The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-19 00:00:00

THE STATE OF THE THAMES.

Mr. Be D. MANGLES raid that when he a‘ked a
question a few niehts ago on this subject, the noble lord
(Lord J. Manner ) had told him the matter reeted with
he Metropolitan Board of Werks ; when that body was
first estabiiehed, he, no doubt in common with others,
paid the greatest attention to their proceedings, but after
a time he found they were of so futile and miserablo a
character, that be ceased to tette the least intereet in
them. The public papers had even ceased to report
them, and left them to their own devices. He was in•
formed that the plan this bard bad as yet devised to
abate the existing nuisance was to discharge the whole
sewage of London into the middle of the Thames, instead
of at the ide-. As a proof of the practical wisdom of
this body they were at that moment sitting in discharge
of their funotioca—(a laugh) —for their meeting that
mornirg the I,howiug notice of mwion bad been given
by Mr. Wright :—" To ca'l attont.on to the polluted
state ef the river, aeil to move that the board will, on a
day t be appointed, proc: ed to inspect it in a steamer to
he hired fer the purp ;se." When the whale community
was nearly poisoned these gentlemen had only gut as far
as talking of inspection. If they went he hoped they would
take a sufficient quantity of brandy with them. It was a
great mistake to place a maqtrof such const quence in th
h .nds of a municipal body. It was an imperial question,
and they ought not to be ashamed is retrace their step..
This Tsai the greatest and the richest metrop ilia in the
world, and was it possible they c •uld not succeed in free-
ing themselves from their ti:te 1 (A. laugh.) It was no
joking matter ; if cholera was to break out in this hot
weather, the mortality would be something dreadful.
When he was a young man the Thames salmon was
celebrated, but now there was not a salmon in the
river, and all the fish were dying. They bad lately
erected a noble mansion foe the' first gentleman in
Engl ind, the risht hon, gentleman in the chair. It
was now nearly finished, but would any hon. gentleman
think it right or decent to ask him to reside in such an
atino.ph- re I (Flew, heat). No gentleman would place
his wont enemy there. They had spent three hundred
millions on railroads, and was it to be said that they
could not spend four or five on the river ? He begged
to ask the Chief Commissioner of Works wbat steps he
had taken, or proposed to twee, t, preserve the health
of the members of the two houses of parliament from
being destroyed by the ereseet pestilential condition of
the river Thane P.
Atlerman CUBITT, as a member of the B acrd of
ioatmtcheetmt.nv
eTnhteedfaaulste
tweet:
swwi thhi
epaarwl parliament Hear,),
e(tiElcae
ba ),
Works, wished to offer a few observations in vindica-
tion Par
le
out.
The appointed the Board of Works to carry it
schemelß oard prepared a p'an which was a good one if the
was
good. Tub plan was submitted to the Chief
Commissioner of Work P, in whom a veto was vested by
the act ; he naturally shrunk from the responsibility,
and referred the matter to two engineers. They re-
ported against it, and the Chief Commissioner sent back
the plan.
The board then directed its engineersSubmitte to
d° pre-
pare another plan, which was to the Chief
Commissioner. He again shrank from the responsibi-
lity of a vote, and referred the plan to three engineers.
They considered that
causlytheretaniselbrordli'lbewbaisg
e t
enougho in-
crease,proposedeed
carry of
sewagetitteff a
city
three times as large. The
back to
report of the engineers was sent the board.
The estimate for the ve• five rk was or six millions, but
the board were informed that it would be nearer ten or
eleven, which the board would have to raise by a rate
on the metropolitan district. With regard to the plan
proposed by pare
'•amen t be bad very great doubts
as to its sinew.. If they were to send the 80 millions
of gallons of water drawn from the Thames west of
London, some 30 miles down, he feared the effect on
the river in dry weather. The question then came, what
was to be done ? He thought they ought to devise
some plan by which every galley of eater would be re-
turned to the river as clear as it came fr on it. He bad
no doubt such a p:au could be found. It would be fair
enough to blame the Board ef Works for not having de-
vised a plan if they had been au'horised to consider the
question at all. Within tholast few weeks a committee
had been fitting cn the subject. A plan of Mr. Golds-
worthy Gurney had been laid before them which he (_% r.
Cubitt) felt convinced would be a great aux liary to any
.ch<ll-ne, although it wouti not do alone.

Mr. WARREN would ir•JsraFe on the house for a f,w
minutes. He bad given notice of his intention to call the
attention of the house to the inability of the Metropoli-
tan Burd of Works, in respect of preventing the sewage
ut the metropolis from flawing or Passir g
into the River
Thames in or near to the metropolis, but the hon. mem-
ber for Guildford had anticipated him. The right hon.
barcntt cppnbite (Sir 13. Uati) had carried through Par-
Van:lent the bill for the establishment of the Boar 4 of
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