The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-06 00:00:00

COLONIAL,

TEA.--The market is exceedingly quiet, and lower rates
are current for some qualities. The public sales passed off
very heavily. The attendance was very good, but there
was little disposition shown to purchase, the great bulk of
the quantity offered being withdrawn. Common Congers
is quoted 120 134 d per lb.
SUGAR.—There is increased dullness, and although large
quantities were offered at public sale very few purchases
were made, although rates aro easier. In the refined
markets there was a further decline in quotations. Brown
lumps are 575, wet lumps 54s Gd to 655, and fine pieces
52s Gd to 53s per cwt.
COFFEE.—There was a very limited inquiry ; the only
transactions entered into being in plantation Ceylon,
which sold at steady rates. Costa Rica sold for 62s to
62s GI per cwt.
DICE.—Tho market remains inactive, and previous rates
were not supported.
Run.—The inquiry has been very limited, and for most
qualities a decline of Li per gallon has taken place.
SALTPETRE.—A very moderate business has been done,
and quotations are rather in favour of purchasers. Eng-
lish refined realised 54s per cwt.
FRUITS.—At public sales nearly all the sound parcels of
currants were bought in ; some few parcels were sold at
695. Turkey figs wore flat, and Valentia raisins sold for
44s to 4T s, and a few very fine at 55s per cwt.
TALLOW.—A rather active business was transacted, but
prices receded about is per cwt. P.Y.O. is quoted on the
per
spot 535; all the year 52s Gd, and spring delivery 533
cwt.
GREEN FEUEE.—A fair business doing. Arrivals of the
new crop of oranges from Spain and Oporto, some parcels
of each, sold by Keeling and Hunt at public sale, were
taken freely by the trade. Lemons scarce, a few ases of
Naples realised 355. More business doing in Spanish nuts •
three cargoes have been sold ex•ship ; the -
present prices is
sale for buyers.

MURDER OF A POLICEMAN LT STEVENAGE, HERTS.
—This quiet little vi lage has been thrown into ex-
citement by the commission of one of the foulest mur-
ders recorded for a long time. A policeman, who has
only been in the neighbourhood a few weeks, who was
noted for his vigilance, and had, it appears, often stopped
men with stolen property,
was missed on Friday night
lut. He was seen going his rounds about five o'clock,
and was never seen after till Monday morning, when
he was found in a pond about half a mile from the village
with his throat cut so frightfully that his head was
nearly severed from his body. Near the pond was
foEnd some loose grain, and the ground bore evident
marks of a severe struggle having taken place, and at a
distance of above ninety yards were more loose corn and
some blood, so that it appears that be tried to apprehend
some one, or more, with stolen corn, and that one or
more committed tke murder. His scat was hacked a
great deal about the neck. The coroner has held an
inquest on the body, and adjourned it till Monday
Two brothers named Carpenter have been taken
ip, and
there seems strong suspicion against them. The row.
dered man was about twenty-five
years of age, And cams
from St. Alben's.
. •

CONFERENCE WITH SIR BENJAMIN HALL,
ON THE MAIN DRAINAGE OF THE
METROPOLIS.
The Metropolitan Board of Works originally
submitted a plan called plan B to the First Com-
missioner of her Majesty's
Works and Buildings
for the main drainage of the metropolis. This
plan was rejected, on the ground that it did not
fulfil the requirements of the Act of Parliament.
A second plan, called plan W., was then prepared,
and laid before the Commissioner, by whom it was
referred to Capt. D. Galton, R.E,, Mr. Jas. Simp-
son, C.E., and Mr. T. E. Blackwell, C.E., for con-
sideration. These gentlemen made their report on
the 31st of July last, in which they recommended a
system of drainage varying in many material re-
spects from that proposed by the Metropolitan
Board. of Works, and involving numerous modifi-
cations of that plan. The Metropolitan Board
came to a resolution rejecting the plan of the Go-
vernment eneineers' and on Frida,yr last addressed
a letter to Sir B. Hall, in which they assigned
their reasons for so doing, and at the same time
requested an interview with him on the subject.
