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    • TWiTAttT 10 . 1855 . 1 THE DEADER . * 12 g

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    NEW METBOPOIJTAN COMMISSION OF SBTOBS—MR . F . O . WARD'S STATEMENT . Having traced , as set forth in previous reports , the " progress of town sewage from the point of its collection in urban houses to the point of its utilisation on rural lands , Mr . F . O . Ward recapitulated the main heads of his argument , and the leading points of his proposed policy , in a series of conclusions , of which the following ia a summary : — 1 . The concurrent extension of private , district , and main intercepting drainage , as parts of a connected whole ; parts , heretofore separately executed at different times by different persons , but really as essential to each other ' s working , as tributary streams are essential to the scour of a river , and as a river is essential to the flow of its tributaries .

    2 . The total abolition of stagnancy in all its forms ; and , as an immediate measure , to be adopted before the return of the hot weather , the elimination of all cesspools from houses standing within reach of sewers , and the substitution of tubular house-drains : the cholera death-houses being dealt with first . 3 . The abandonment of the flushing system , as implying the recognition of deposit to be swept away ; and the adoption in its stead of the self-scouring system , that is , of the continuous removal of -refuse aa fast as produced , in currents sufficiently concentrated and swjft to realise , in its most absolute sense , the principle , Sewers without sediment . " 4 . The complete diversion of human excrement from the Thames , not only in fine weather ( as proposed by the advocates of tunnels to intercept mixed rain and sewage ) , but at all times and tides .

    ject beyond the lip of the other , and so obstruct the current . It was to such faults , often the result of carelessness , sometimes of wilfulness , but happily preventive by vigilant supervision , that many of those stoppages that had taken place on the first introduction of the tubular system were due ; and to all such difficulties this method of continuous jointless tube-moulding would put an end In districts whose flatness made it necessary to economise the fall , such jointless drains would be invaluable , facilitating the flow and scouring power of the water and often just making the difference between sewers with sediment and sewers without . For these reasons he would anxiously call the attention of geologists to this peculiar Grenoble cement ; and of engineers to its novel and useful application for the laying of jointless drains . * . '

    _ _ _ .. ,... Mr . Ward then handed round a piece of black-looking rock , and proceeded to say that the second invention of which he had to speak was , if possible , of greater importance still . They were aware that an intimate relation subsisted between the surface and subsoil amelioration of towns ; that excrementitious roadways were as little to be tolerated as sedimental sewers ; and that in endeavouring to get rid of deposit from these latter road detritus was their principal difficulty . Town sewerage could not , therefore , be brought to perfection without a corresponding amelioration of town pavement ; and it was to an improved , he believed he might almost say a

    perfect pavement , that he had . now to direct their attention . First , however , he would remark , that in the metropolitan district under their active jurisdiction there were about 1500 miles of roadway , of which , in round numbers , half might be taken as macadamised and half as paved . The macadamised roadways produced a prodigious quantity of detritus . In Pall-mall , for example , a macadamised surface of 1388 yards had annually laid on it 139 cubic yards , or 270 tons , Guernsey granite ; showing that the wear and tear , or in other words the production of detritus on this roadway was at the rate of 4351 bs . per square yard per annum .. The cost of maintenance was at the rate of 2 s . 2 d . per square yard per

    5 . The complete agricultural utilisation of the sewage , without the waste of any one of its valuable ingredients at any season of the year ; its conveyance and delivery to the soil , to be accomplished ulteriorly by steam-pumping through irrigating pipes with hose and jet ; and deodorising precipitants being resorted to meanwhile , as transitional expedients , pending the extension , necessarily gradual , of sewage irrigation . Having thus concluded his address , Mr . Ward adverted to the two new inventions mentioned in the notice he had put on the paper , and expressed some doubt whether , at that late hour , and after having already so long trespassed on their attention , he ought to proceed on that occasion . ( Cries of " Go-on . " ") _

    annum ; but this cost , though very onerous , was insignificant compared with the loss resulting from the deterioration of property by the masses of mud and dust thus produced . The wear and tear of horseflesh occasioned by dust and-mud was also considerable . It was found that the different tractile efforts required to move similar loads over macadamised roadways in three conditions , namely , when well swept , when covered with dust , and when covered with mud , were expressed respectively by the figures 5 , 8 , and 10 . Again , the sweeping costs of Pall-mall were ljd . per square yard per annum , the carting away the mud at 2 s . Cd . a load came to 2 d . per square yard more ; the watering , to lay the dust , cost a fraction less than 2 d . per square yard

    much as macadam to lay down (^ ay , 12 s . per square yard instead of 3 s . ) , cost only £ th in annual , repaiis ( say 4 d . instead of 2 s . per square yard ) . This granite p § && ment produced a series of evils peculiar to itself . Hewould not dwell on its ~ hoisiness , which deteriorated adjacent house property ; nor on its unevenness ,, which battered carriages to pieces , and ruined the feet of horses . For though the losses thus occasioned , amounted to many hundreds of thousands per annum , they came less within his present scope than evils of a more strictly sanitary nature , and more directly connected with the sewers . Such , for example , were what he would call the interstitial ditches of the pavement ; those chinks between the stones which were constantly filled with a mixture of granite dust ,

