The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-13 00:00:00

EXPENSES OF THE COMMISSION.

Viscount ERRINGTON soUl—The attention of the
Commission ha, been called to a question put to the
House of Commons as to the cost of management of
the Commission. No opportunity offered itself for
any debate upon the subject, the question was merely
put, and the forms of the House prevented any sub-
sequent discussion. The subject seemed, however, to
the Commissioners deserving of prompt attention, and
an explanatory report was prepared by the secretary
under the direction of the Commissioners, to be
used when an opportunity offered. The present cost
of management is less than in 1847 upon the rental
of the property assessed. The cost was formerly
about 6s. 61, and upon the actual value of property
now under our actual jurisdiction it is 4s. 61, or ra-
ther less, 4s. 51d. Under the old Commission the
system of bookkeeping was such that nobody could
certify its correctness, but now it is perfectly accu-
rate. A series of bills, dated 1839, are now in the
possession of the Commissioners, and they will suffi-
ciently justify this remark.
Mr. WooLayer' then read the report as follow& :-
4. COST OF THE COMMISSION.

" There was an important error in the public reports
of the proceedings at the Metropolitan Court of Sewers,
held on the 28th of February, an error which has a
material bearing upon the observations mask upon the
general conduct of the business of the Commission. The
item in question is thus described:--
'• Pa) ments for books, surveye, management, Sss.,
85,346/. 3s. 6d.; and it has been stated, as a not impro-
bable conjecture, that if the charge for " Works" were
included in the item, the expenditure of the year might
amount to 150,0001. It is further intimated that a large
proportion of the expenditure is probably due to the
heads of management and experiments. The error al-
luded to consists in the use of the word " books" in-
stead of " works," the item being described in the
accounts presented to the court as "Payments for works,
surveys, management, &c." The total sum expended
during the year commencing the sth of January, and
ending the 31st of December, 1849, was 85,346/. 3s. 6d.,
but 69,068/. 13s. ld. represents the expenses incurred
during the period. The sum paid for works during the
period was 50,3091. 4s. id., but the amount incurred
under this head was 39,313/. 17s. 3d. The ex-
pense incurred for management between the above
dates was 18,442/. 3s. 9d., though the sum ex-
pended in respect of management was 22,400/.
17s. sd.—the difference being due to the previous year.
But it must be remarked that the sum of 18,442/. 3s. 9d.
includes various it• ms beyond those strictly applicable
to office establishments, surveying, and engineering staff;
&c. It includes a sum of 3611. 3s. 6d., the charge of a
professional accountant, who has remodelled the system
of ace( unts with reference to the adjustment of the
financial condition of the former separate Commissions,
the organization of a new department for contractors'
accounts, the separate account of twenty-two districts,
and other minute requirements of the New Sewers,
Act, with reference to the audit and Parliamentary
statement. It further includes a sum of 621/. 55.,
the amount of superannuation allowances, compensations,
&c., to officers of the old separate Commissions, the sum
of 1,0531. 6s. 2d. for poundage to rate-collectors, and
copies of the poor-rates, &c., 244/. 143. 6d. for law ex-
penses, obligations for rent, &c., from old Commission.
The change effected by recent enactments in the consti-
tution of the Commission has imposed upon it an
extensive class of new duties, especially with reference
to he nee drainage and the abatementof private nuisances;
and these, together with measures cunAquent upon the
cholera last year, occasioned a large expenditure charged
to the head of ms.usgement; and the expenses occasioned
by the superintendence of sewerage and drainage works
executed at the cost of private individuals is also appli-
cable to the same head. The aggregate rental of the
separate Commissions under the former system was
rather more than 6,000,0001, and the cost of manage-
ment for the eleven months of their existence in the year
1847 was 21,0001. Is. 7.1., being about 6s. 7d. per cent.
The rateable value of the property within the present
active jurisdiction of the Commission is rather over
8,000,000/., and the cost of management, even without
any allowance for the items ebove referred; to, is about
in the ratio of 4s. 6d. per cent. It must be further stated
that the expenditure of the year included 9,082/. 14s. for
contractors' and tradesmen's accounts under the old
Commissions, and 3,6941. 17s. 53. interest on loans con-
tracted also under the old Commissions.
" Remarks have been made as to the amount of the

