The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-05 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS.

The usual meeting of the Metropolitan Board of
Works was held yesterday, at the offices, in Spring-
gardens ; Sir John Thwaites in the chair.

The financial statement was presented, from which
it appears that the aggregate cash balance on the
Ist of October was £534,135, and payments were
ordered to the amount of £6,963 Bs. sd.
THE ENCLOSURE OF WANDSWORTH-COMMON.
A deputation from the Wandsworth-common
Preservation Society, headed by Mr. Anderson Rose,
waited on the Board for the purpose of presenting a
memorial praying for the assistance of the Board in
resisting the encroachments which were being made
on the rights of the inhabitants of Wandsworth and
Battersea by the further enclosures that were taking
place of large portions of Wandsworth-common. It
stated that great anxiety was felt to preserve what
remained of the common for public use and recrea-
tion, for more than one half of the ccmmon had
already been enclosed—in the first instance for
semi-charitable purposes, and on that account those
enclosures had not been opposed. Since that time,
however, enclosures had been made by private per-
sons in collusion with the lord of the manor, and an
enclosure had been made by the Brighton Railway
Company, not for the purposes of the railway, and
not under the powers of their Act of Parliament,
but as a building speculation. The purchase of that
part of the common had been made by Mr. Laurie
and Mr. Slight, as appeared by the conveyance deed
for their own use, but purchasers of some of the lots
refused to complete on the ground that there were
commonable rights, and that the Brighton Railway
Company had no power to extinguish them ; where-
upon the railway company allowed the objection and
returned the deposits, therefore it was with a full
knowledge of all these defects that the land had been
purchased. Notwithstanding this, several footpaths
had been stopped up, but these fences had been
repeatedly broken down, and yet the railway com-
pany refused to try the right. The Brighton Rail-
way Company had made enclosures for dust and re-
fuse of the district, and a vast heap of accumulated
filth had been deposited, and was constantly sorted
and sifted there, and a Mr. Todd and a Mr. Hewitt
were building a public house on the common land
so illegally enclosed by the Brighton Railway Com-
pany. An avenue of trees a mile long, skirting
the east side of the common, was being destroyed
by Mr. Todd, although it was outside the fence and
on the public footpath, and the line of building it
was believed was proceeding illegally, and set most
injuriously to the public traffic. The width of the
main road was only 25ft. from kerb to kerb, and the
carriage road was only 18ft. 4in. For these reasons
it was prayed that this Board would take such steps
as might be necessary to prevent the enclosure of
Wandsworth-common by the Brighton Railway
Company and their agents, as a building specula-
tion, and to stop the buildings now being erected
thereon.

After a short discussion the subject was referred
to the Works and General Purposes Committee for
consideration and retort.

THE SOUTHERN OUTFALL.—STATE OF THE RIVER.
Mr. 11. L. TAYLOR said, in conseqUence of com-
plaints which had been made to him with respect to
the state of the river Thames near the Southern
Outfall Works, in which it was stated that there
was a large amount of deposit, he wished to ask the
chief engineer what was the nature of that deposit,
and whether it was of a deleterious character.

The CHIEF ENGINEER said there was a survey
made of the part of the river complained of by the
Thames Conservancy Board in 1861, and there was
no doubt that the report of 1867 would show a con-
siderable accession of mud, but it should bo remem-
bered that the works of the Board were not opened
until 1864, and they would have to ascertain how
much of this accumulation was due before 1864,
and how much since that time. He had a report
which would throw some light upon the subject, but
at present he was not in possession of complete in-
formation as to what the deposit was before that
period and what it had been since. In those reaches
of the river there was a considerable tendency in
the mud to accumulate, as there had been in other
parts of the river. He must say, however, that the
accounts he had seen in the papers in reference
to this subject were much exaggerated, for,
although he believed in some places there had been
an increase of ;deposit since the outfall works
had been opened, in other parts of the river there

THE SUN. I.ON i)(

had been a very considerable decrease. On the
whole, the reports in the newspapers were much
exaggerated.

Mr. H. L. TAYLOR said he had not seen any
report in the papers, and until the communication
was made to him he did not know that there was
anything to be complained of.
Mr. NEWTON said it should not be lost sight of
there was always a very serious deposit in the river
above bridge which was removed by dredging, but
since the outfall had been removed to Crossness and
Abbey-mills, from the numerous openings up of the
river, the necessity for that dredging had ceased. It
was justpossible that some deposit had been removed
lower down the river, but it was also a question
whether the Conservancy had not saved money
by it.

The Engineer said it was a fact that the sewage
that used to be discharged between this place and
London-bridge was now taken lower down the

ricer.

