Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1850-06-15
THE POLYNESIAN.
HONOLULU, SATURDAY. JUNE IS.

/ AAOA>OAOAOs o~A O1sDAAs JUNE
% We have not been able to find satisfac
tory account Of the manner in which London j.
supplied with water. Seven distinct companie.
are engaged in that business, but their opera.
tions are altogether inadequate to the immense
undertaking. Two new schemes arc now un-
dergoing discussion, to furnish an amply supply,
a sketch of which we give below. These ac-
counts are contained in the Report of Commit.
tee appointed; to make an investigation upon the
subject, and will be found Interesting. s7saia
III The two rival plans now referred to us,
which profess to give an abundance of pure
water, are new, and it wall be proper for the
clear understanding of our report, to describe
them shortly. We have called them rival
plans, because as each of them propose the
supply Of the whole of the metropolis, and to
adopt or materially interfere with the mains
and supply pipes of all the present compa-
MES, only one of them can be required, or
indeed executed. H eag5ga1 s9a'ioo ,af 9s,ad
The first in point Of date is the Henley
scheme, notices for which were given to the
last session of Parliament, but the bill was
lost upon the second reading in the Commons,
after a debate of some length. As some mod
ifcations have since been made, we shall
confne our description to the plan now pro-
posed and deposited.
II commences by an aqueduct with branch
es off from the river Thames near Medium
ham Abbey, or about four miles below Hen
ley.a In its course to London it is first by an
open canal forty feet wide and ten feet deep,
as far as West Drayton; thence twenty feet
wide and seven feet deep, to the river Brent
and thence by two brick culverts, each ten
feet diameter, to West-end, Hampstead
At Hambiedon lock, which is about two
miles below Henley, there is lift or rise of
three feet and six inches in the navigation
This lock is to be removed, and one erected
below Mednunham Abbey, the point of juno
ton of the aqueduct; so that the part of the
river between the new lock and the lock
above Henley, will form a nearly level pool
or reservoir, five miles in length and eighty
eight feet above high waters
From Mednunham the course of the aQue-
duct curves round the foot Of the high ground
and approaches the Thames below NARROW,
proceeds on TO near COokham, is carried
over the Thames by an aqueduct bridge
about quarter of a mile above Maidenhead
bridge, keeps nearly close to the Great
Western railway as far as Bulls bridge, a
length Of thirteen miles, and for nearly ten
miles by the sides Of the Grand Junction and
Paddington canals, passes under the Grand
Junction canal at West Drayton, and twice
under the Paddington canal westward of the
London and Northwestern railway; the
aqueduct then continues through Wilesden,
under the Edgeware road, and on to West
II u,no,staoI xrIoro n noto
large basin The whole length from Med
nunham 20 Hampstead basin, is thirty y-three
and half miles. l--.~-, --a...
Three large collecting and settling reser-
voirs for cases of drought, or Of the water
being discolored by land floods, are proposed
in the line of the aqucduct; one near Cook
ham, another near West Drayton, and the
third, of seventy-seven acres, near Harrow.
From the Hampstead basin, in which the
water will stand eighty-five feet above high
water, it is to be raised by steam power
g, 500 horse, into an elevated reservoir, al
so at Hampstead, which is two hundred and
fifty feet above high water. From this last
reservoir, large iron mains, extending in va
rious directions on the north side, and over
Fauxhall bridge to the south side of the riv-
or, will be connected with and supply the
mains and pipes in all the districts Of the
present water companies, which works are
henceforth to belong to the commissioners of
the new works, the shareholders of the old
companies being compensated by fixed in
terest upon their capital. 81. ........
The inclination or fall in the surface Of the
water from Mednunham to the Hampstead
basin, is calculated by Messrs. Mclean and
Stileman and Mr.. Blackwell, the projectors
and engineers Of the pian, to be sufficient fcr ic
conveying from the :;ler 200 ,113 GG3 Go GGG6 gal
,oiis ,oi,s In twemy-four hours as far as West
Drayton, and 100, ,OOO, 900 thence to Hamp-
stead This last being the quantity suPpo-
sed to be required for giving an ample dai-
" supply for the metropolis, is stated to be
at least double the present supply by all the
companies. .....,s
The object of the large aqueduct as far as
Drayton, is to pass quantity, when there IS
a surplus in the Thames, into the Grand
Junction canal, and thence into reservoir
at Paddington, eighty-five feet above high
water. whence it will be converted INTO the
sewers of London for the purpose of cleans
ing them. The large addition for the purPo-
ses Of sewerage, would lead to an Increased
expense, if any of the schemes for pumping
up the water after passing through the sew
ers be adopted. sa, sfss =. -. ..ar
The engineers estimate is: works for bring
ing water from Henley to London, including
compensation to mill owners, FL ,OOO, 600;
cost of plant for distribution, in addition to
the plant of existing companies, 81, Geo 600
total, f2, ,OOO, 600. And the annual expense
as under: rent charge, as compensation to
proprietors Of existing companies. Ely 600;
cost of distribution, independently Of interest
Of capital for plant, flO0, 600. gat sbl p I'd
The other, or Metropolitan Water Supply
Company, which has been brought out during
the last summer by Messrs. Gordon and L'd-
dell, engineers. proposes to take its supply
from the river above ,Mapledurham lock,
which is FIVE miles above the junction OF the
river Kennet, near Reading, or seventeen