A conference was accordingly held yesterday at the
office of the Board of Works, Whitehall-place, be-
tween Sir B. Hall, the First dommission er(who was
assisted by Capt. D. Galton and Mr. Sioaeson), and
Mr. Thwaites, the chairman of the Metropolitan
Board, accompanied by Mr. Woolrych, the clerk,
and Mr. Bazalgette, the engineer of the board.
Mr. THWAITES —This, Sir Benjamin, will be the
third time I have had the honour of appearing be-
fore you on the all-important subject of the main
drainage of the metropolis. It is now within a few
days of a twelvemonth ago that I presented to you
'plan B*. That plan has been referred by you to
three gentlemen of the highest eminence and re-
spectability. The delay that has arisen out of that
reference is a matter which the Metropolitan Board
of Works deeply regret. lam not about to blame
you for having so referred that plan ; probably it
was the course which any person under similar cir-
cumstances would have adopted. Neither am I pre-
pared to blame the referees for the time taken by
them for the consideration of this important sub-
ject. Indeed, they have acknowledged in their
report that so vast has been the question that the
time occupied by them (being somewhat about nine
months) has been insufficient to enable them care-
fully to master all the details and difficulties of the
matter. No doubt, the referees found that the more
they investigated the subject the more it was beset
with difficulties which did not appear on the sur-
face. Without making any further prefatory remarks
I beg to express a hope that the result of the present
conference will be to rescue the question from all
engineering conflicts on the one hand, and from
fierce personal and private jealousies on the other.
I trust that we shall be able to bring to bear on the
subject such an amount of common sense and prac-
tical knowledge as shall result in relieving the in-
habitants of London of those evils arising from an
imperfect and an impure state of drainage from which
they have been suffering for so many years. The hon.
gentleman then proceeded to call the attention of
Sir B. Hall to the reasons which had induced the
Metropolitan Board to refuse the adoption of the
plan proposed by the Government engineers. One
very serious objection was the proposed increased
area which the plan of these gentlemen compre-
hended. Upon that subject, probably, it was only
necessary for him to refer to the fact that upon Sir
Benjamin's own motion Parliament had but recently
fixed the extent or area to be dealt with by the Board
of Works and there might probably at this period be
some difficulty in extending that area. But there
were other objections to an extension of the area, to
which he begged to call especial attention. The area
under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Board
comprised 1174 square miles. The area which the
Government referees proposed that the Board should
have to deal would comprise 354 square miles ; the
drainage of a large portion of the additional districts
being simply that of the rainfalls the ordinary ma-
nure of those districts being applied to agricultural
purposes. But what would be the consequence to
the ratepayers of thus increasing the area ? It
would be necessary to increase the size of the sewers
some three or four times in capacity ; while for the
greater portion of the year, owing to that increased
size, the sewage would be running in mere driblets,
the result of which would be a vest deposit, and an
inefficiency in the general action of the sewer alto-
gether opposed to those hydraulic principles which
guided engineers in the construction of such works.