liabilities of the Commission, viz. 100,0001., apparently
under the impression that these liabilities have toren in-
curred by the Commissions issued since 1847. This
is an entire misconception. Of this amount the
sum of 63,833/. 18s. 7d. is the residue of the old
obligations for the most part of one of the separate
Commissions in respect of loans, annuities, &c., and
contractors' accounts applicable to that period.
It also includes the sum of 14,203/. Os. id. for the
Ordnance, subterranean, and other surveys—works
of general and permanent utility, the expense of which
may equitably be distributed over a series of years.
With the burden of these old obligations, an extended
jurisdiction, and multiplied functions, instead of aug-
menting the liabilities of the former Commissions, those
liabilities have, since December, 1847, been reduced to
the sum of 9,714/. 16s. 2d., the general deficiency on the
financial position in November, 1847, the date of the
supersedeas,' having been 36.729/. 10s., and the general
deficiency in December, 1849, being 27,0141. 4s. Bd.
Since that period only one loan has been effected, namely,
a sum of 3,000/. for the special purposes of a district, on
which a portion of it has been expended, and which has
not yet been rated. On the question of the explicitness
and publicity of the accounts of the last year, it may be
observed that the auditor appointed by the Secretary of
State occupied the entire month of February in a labo-
rious investigation of those accounts; the accounts them-
selves and every voucher containing a full and circum-
stanti7,l account of the expenditure, with the sums appli-
cable to the various heads of works, management, &c.,
were deposited at the principal office for public inspec-
tion for a week previous to the day of audit. Advertise-
ments to that effect and announcing the day of audit
were inserted in all the daily papers on two consecutive
days, and on the day of the audit it would have been
competent to any ratepayer to appear and demand ex-
planations on any item that might seem to require it.
The auditor certified to the fulness, completeness, and
accuracy of the accounts thus investigated, publicly
audited, and presented in open court, and expressed
strong commendation of the mode in which they had
been kept."

THE DRAINAGE OF THE METROPOLIS.
The committee appointed by the General Court
to take into consideration the general drainage of
the metropolis, and report thereon, determined to
divide their labours into three distinct portions, or
rather three distinct reports ; the first to consist of
a plan for the drainage of the southern side of the
Thames ; the second to consist of a plan for the
drainage of Westminster ; and the third to be a plan
for the general drainage of the metropolis north of
the Thames. The committee determined to take the
drainage of the southern portion first into their con-
sideration, as its requirements seemed to them to be
more immediately pressing than those of any other

district.
The CHAIRMAN read the report, as follows :
"SURREY DRAINAGE.
"1, Greek-street, Soho, August 1.
" My Lord and Gentlemen,—ln obedience to instruc-
tions which I had the honour to receive from you on
the 8111 ult., I now proceed to furnish a report and esti-
mate for a complete system of drainage for the Surrey
and Kent districts, including extensive alterations in the
inclination of existing sewers.
"Notwithstanding the labour and ingenuity displayed
in many of the plans for the drainage of the metropolis
sent in last year—some of which, as you stated in your
report of the Bth of March, dealt ably with the general
drainage on the north side of the Thames—l have been,
us you are well aware, in laying out the plan of drainage
for the seuth side, able to derive little or no practical
assistance from any of them, which is to be accounted
for, doubtless, by the necessarily defective data on which
they were baser), owing to the imperfect nature of the
information which it was then in the power of the Com-
missioners to supply to their various authors; but I feel it
my duty to acknowledge in the outset the very valuable
assistance I have received from plans and suggestions
prepared, after consulting the block plans and subter-
ranean surveys, by a member of your Hon. Commission,
who kindly placed them in my hands during the prepa-
ration of the plan I have now the honour to submit.

—"ln drawing up this report I have, under your in-
structions, adopted the following principles for my guid-
ance:-1. To keep the river Thames free from sewage
a: all tittles of the tide from Woolwich-reach upwards.
" 2. To abolish all open ditches and cesspools, as well
as defective, shallow or high level sewers.

"3. To maintain a continual and unintermitting flow,
with the aid of tilts where necessary, in all the sewers
along their whole length, by which the evils arising from
pent-up sewage—viz, the generation of noxious gases
and the unavoidable formation of deposit in the sewer
during its stagnation—may b 3 avoided.
" 4. To construct the sewers at inclinations so pro-
portioned to the volume of fluid to be carried off by each
that the velocity of the current shall keep them clear of
deposit without the need of regular periodical flushing,
which experience has shown to be not only troublesome
and expensive in its operation, but also very injurious to
the sewers and drains in which it is practised.
" 5. To form the mai❑ sewers at such a depth as not
only ti receive the drainage of the deepest existing
sew ors, but to answer the purpose of main drains
capible of extension towards the extremities of the
district.
" 6. To provide a natural escape by the power of
gravity alone for storm waters and land floods, indepen-
dent of the ordinary sewers, whose contents will on the
south tide of the Thames require artificially lifting, and
to construct the new sewers of such sizes only as may
be sufficient to take the general drainage of the district,
including ordinary rain falls, connecting them at about
mean low water, with outlets for heavy floods.