    horse-dung , and soot , producing an irritating dust in dry weather , and in rains swelling up and covering the surface with that thin , black , foetid slush , known as London mud . Few people , perhaps , were aware how wide an evaporating surface these chinks or little ditches , severally so insignificant , formed in the aggregate ; nor had the vast weight of their collective contents of stagnant refuse been computed . A medium paving-stone presented a surface 10 inches long by 5 wide ; and he had found , by measurement in a number of streets , that the chinks averaged an inch in width ; so that to each stone of 50 square" inches corresponded no less than 16 inches of interstitial space . The foul evaporating surface was therefore 22 per cent , of the whole superficies of the

    roadway ; or 3910 square yards ( more than 4-5 ths of an acre ) per mile of ordinary roadway 30 feet wide . The stagnant matter in these little ditches , taking its mean depth at only half an inch , would measure on each mile ' of roadway 54 ^ - cubic yards ; a considerable per centage of which , be it remembered , was fermenting dung . If , then , calculations were applied to the whole of the paved carriage-ways of London , it would be seen how many thousand tons of filth lay stagnant under our fe et , and over how vast an acreage that evaporating surface was extended . He would not , however , dwell any longer on old evils , but would proceed at once to describe the new remedy . This , like many other valuable inventions , had been discovered by accident .

    The proprietor of an asphalte mine at Val de Travers , in Switzerland , had observed that the small pieces of asphaltic rock ^ which fell from the carts and were crushed beneath the wheels had produced- two smooth tracks or tramways of extraordinary hardness and durability . On comparing these accidentally-formed tracks with asphaltic roadways of the ordinary kind , made With melted asphalte mixed with sand , &c , the " superior rity of the former , in all the qualities characterising , a good road surface , was placed beyond a doubt . A length of road , laid down experimentally with the natural bituminous rock broken to small fragments and well rolled , turned out as hard and perfect as the accidental trams . Within a few hours of its completion , four years

    Mr . Ward , having thanked the commissioners for their indulgent courtesy , produced a small cake or slab of a very hard material , greyish in colour , slightly polished on the surface , which came , he said , from Grenoble , in France , and which had reference to the first invention he had to bring before them . This invention , he proceeded to explain , was a method of making continuous jointless tubular drains , of any required length , by moulding them in the trench itself , with a hard cement similar to the specimen , ' which was moulded around a mandril as fast as ordinary pipes could be jointed together , and which set so rapidlythat an-hourx > r , two after , completion _ it _ was ready for use . The mandril , Mr . Ward added , was drawn forward as fast as each portion of the tube was complete ,

    annually . These costs in the aggregate were enormous ; and constituted a burden on the ratepayers the full amount of which had never yet , he believed , been reckoned up . Different tradesmen of whom he inquired had estimated their losses by mud and dust , at sums varying from 101 . to 507 . per annum ; and Mr . Sowerby , the large silk-mercer of Regent-circus , had told him . that , taking .. London _ all _ thnnigjlij 1 Of . per shop per annum would be a very moderate average estimate of the loss by deterioration thus occasioned . They would see , therefore , that this was a very grave question indeed ; the aggregate loss in the metropolis from this cause amounting to hundreds of thousands per annum . As for the effect of this road-drift when washed into the

    ago , it was traversed by heavy waggons from the piines , dragged by long teams of horses ; and from that day to this it had remained in . use , resisting the most violent extremes of temperature , and the most heavy and continuous traffic ; producing neither mud , nor dust , nor detritus of any kind ; perfectly noiseless and free from vibration ( so smooth ,. indeed , that it is proposed for use in lieu of railways in Switzerland ); nnd presenting , of course , no joints for the retention of stagnant filth . The cost of laying it , two inche 3 thick , on a six-inch substratum of concrete , had only , been two and a half francs per square metre , or about two shillings per square yard ; two-thirds of the price of ordinary macadam , and from one-sixth to onetenth the price of granite pavement , according to its

    and a fresh length moulded around it continuously with the former ; so that the drain when finished had no break nor join from end to end . The material , though at present produced in the neighbourhood of Grenoble only , would probably be found also in this and other countries when the attention of geologists was , directed to the Bubject ; and it was so extraordinarily hard , dense , and impervious , that it was in use at Marseilles , Grenoble , Voiron , Valence , St . Egrfcve , and many other places in the south of France , for tlie conveyance of gas and water through the streets . ' M . Dunrd , the engineer of Marseilles , had informed him that pipes of this material , two inches thick , were stronger than cast iron , less liable to fracture by settlements of the soil , totally impervious

    sewers , he could speak to it , for he had a few days since gone down into the sewer under Pall-mall to see for himself . It was impossible to conceive a more hideous spectacle . The sewer was jm the old " Roman grandeur" pr inciple , C feet high by 5 . G wide , having a pretty fair slope varying from 1 in 30 to 1 in GOO , but filled to the height oi' 2 feet with hardened road-drift , which had covered the mouths of the drains on both sides , including those of the Athcnumm , the Travellers ' , and the other palatial clubs . To afford an outlet to the drains of these institutions a ditch had actually been dug along the middle of the hardened roail-drift , with cross ditches to the house-drains mouths ; ami so sluggish was the oozing of tlio filth along these ditches that it had in many places risen four feet high in the sower !

