The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-05 00:00:00

MhTEOPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS.

A special meeting of the Booed was le lcl yester-
day in the Conned Ceamber, Guildhall, t o eeceive
and c insider the report of Capt in D. Gallon, R E.
Mr. James Simpson, C.E., and Mr. T. E. B'ack-
well, C.E., on the plan of mein drainage submitted
to Sir Benjamin Hall by the Board on the 22d of
December last. Mr. Thwaites was in the chair.
The report which consists of 45 folio pages of
printed matter, was read in, extenso by Mr. Woil-
rych, a sistel by Mr. 133 z klgette, and it occupied
the se gentlemen nearly three hours in reading it.
Mr. CARPMAEL wished to propose a motion on
the subject of the report. The case stood thus ,
The Metropolitan Board had submitted a plan to
Sir B. Hall as First Commissioner of her Majesty's
Worke The Board therefore could not take up
any new scheme until their own plan had been de-
cided upon by the Government. It was important
to bear in mind that the report which had been
reed did not purport to contain any plan which had
received the approval of Sir Benjamin Hal. It
was merely the suggestion of the three referees,
and, for aught he knew, Sir Benjamin Hall might
ignore their plan in the same manner as he had
ignored the plan of that Board. It had taken a
long time to read the report, but practically the
changes proposed might b 3 expressed in a few
minutes. It was not proposed by the referees to
interfere with the plan adopted by the Board in re-
gerd to the upper level sewer on the north, nor
with regard to the low level sewer on the south
side of the Thames. The first alteration suggested
was an extension of the plan proposed by the
Board. It was said that the Board did not melt.°
a sufficient provision for rain-fall, or give a .eliffi-
ctent supply of water to the inhabitants to enable
the extra quantity of sewage to be carried away.
They also said teat that the engineer of the Board
did not make provision for so large an area as
might be provided for simply by gravitation. But
by the plan of Mr. Bezalgette it appeared that he
had arrived at what he believed t a be the maximum
area that could be dealt with by gravitation only.
The referees disagreed fioei the propriety of having
an outfall at B* ; and proposed iu place of that
to carry oil the sewage by two open reservoirs
or canals, which together were to be 76 feet in
width and about 37 miles in length. These canals
were to be uncovered, ex,-ept when they came to
any town or bridge. They also proposed to dilute
the sewage by pumping water out of the Thames
into these open reservoirs from Plumpateed on the
one side, and Barking on the other, and thus
cause it to flow on in a continued stream to Sea
Reich and the Creak, whence it would be poured
into the river, and there be mixed with such a
quantity of water as to render it inoffensive to any
one. The country at large, and the metropolis in
particular, ought to know thet while the one great
purpose in all the works of the Board wat ti
cover up the whole sewage drains, the plan sug-
gested by the gentlemen to whom the question
had been referred by the First Coratnissioner was
that the sewage should be carried nearly 20 miles
on each side of the river in ()pm concentrated
streams. The hon. member then moved the fol-
lowing resolution :
" That, in acknowledging the receipt of Sir Benjamin
Hall's communication of the 31st of July, he be requested
to furnish this Board with such plans and sections as may
have been prepa• el by Captain Calton and triessrs. Simp-
son and Blackwell, to explain the recommendations, and
that he be informed that this Board, having on the 22d
of December last submitted to him plans for the intercep-
tion of the metropolitan sewage through covered sewers at
an estimated cost of 2,836,600/, regard with great• appre-
hension any proposition to exceed the sum of 5,437,2331.,
of which it appears a sum of 3,141,300/. is proposed to be
expanded in the'formation of two open sewage canals and
works connected therewith, amounting together to 76 feet
in width and about 37 miles in leogth, it; being the duty
of this Board to cover all existing open sewers, and not to
create further nuisances."
The motion having been seconded,
Mr. TURNER move as an amendmen
" That the receipt of the report be acknowledged, and
that it be requested that the plans and sections therein
referred to be forwarded to the Board."
Mr. DENNIS was sorry that Mr. Carpmael should
have so prematurely pronounced an opinion on the
report of the three eminent men to whim the plan
of the board had been referred by the Fatal; Com-
missioner. He hoped the board would wait, and
have the whole details before them previous to their
pronouncing an opinion on a subject of such
magnitude.
Mr. Deputy HARRISON disapproved both the
original motion and the amendment. Sir B. Hall
had sent them a report, and bad stated that cer-
tain plans were • being prepared, and would be
ready in a few days. Surely it was not necessary
for the board to pass a resolution calling upon Sir
.Benjamin Hall to send those plans_ He would, no
