THE DRAINAGE QUESTION.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXXII, Issue 5708, 8 January 1876, Page 3

THE DRAINAGE QUESTION.

To the Editor : Sir, — Permit me to direct the attention of those interested eopecially those who are in power to the following paragraph from an Eoql.ah paper on the drainage of t!io Thames Villcy :— "The Government inquiry, with the view to the formation of a combined scheme of drainage for the Thames Valley, which was adjourned till Monday, has bjj 1 further adjourned. The Wimbledon Local Board have entrusted thoir clerk to oppose the proposed combination scheme. The Kingston itural Sanitary Authority have also passed a resolution stating that they are umvillmg, in the present unsettled state of opinion oil the drainage question, and ol the beat method of dealing with sewage, to eutertain the present proposal, which requires a groat outlay, and may hereafter be found to be based on au erroneous principle. Several other locVl authorities have also expressed their determination to oppose." The question " What shall we do with our sewage ?" is apparently very far from being answered. Many of the great towns in the valley of the Thames have spent immense sums of money under the advice of tho mojt eminent engineers, but the result3 are so unsatisfactory, that other towns hesitate to follow their plans, &c. Centralisation of the sewerage oli London has only 1 emoyed it, to become an evil of tho greatest magnitude. Its "bulk ' is a cause of the greatest anxiety. To all the thing is evidently "based on an erroneous principle." Sir, is it possible that with the great amount of information to be derived on the difficulty of dealing with sewage, when it is "bulked" from most places where it is tried ; coupled with the fact that the little (though expensive) thing attempted here is a complete failure — I mean the silt basins on the wharf — I say again, is it possible that our Council will go on "bulking" it at Arch PL 11, and other places, till public indignation is roused, and another bombshell explodes in their midst?— I am, &c., J. B. Stuanue.