THE MOTHER RIVER.

Waikato Times, Volume 111, Issue 18641, 20 May 1932, Page 2

THE MOTHER RIVER.

THAMES SIDE GLEANINGS HOW SMITHFIELD GOT ITB NAME. THE “HEAVY HORSEMEN.” The following are excerpts from the Port of London Authority Monthly for April. In an account of London’s great meat centre, Smithfleld, the market is .referred to as “the world's meat ineeca” and its importance to the New Zealand producer is almost as great as to the British salesman and the British public. “Smithticld! The very name of the, world’s largest municipal meat market spells romance to the visitor to London, while even those who are daily engaged in business at the world's meat Mecca respond to the thrill engendered by the historical allusionS embodied in its title. “The first mention of Smithfleld in - history occurs in some old Court Chronicles of the tenth century. It is : referred to as ‘Smoothfleld,’ and was the play, archery’, and tournament Held of the citizens of London, besides being the recognised place of public executions. Historians are not . agreed upon the manner in which the present title originated, but some ■, authorities advance the belief that the . smiths of the City of London were wont to gather at ‘Smoothfleld,’ at frequent intervals, for trials of . strength and wrestling bouts." They Were In Pocket. One of the chief causos for the making of London’s earliest enclosed docks was the pilferage on wholesale scale of the cargoes of ships in the stream. Mr A. E. YVildcy tells of the plundering methods of the “Heavy Horsemen” who “were employed in loading and discharging ships:— “Their method for illegitimately extracting goods was to provide themselves with an under-garment known as a 'jemmy.’ It had pockets before and behind and long, narrow bags or pouches. This device was strapped to their legs and concealed under wide trousers. They would 1111 the pockets with sugar, coffee, cocoa, ginger and any oilier portable commodity. As these men had to go ashore for meals they were able to flil up two or three times a day from the ship they were discharging or loading." It is pointed out that to-day "the average dock and riversiu& worker is an honest fcliow. The value, of the Port of London overseas trado is over £600,000,000 per annum and the perecniage of pilferage is almost negligible." “Black Strap” for All. Mr Wildcy also details the operations of what he calls a “Help-your-self-10-Other-Pcoplc'suPropcrty Society” which did business on and by the river before the days of the docks, more than a century ago:— “There were many units in this grand scheme of roguery. Coopers, ostensibly engaged In Lhe honourable calling of mending broken oasks, would go on board armed with crowbars for the special purpose of smashing open casks of sugar, etc., as part of the pioneer work. Lumpers, the men normally employed to discharge cargoes, also joined In the plunder-hunt. The equipment Included shovels to dig out sugar and a supply of hags to contain 1001 b each. These bags were known as ‘black strap,’ having ■been dyed black so that they could not he seen when stowed in the bottom of a wherry. All hands assisted in Ailing the bags and an average flight’s work generally resulted in ;the gain of anything up to 15 tons of .‘sugar from one ship." Sewage Works ara so Bracing.

Mr A. G. Llnney writes about a visit paid to the Southern Outfall Works of the London County Council at .Crossness. Here the sewage of the •Surrey sido of London is dealt with. The writer says:—• “Within the boundaries of this outfall estate dwells an isolated community of approximately fifty officers, workmen, and their families; nonresident workers number perhaps another hundred and fifty, so that there are about a couple of hundred people who ‘live and move and have their bemg’ round and about the Southern •Outl'ali. There are thirty-three dwell-ing-houses on the estate, and I was ■t truck by the presence at many of them of some sort of wireless aerial, evidence of the llnking-up benefits of wireless to a community such as this. Gardening is the outdoor hobby which gives recreation to many of the woint people, and when I went over the estate there was a pleasant show of autumn flowers to please iuc eye, and the growing of vegetables aiao seemed popular. In tho centre of the estate is a large sports ground well covered with turf though, in a sense only, this pitch ‘covers a multitude of ■sins’—inasmuch as below it are the decp-cut channels through which tno sewage Hows. But you would never guess this from anything v : aibi° to sight or to the sense of smell. “The little community living on the estate at Crossness is a singularly healthy one and men who come 10 work at the Southern Outfall often achieve Improved health afler taking up their duties. It is a significant fact that since .1805 Iliere have been hut three superintendents at the Outfall, so IhaL appoinlmeul to Crossness appears to be a sure step towards longevity.’’ Tho River’s Sludge Fleet. After precipitation, the eventual solid residue (“Sludge”) of sewage "gravitates to the jetty where it passes down into the sludge boats (large steamers) which come alongside to load. In all, there is a fleet of five steamers, of tonnage between 1000 and 1500 tons, w'hich carry tho sludge away to the Black Deep, far out In the conllnos of the Estuary. The outpouring of the sludge is effected while the vessel Is moving, it being possible to get rid of 1500 tons within a space of seven minutes. The personnel of tho sludge boat fleet of the Northern and Southern Outfalis Is just about one hundred men." Sails from Tarpaulins. About twenty-five years ago, a London steamer, well known on the New Zealand coast, the Norfolk, belonging to tho Federal Steam Navigation Company lost her propeller when voyaging from Durban to Australia. Captain F. \V. Corner, her commander, had had a long sail 'training and was able ii>. Improvise “canvas” for his helpless vessel. This "canvas” consisted of awnings and tarpaulins normally used when oa’ile were being carried. With a strangc-looking suit of "sails,” Captain Corner ■brought bis steamer over iOCin miles in eleven Ays safe to Fremantle, W.A.

The Pitt Diamond. An April anniversary recalled In the “Monthly" is that of the death of Thomas Pitt on April 28, 1726. He was a powerful East India merchant and so strong a rival of the East India Company that this body bought him up. It was Thomas Pitt who paid £2OOO for what was afterwards called the Pitt Diamond. From tho cuttings alone he realised sufficient for him to build a church and the gem, after bolng cut, fetched more than £SO,000. William Pitt, the statesman, was grandson of the old East India merchant. Wren and Rennie. The "Monthly" referring to the plans In regard to Waterloo Bridge, quotes an amusing story credited to the Dean of Westminster. One of ids friends was walking along the Embankment with a member of a learned institution. The former warmly favoured tho demolition of Hie old bridge and remarked, “Why, if this bridge hadn’t boon designed by Wren it would never have been left slanding so long.” "Quito so”; replied the representative of the Institution of Civil Engineers. “and, do you know, with that familiar way of speaking which we adopt, we always call the follow Rennie 1"