doubt, afford the bard every information that was
furnished to him by trio Engineers to whom he had
referred the plan submitted to him by the board.
Mr BIDGOOD observed that, for aught they knew,
plan B* might yet come back from Sir B. Hall ap-
proved ; the board ought therefore to take care not
to put themselves in a false position by asking Sir
B. Hall for additional plans. At all events he
hoped` the Board would not do anything to lead
the public to think that there existed any hostility
between the board and the First Commissioner of
her Majesty's Works. The object of all was a
thorough drainage of London. Plan B* was at
present before Sir B. Hall, and until the board had
received an answer from him—yes or no—to that
plan the board ought not to take any other step.
Mr. H. L. TAYLOR said that, notwithstanding
the great respectle entertained for his friend Mr.
Carpmael, he thought that on this occasion he had
been somewhat premature. If his friend had
had listened to him this discussion would have been
avoided. His friend possessed the advantage of
having seen the report, but it was hardly fair to the
other members of the board who had only just heard
it read to bring forward a proposition binding them
to the expression of an opinion in regard to a docu-
ment which they had had no opportunity to con-
sider. He did not wish to prejudge the report,
though he had no doubt it could be well pulled
to pieces. It was his firm belief that Sir B.
Hall had, in the course he had pursued, exceeded
his duty. He ought and must deal with the plan
B*. He had no right to hang up teat plan and
let loose on the world a plan of his own to see how
the Times toek it up. He had no right ti do that.
Sir B. Hall was a public -servant, receiving public
money, and had a public duty to perform, and he
had to discharge himself from plan B* before en-
tering upon any other plan. (Heir, hear.) He
would give the right hon. baronet time enough ;
they had no right to push him into a corner ; but,
though suspending all judgment on plan B*, the
moment his own engineers presented their report
he hastened to gat it into the Observer, his own
paper, and thereby furnished food for the Times,
and thus a condensation of the report got before
the world. He did not wish, however, to be im-
portunate with the right hon. baronet. Let him
have time to send to that board all he considered
necessary to illustrate the important subject on
which they had to decide. Unanimity on this
subject was most desirable ; he therefore hoped
that his friend Mr. Carpmael and also Mr. Turner
would withdraw both the original motion and the
amendment, in order that they might adopt a pro.
position for promoting and circulating the report,
to be taken into consideration on a future day.
Mr. DOULTON saw no difficulty in adopting the
resolution of Mr. Carpmael. The proposed plan
was, in effect, to have an open ditch on each side
of the river Thanies for 20 miles • and no discus-
sion of details could elucida.e the plan more clearly
than that simple statement. It was a plan c
trary not only t the spirit but to the very letter
of the Act of Parliament, which said teat all sews re
with which the board had to deal should be covered
over. Having that act before them, they ought at
once to express a decided opinion against any plan
which proposed the construction of open sewers.
Every day, however, convinced him of the neces-
sity of something being done, but it must not be
that which was embodied in this plan, for, how-
ever excellent the men might be who proposed it,
it was a plan which, if adopted, would perpetuate
an intolerable nuisauce.
Mr. OFFOR was of opinion that the Board ought
rot to come .to any decision until they had the
whole of the maps and sections before them.
Mr. Rows condemned the adoption of open
sewers, and hoped the Board would unanimously
oppose the proposition.

"Mr. NICHOLAS thought nothing would be gained
by hurrying on the question, and that they should
wait until the whole plans were before them.
Mr. D'IFFANGER opposed both the motion and
the amendment. He regarded the report as the
answer of Sr B. Hall to plan B*. (" No ! no !")
There appeared to him to be two objections to the
plan of the referees—first, that of having open
sewers ; and, secondly, that of dealing with areas
beyond the jurisdiction of the Board. It was pro-
posed to them to sanction the expenditure of six
millions of money, which, of course, meant ten
millions before the thing was done. Now, he would
assume that proposition to be Sir B. Hall's answer
to the plan they_ had proposed, and he would sug-
gest OM they should reply to Sir B. Hall, and
say to him,—" If we agree with this report, are
you prepared to bring in a bill to give us power to
deal with an area beyond our jurisdiction, and to
expend a sum of money to an amount
feel we ought not to expend." (Hear, hear.) ,
Mr. CARPAIAEL, in reply, said that he was
anxious to relieve the Board from the imputat'on
of delay, which had been unjustly cast upon them
by Sir B. Hall. At the same time he was not de
eirous to prais his proposition unreasonably, and