cartage, and in a
manner which renders it conveniently available for
fertilising purposes.

The process by which this is accomplished, and
which has now been in operation for upwards of 12
months, consists in the use of portable filters from
beneath, the solid portion deposits itself and is re-
tained in a manure box enclosed in the filter, and
the fluid part passes thrcugh and is purified by the
filtering medium.
The filter is lifted daily from the sewer and im-
mediately replaced by another. This operation is
performed in the early morning, but it has fre-
quently been done in the daytime ; it occupies not
more than from five to ten minutes, and does not
occasion the slightest annoyance to the occupiers of
the houses or to any casual passer by. The fluid
or water which runs from the filter is found to be
sufficiently pure to admit of its flowing at once into
the sea.

By this process, equally with the Milan system,
but at far less cost, and without its disadvantages,
all the evils of the present system of town drainage
and all the difficulties of the water system enume-
rated by Mr. Child are obviated or evaded. It is
applicable to any town, without regard to soil Or
situation, and with little, if any, alteration in the
existing culverts or drains ; it does not endanger the
water supply, and it produces a manure possessing
the same fertilising properties as those contained in
the Milan manure, which is removed under condi-
tions which render it conveniently-portable and
valuable for agricultural purposes.
In conclusion, I would earnestly entreat Mr.
Child, to whom I consider the public much in-
debted, and every other gentleman who •takes an
interest in this vital question, to visit West Worthing
and investigate the merits of the system of drainage
which has there been adopted, and continues to be
managed by commissioners acting under the powers
of a special Act of Parliament, passed expressly to
secure the best sanitary provisions for the health
and comfort of the inhabitants of the district.

LIVERPOOL COTTON MARKE7—This Day.

The Market opens steadier with a better feel-
ng. Sales probably fully 10,000 bales.

DR. LIVINGSTONE.—The following, just received
iu a private letter from Bombay, will be read with hopeful-
ness by all who are interested in the fate of Dr. Living_
stone :—" We feel groat anxiety here about the fate of the
doctor, from whom nothing has been heard for upwards of
a year. We do not, however, credit the acounts given of
his murder by Musa, and his Ilinzutini companions. Not
a single one of the eleven Christian Africans who accom-
panied Dr. Livingstone from Bombay has returned to us ;
and we conclude that ho has most likely gone with them
into the unexplored lake country. Two of them, who wore
educated to a certain extent in the Mission Institution
under myself, were young Ajawas whom he had brought
to India ; and they were well acquainted with the lan-
guages of the country to which he was going. Had their
master fallen, as described by Musii, both they and their
companions (who were all from the Church Mission at
Nasik) would, wo are confident, have sought to return to
India, where they have many warm friends willing to
assist them in a settlement in Africa wore it necessary,"—
thena3unz.

HOBFITAL FOR DISEASES OF THE CHEST, VICTORIA
PARK.—The number of patients relieved at this institution
during last week was 1,143; of which 227 were now cases.