The deposit in the sewers of London was a vary im-
portant question. It involved an annual expense of
26,0001. to remove the deposit which remained stag-
nant in the present sewers. The object both of Par-
liament and of the Board must be so to constructthe
sewers as to insure a sufficient scouring power to re-
lieve the districts that were suffering from these de-
posit._ If the G.xtor,dpri area were adopted the tunnels
would be so enlarged as greatly to increass the diffi-
culties which the Board would have to contend with
in other respects. The sewers to be constructed
would be of such an enormous size as to be almost
impracticable in the streets of London. Another
point adverted to by the Government engineers
had engaged his attention. They stated thit one
cubic fort of sewage mixed with five times its bulk
would become innoxious. They, indeed, laid this
down as a principle—he might almost call it their
formula, by which they regulated all their proceed-
ings, for he found that their main deductions were
founded on that proportion. It was impossible, as
no doubt the referees had themselves ascertained,
to carry off the whole of the rain water during the
entire year, and the plan of the Board made that
admission; but with the view of preventing an over-
flow of water into the Thames for some ten days in
the year these geatlemen proposed additional sewers,
or rather sewers of an addAtional size, involving a
frightful expense of money.. And why should all
this be? What would be the proportion of the
sewage to the rain water when the channels were
surcharged and the contents passed over into the
Thames? Taking every various condition of the
sewage, he found that that which would pass over
the tunnel into the Thames would be in the propor-
tion of 74 cubic feet of water to one of sewage. This
was a larger dilution than that which the referees
stated would be necessary in their own opinion to
be obtained ; therefore one would logically arrive at
the conclusion that to increase the size of these
sewers for the purpose of preventing during a few
days in the ye ir this diluted sewage from flowing
into the Thames was altogether unnecessary. The
referees did not themselves propose the introduc-
tion of a large stream of water which would effectu-
ally carry off all the sewage throughout the whole
year. They admitted that during certain days in
the year some portion of the sewage must pass over
into the Thames, and yet to effect so small an ob-
ject they proposed a plan that would involve a most
disproportionate expenditure. He would now call
Sir B. Hall's attention to the proposition for the
construction of open sewers. The Metropolitan Lo-
cal Management Act expressly provided that the
Board should not construct any works so as to be-
come a nuisance. It had hitherto bee-a the policy of
the Board and of all preceding commissions to abo-
lish all open sewers; but the referees appeared to
be of opinion that by a mixture of five parts
water and one part sewage the evil effects
generated by the impure gises arising from open
sewers would be destroyed, or, in other worts that
a constant flow would prevent those consequences
which would arise from a mere stagnant pool. The
time that would be occupied in discharging the
sewage at the outfall, and the time required by de-
composition of the sewage by the action of the at-
mosphere, were questions he would not enter upon
then, but he apprehended that Sir B. Hall could
not fail to arrive at the same conclusion the Board
itself had arrived at, that open sewers were entirely
inadmissible, and that it was a proposition which
could never be sanctioned. After some technical,
criticisms as to the practicability of constructing
those elongated open sewers, atal as to the admis-
sion of water into them f r the purpose of carryiug
off the sewage, he stated that the Board were ap-
prehensive that to effect the object proposed by
the referees the navigation of the river itself would
be greatly prejudiced, and that in order to hive
a quantity of water equal to the ordinary flow
of the channels it would require the construc-
ion of reservoirs that would occupy no less than
4eo acres ofl
„d Ken si and, an area equal to that of Hyde-park
tinp htson-Gardens together. He need not
to
say
kee that
ua
ern) requiring such a work in order
e
togethep r madetr,
proposed discharging power was al-
would be required tolif The mechanical power that
thewater from the Thamk s
into these channels woultldmboesattended with an an-
nual
aniit,
one burden on
the ratepayers of London,
which de demanded
t:e most serious considerationlioef
missioner before giving his sanction'any such
to rst
Com-
to call
plan. The next point to which he begged
attention was the proposed extension of the out-
fall. That had been already the subject of confe-
rence. On the 20th of Nov. last year, a deputation
presented to Sir B. Hall the plan B with a st ,r,
and it was accompanied with a resolution pass?d by
the board, declaring their readiness to carry out an
extension of their own plan if the Government
wished it to be done ,and were willing to assist in
providing funds for that purpose. On that occasion
a member of the deputation asked whether they
were to understand that the plan indicated it
Capt. Burstalhe letter as to the pomts of outfall
was satisfactory to the First Commissioner, when
Sir Benjamin Hall said he did not think he should
be justified in going beyond those points, -at
beee Ise
asking if he did he should be them to expend
money for purposes other than were considered by