The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-10 00:00:00

IPIATROPOLITAN BOARD OF WO.RICB..

The ordinary meeting of the Metropolitan Board
of Works was held yesterday in Ale Council Cham-
ber, Guildhall—Mr. J. Thwaites in the chair.
The financial statement for the week showed
general balance of 97,918/. 4s. 3d.
THE STATE OF THE RIVER THAMES---THE USE OF LIMB
FOR TILE PURPOSES OF DEODORISATION.
Mr. BAZALGETTE, the engineer, read the follow.
ing report on the arrangements he had made in
pursuance of the resolntion of the board as to deo-
dorising the c sntenfs of the principal sewers:—
" " NO.l,.Greek-street, Soho„Tuly 8.
Cl-ent lemons Immediately upon the poising of the re.
solution I proceedel to make arrangements for deodorising
the sewage discharged from 40 of the Main sewers by pre-
cipitation with lime, as recomiended in my report of the
2Sth
" On the following morning, five or six were being thus
deodorised by the admixture of' ground lime, and the next
day the process was going on at 40 of the main outlets.
Large vats have since been constructed, and are being used
as rapidly as they sun be made in order to substitute the
milk of lime for ground lime at all these sewers, this being
the most advantageous mode of application. Lime has
hitherto been supplied to the board in small quantities,
under the jebbing contracts, at 17s. 6d. per yard, but,
considering that, such large supplies should be obtained
upon the most favourable terms, I obtained fresh tenders
from thirteen respectable and well-known lime merchants,
land from the two jobbing contractors, which I herewith
submit to the board.
" I have now to report that about 1,000 tons of lime
have been used in the sewers at a cost of about 8001., and
that to continuo the process in full operation during the
hot weather will cost about 1801. per day, but this sum
may be reduced during and after rains or a fall of tera-
perature. The operation has been attended with consider-
! able success, and its effect upon the river must be bens-
! finial. lam now making some experiments upon several
other modes of disinfection in order to ascertain whether
any-more economical means of, obtaining the same object
can be applied, and I shall be prepared to report the result
to the board at a future day.—l have the -honour to be,
, sir, &c.,
Ott the motion thajt.thWis. Br
TEreceived,
report be
Engineer."
e
Mr. Deputy HARRISON wanted to know how long
this usc, or lime was to be continued, at a cost of
1831. a-day, which was to be paid for entirely by
the metropolitan ratepayers, and for which they
only derived a very partial benefit. -
Mr. 13AZALOETTE recommended _that the- lime
should be continued for the present, or during the
hot weather, as the lime was put into the sewers,
and from them it flowed into the Thames.
Mr. LESLIe hoped they would hear what one of
the greatest chemists of the present day—Dr. Hof-
man—said upon this subject. He said :—" The
several processes submitted to us for deodorising
sewage into a manure by means of lime, by the
use of Stothert's and Gotto's mixture, by filtration
through charcoal, and by shaking with zharcoal,
all fulfil to a certain extent the office for which they
were proposed. At the same time, it is found that-
These several processes leave a large quantity of
putrescible organic matter in solution, which, espe-
cially in hot weather, is apt to undergo decompo-
sition, and to give rise to the generation of effluvia
of the mot offensive and dangerous character; and
we believe that the erection of works in the 1113Mem
diate neighbourhood of the metropolis for the deo-
dorisation of the London sewage might prove very
prejudicial to the health and comfort of the in-
habitants of London, and that in the event of the
establishment of such works, the fluid run off from
the sewage depot, if discharged into the Thames in
the vicinity of London, might very seriously affect
the river."

Mr. Deputy HARRISON would not consent to
this enormous outlay only from week to week.
Mr. HARRIS said the Thames was as bad now as
it was before this immense cost f.r wa3 ineu red.
Mr. DorrrfroN s 11l a wort; useless expenditure
111. d ..ever been incurred by the board.
Mr. PHILLIPS said a cheinivt examined before a
committee of the House of Commons said that for
every ton of lime thrown in, it caused four tons of
deposit, and therefore it became a v.;ry serious
matter to consider whether such a process should
be continued.

Mr. PECKETT hoped the process would not be dis-
continued until it bad had a fair trial.
Mr. PALMER wanted to know if this lime thrown
in would purity the river ?

Mr. BiZAIG-ETTE said it would be beneficial, but
it would not purify the river altogether.
After some further discussion, it was agreed that
the process should be continued for another week,
the engineer then to report to the board upon its
cost and efficiency, and to make recommendations•
for the future.

After a long discussion, it was determined by a
majority of 21 to 14 to purchase Berkeley-house,
Spring-gardens, as a site for the offices of the board.
Some other business was disposed of, and the
board adjourned.

THE METROPOLITAN BOARD AND THE
PROPOSILD NEW OFFICES.

At the weekly meeting of the Vestry of St. Pan-
cras, held at the Court-house, Camden-town,
Mr. Churchwarden Attenborough having been
elected to the chair,
Mr. ECIIETT, member for S'. Pancras at the Me-
tropolitan Board, called attention to a scheme on
foot at the MetropOlitan Board, to erect offices and
a board-room for the Board on the site at Spring-
gardens, forming the east side of the passage into
Birdcage walk. Upon entering into a guarantee to
spend 15,000/. on the erection of the building they
were to have the lease for 10 years, at 5001. per an-
num, and after tioat period for 99 years, at 3501. per
annum. The probable outlay to begin with would
be over 20,000/., which he thought monstrous,
when it was not known how soon the Metropolitan ,
Board might be snuffed out altogether.
Mr. FURNISS moved a resolution condemning
such a contemplated 'outlay by the Metropolitan
Board, instead of attending to, and providing a
remedy for, the pestiferous state of the Thames,
which was the principal object for which they were
appointed. He denounced the Metropolitan Board
as a set of incompetents, and declared that since
they had been in office, hey had done nothing but
create places, and call upon the ratepayers to pay
for their extravagance.
Mr. J. BAKER seconded the motion.
Mr. WILKINSON, the other member of the Metro-
politan Board, said he was quite certain that for
the benefit of the ratepayers of the metropolis the
Metropolitan Board ought not to be beholden to
the City, or remain one hour longer bolding their
meetings at Guildhall. It placed them in a false
position, and subjected their acts to all sorts of
misconception. At the same time he doubted the
propriety of building their new offices at Spring.
gardens, when they had sufficient freehold ground
at Greek-street.

Mr. Hunsox c msidered, instead of the Metropoli-
tan Board building a palace, they ought rather to be
erecting a mausoleum—(laughter)—for the latter
was the place they were soonest likely to requite.
They had done so little for the main drainage, for
which they were appointed, that the sooner they
ceased to meet the better.

Mr. Ross could not understand what there wag
in the atmosphere of Guildhall that Mr. Wilkinson
and the hoard wished to get out of it. The Com-
mon Council and citizens bad always been the
friends of liberty and of local 'self-government. • So
far, however, from censuring the Metropolitan
Board, they were entitled to a debt of gratitude for
refusing to sanction all the schemes which Were
desired to be rushed into for the purification of •
the Thames. They had thus saved the metropolis'
millions of money. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. BRETTINGETAM also defended the Metropo-
litan Board for not sanctioning utopian schemes,
and moved an amendment, leaving out any coa-
ct-lunation for not proceeding with the purification
of the Thames.

Mr. Churchwarden CA MERON S e cond ed theamencl-
ment, and it was carried by a large majority, and
ordered to be forwarded to the Metropolitan Board.