Mr. S. TAYLOR regretted that the matter had
been publicly brought forward, as the committee
had gone very fully into the subject, and ordered
the engineer to report upon it.
Mr. WESTERTON said he had seen the article
alluded to, but there was something else at the end
of it, to the effect that the Essex Reclamation Com-
pany would soon have all the solid deposit put upon
the Maplin Sands, and what had previously been a
desert would become soon a complete Garden of
Eden. Now, it seemed to him that this was merely
a ruse on the part of the Essex Reclamation Com-
pany to float some of their shares.
Mr. DIXON, as an old long shoreman, could say
that there had been an accumulation of mud in cer-
tain places ever since the steamboats commenced
running, while in other places the accumulations
that had previously existed were removed. In his
opinion that state of things would always exist.
The subject then dropped.
THE PROGRESS OF THE THAMES EMBANKMENT
WORKS, &C.
The Chief Engineer made the following report on
the,Thames Embankment and other works :
" North Side of the River.
" Thames Embankment between Westminster and
Waterloo Bridges.—The whole of the dams have
been completed, and portions thereof have subse-
quently been removed from such of the work as is
sufficiently advanced for the purpose ; 3,335 ft. of
the low level sewer, 3,244 ft. of the subway, 2,925 ft.
of the smaller sewer, for intersecting the several
drains discharging on the foreshore, and 284 ft. of
the flushing culvert are also complete. The West-
minster Steamboat Pier is, with slight exceptions,
completed, as also is the river wall adjoining for a
length of 670 ft., and of which wall a further length
of 50ft. is brought to a height of 34ft. above Trinity
high water mark, 100 ft. of the York-gate substruc-
ture is brought to the same height; 333 ft. of the
adjoining wall is completed, and a further length of
390 ft. is constructed to a height of 3ift. above the
Trinity mark; 45ft. of the Charing-cross steamboat
pier is also brought to that height, and for the re-
mainder of this pier works of concreting, brickwork,
and masonry are brought to levels varying from
11ft. to 27ift. below Trinity datum. Of the adjoin-
ing river wall 302 ft. is constructed to a height vary-
ing from lft. to 34ft. above that datum. The works
to the Adelphi landing stairs and 398 ft. of the river
wall adjoining are brought to levels of from lft.
below to nit. above Trinity, and 50ft. in length out
of the outer capping is fixed. In the Waterloo
steamboat pier works up to the junction with the
works of No. 2 contract, the main screen, return,
and face walls have been brought to heights varying
from Ift. below to 3ift. above the Trinity high water
mark. Filling behind the embankment wall and in
the works generally has been carried out to the
extent of about half a million cubic yards. There
have also been constructed the new outlets from
the Victoria and Regent-street sewers, including the
diversion of a portion of those sewers and the finishing
of a part of the pneumatic tube for the purposes of
the Waterloo and Whitehall Railway Company.
The approximate cost of the whole of these works,
including £21,930 for materials upon the ground,
amounts to about £411,000, of which £16,800 re-
presents the progrsss made in the past two months.
" Contract between Waterloo bridge and Temple-
gardens—Since the date of my last report 4,855
cubic feet of granite has been bedded in the Temple
steamboat pier, lamp pedestals, and parapet walls,
Ifr rods of brickwork has been laid, and 1,900 cubic
rods of brick and other good material filled in. The
dam in front of the pier and of the wall generally,
with the exception of a length of about 150 ft., has
been entirely removed, and thus leaves the face of
the embankment open to view from the river for a
length of 1,820 ft. The approximate value of the
whole of the works completed, including 2,866 for
materials upon the ground, is £211,617, of which
the sum of £3,127 represents the progress made in
the past two months.
"Abbey-mills Pumping Station--The works in
connection with the several buildings comprising
this station have satisfactorily progressed during the
past two months, 219 rods of brickwork having been
laid, 11,890 cubic feet of Portland stone bedded in
the cornices, doorway, and window mouldings, para-
pets, &c., 1,900 superficial feet of York stone bedded
in landings, 323 cubic yards of concrete deposited,
and 170 tons of iron used in girders, tubes, centre
bearers, tie beams, &c. The total estimated value of
the whole of the completed works is £142,807, of
which £14,933 is due to the progress made within
the past two weeks.
"Low Level Sewer--The work remaining to com-
plete this contract is in active progress. The girders
for carrying the iron tubular sewer over the East
London Railway at Shadwell are erected, and three
lengths of the tube are jointed and fixed. The value
of the work done during the past two weeks is esti-
mated at £4,133. The works for carrying the Isle
of Dogs branch of this sewerpast the dock entrances
in the river are progressing as fast as the difficult
nature of the work will permit. The two dams at
the ends of the iron pipes which are being laid along
the foreshore are complete, and the penstock-house
at the coalwharf is also finished. The total estimated
value of the work completed under the contract for
this branch sewer is £76,320, of which the sum of
£4,350 represents the progress made therewith
during the last two months.
" South side of the River.
"Thames Embankment. —About 2,370 ft. of the
dam and staging has been constructed between
Westminster and Lambeth-bridges, and a length of
about 450 ft. of the single pile darns has been con-
structed above the latter bridge. Within the com-
pleted darn, a length of about 2,300 ft. of the river
wall has been brought to heights varying from 3:1 ft.
to 'lift above Trinity high water mark. In the
construction of this wall, and the works connected
therewith, about 87,000 cubic yards of earth
have been excavated, 30,000 yards filled in,
22,500 yards concrete deposited, 580 rods of brick-
work laid, and 126,500 cubic feet of stone bedded.
The approximate cost of the whole of these works,
including £23,870 for materials upon the ground,
is £139,780, of which the sum of £8,500 represents
the progress made in the past two months.
" J. W. BAZALGETTE, Engineer."
The report was received and ordered to be entered
on the minutes.
The rest of the business was disposed of and the
Board adjourned.

MURDER 1N FRANKFORT-ON-THE-

111.11 NE.

A strike occurred this week at the Gas Fabrkk,
Frankfort-on-the-Maine, and the police were unable
to quell the eineute. The Prussian soldiers were
called in, and quieted matters. An unfortunate
event, however, happened in connection with it.
One of the workmen taunted some Prussian
soldiers, calling them hard names, when a soldier
at once thrust his bayonet through the body of the
man, penetrating his heart, and killing him
instantly. The workman leaves a wife and family.
The abuse of the soldier was deemed a justification
for the murder, and it is said that he has not been
arrested, and that he will not be punished.

Synods appear to be the rage. A congress of
German bishops is announced for the 15th of October at
Fulda, iu Hesse Cassel. The Bishop of Salzburg has
originated the meeting.