    quality . Its perfect success had induced M . Merian , the engineer of the roads at Ncufchateau to lay out a road on the same plan from Loele to La Chaux dc Fonda ; and the municipality of Paris , on the favourable report of their road engineer , M . Darcy , had laid dow n a trial length of this compressed , unmelted , bituminous rock pavement in the Rue Bergoro . . He had been in Paris lately , and had taken pains to observe the behaviour of this piece of road , under all trials , and in . all weathers . It -vvaa impossible to conceive a more admirabl e pavement . It was as smooth as a billiard-table , yet not in the least degree slippery . A certain dull elasticity , which hindered it from cliipping , also seemed to give the horses ' feet a firm hold on its surface . The wheels rolled on it aa

    to gas , and , a fortiori , to water ; exempt of course from that continual leakage to which ordinary pipes are subject at the joints , and capable of sustaining upwards of 150 feet of water pressure—as , indeed , was exemplified at St . Egrbvo , where the water was brought down at that pressure , through pipes thus made , to the public fountains . Now they were aware that the whole sanitary question was , in a great measure , a question of pipes : pipes to let pure water in , and to carry foul water out ; pipes for the drainage of the surfaco and of the subsoil ; pipes for warming and ventilation , for fountains and baths , for collecting refuse , nnd for distributing it over the soil . And again , the main problem , in respect

    Such was the subterranean condition of tlna palatial street—Pull-mall ; such was the secret squnlor of our gilded clubs ; a . squalor mainly clue , aa they would see , to excess of road-drift . Efforts were being made to improve the scour of this newer by deepening itj outfall and equalising its declivity ; but it would bo impossible to keep it free from sediment ho long na it remained liable to bo thus gorged with detritus ; mid let them boar in mind that the cloansing and flushing costs entuiled on them by tins stato of things amounted to no less than 20 / . per mile of sewer por annum ; or , in the aggregate , between 10 , 000 / . and 20 , 000 / . n year . He would now turn to tho granite block pavement , which produced less detritus than macadam , afforded an easier draft , and only wore down 1 inch in from 5 to 20 years , according to the traffic ; and which , though it cost four times a . s

    silently us on a pinned floor ; and in rainy -weather it was merely wet , while the stone pavement was deep in mud , and the macadamised boulevard was tr ampled to a perfect slough . Ho had ascertained that tho cost of laying such pavement in London would bo about twelve shillings por square yard—a price rather below tho average cost of ordinary granite pavement— -whilo its maintenance could bo contracted for at tho rate of ten per cent , per annum on tho first outlay . Ho hoped it would lie shortly tried in one of tho City street * of severest traliic ; and should it . provo as aucoesaful hero as claowhoro , the day of it * introduction would bo tho dnto of » nevre poj in sanitary improvement—not only superficial but 8 ut > -

    of pipes , lay in the jointing . It wan there , at tho joints , that accumulations began in drains , and stoppages woro prepared . In laying down pipes , tho workmen ( who had many of them set their faces against pipes , as chenpor than brick sewers and therefore bad for trade ) would often , if not closely watched , close tho joints carelessly , eo as to leavo a leak , through which tho water ran away , leaving behind it as a deposit tho soil it nhould have borne on in suspension . At other times workmen pressed tho cement in too far , so as to leave a ring of it jutting into tho pipe—a barrier to tho pasnago of tho water , nnd a sort of hook to catch oy . ster-flhella , &e . Tho pipes , moreover , were apt to warp in tho kiln , so that , unless carefully laid , tho shoulder of ono would sometimes

    pro-In conclusion , Mr . Ward thanked hi . i colleagues for their indulgent attention , nnd expressed hid conviction that an enortfetic pursuance of the policy ho had ventured to wlvotch would relievo that Commission from tho unpopulurity under which it had hitherto laboured , and secure them tho highest reward which public men could dosiro— tho approbation of their followcitizons .

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    , , ,, _____ Wo unrtor . sttuul that in consequence of Mr . Ward's suepostion . Mr . Frauds , tho content nmimfnotiu-urof Vait . thull , lias wont to Grenoblo for a quantity of tho * matorlnl lu'ciuostion , with ft viow to laying down somo trial dr . Uns on tho now p lan . Wo ahull watch theso oxporimunt . i with interest , and inform our roodora of tho result .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 10, 1855, page 129, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2077/page/9/