232 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[Septejubeb, 



this tul)e is open at both ends. To the end of the pipe b the soil pipe is 

 attaclied. When the sliding tube is in the position shown In doited lines in 

 fig. 11, water admitted into the basin will rise to the height of the top of 

 the tube, and if more be added it will escape through the tube, which thus 

 forms an nvorllow. When the tube is depressed by the closet handle to the 

 level of the bottom of the basin, the whole of the water and soil is instantly 

 discharged. Tins simple and ingenious water closet, which may also serve 

 as a sink for cottage dwellings, is the invention of Mr. Kirkwood, plumber 

 and mechanist, of Edinburgh. I have fitted up several of them, and one 

 which has been in constant use at the new offices in Cornwallis-street since 

 their opening, has given perfect satisfaction. 



I have proposed to use tubes of earthenware or glass, ground, in place of 

 the brass tubes, for the sake of cheapness. I have also proposed to modify 

 it so far as to convert the sUding tnbe into a turning one, so as in fact to 

 form a stopcock, the tube of earthenware being ground into a socket of the 

 same material, thus dispensing with the stuffing-box. Other modifications 

 will present themselves to those who give attention to the subject, the prin- 

 ciple being steadily kept in view of receiving the soil in a large quantity of 

 water, which, when discharged, shall be sufficient to carry it, not only into 

 the drain, but through it. 



The other water closet is adapted for back yards, courts, and public neces- 

 saries. It is designed on the same principle. In fig. 4, o a, is a large tank, 

 formed of stone, slate, iron, or other non-absorbent material. Its bottom is 

 made to slope to one end, where the mouth of the soil pipe b is inserted, and 

 closed with a loaded plug valve c. To this valve a chain is attached, and, 

 being passed over a pulley, it has a handle fixed to its other end. D is a 

 supply pipe, from which the tank may be filled ; c is the overflow pipe; / 

 the seat of the closet. The tank in the case of cottage dwellings may extend 

 between two cottages ; in courts it may serve for as many separate water 

 closets as there are houses ; and, in like manner, for public necessaries, any 

 number of separate closets may be over it. The supplying of the water, and 

 the discharge of the contents of the tank are not under the control of the 

 user, but in every case, of the scavenger of the district. The cock of the 

 supply pipe and the handle of the discharge valve are contained in a small 

 lock-up cupboard, accessible only by him, and once a day, or oftener, as the 

 ease may be, he pulls the handle which lifts the valve, and allows the soil 

 and water to be discharged in a torrent; this being done, the valve is allowed 

 to drop, and the water laid on by the supply pipe until the tank is full, 

 when it is again ready for use. The soil being received into so large a body 

 of cold water as the tank contains, is not liable to decompose ; from the 

 time it is allowed to remain it becomes to a certain extent dissolved and 

 diffused in the water, and when the contents of the tank are discharged, 

 being nearly fluid, tliey pass otf witliout impediment. Such water closets 

 emit no bad odour, lliey cannot go wrong, and, from being directly under 

 superintendence, ami their action being independent of the user, they cannot 

 suffer from ignorance or neglect. A closet on tliis principle has been fitted 

 tip at the public offices for the work people out of doors, and answers its 

 purpose admirably. 



To the ailvocates for employing the Ordnance for making the 

 Survey of London, we beg to direct their particular attention to 

 the following observations, which ought to ha\-e, if anything would, 

 some weight with the government, in reference to sanctioning tlie 

 employment of the Ordnance in doing tliat which can be much 

 better done hy civil surveyors and engineers. 



With regard to the survey of the borough, I beg to state, (hat I have 

 been actively employed on it, with a large stafl' of surveyors, since June 

 last (1847.) There is now completed the triangulation of the greater part 

 of the whole ai-ea within the Paidiamcutary boundary, and the detailed 

 survey of about two-thirds of that ai-ea ; about half of which is plotted to 

 a scale of twenty feet to the inch. The reasons which led to the adoption 

 of a scale so much larger than that recommended by Government are 

 known to the committee; but as the necessity for the large scale has been 

 questioned, and, as in the investigation of the subject by the Metropolitan 

 Sanitary Commissioners, evidence has been adduced involving grave 

 charges against the Corporation of Liverpool, I shall take the liberty, 

 briefly, to allude to the subject, and shall show by a simple statement of 

 facts, how rash and gr-oundless these cliar-ges ai'e. 



I have first to remark, that in the evidence referred to, there is an 

 obvious confounding of two things — general sewerage schemes, and the 

 sewerage of a town. For the one a contoured, general, or block plan, on 

 a small scale, so that the whole area may be comprehended in one view, is 

 vhat is required ; and for the other, the details of the structural arrange- 

 ments to a large scale — the larger the better, so that every minute pecu- 

 liarity may be seen and provided for. In designing improvements, there- 

 fore, botli plans are uecessary, the small index map for the ascertaining 

 the drainage areas, the outfalls, and the main lines of sewers and gas and 

 water pipes; the lai-ge plan for the details. For the first purpose, for 

 extensive areas, a scale sixty inches to the mile is totally useless, as being 

 t )o large, and for the second, it is equally useless, as being too small, arrd 

 its adoption would necessitate the re-surveying of every portion of the 

 town in detail, as the works are carried on. Thus, even for the sewering 

 of the town alone, the sixty-inch scale would not be suliicieut; but the 

 Council of Liverpool, under the Sanitary Act, have not only the control of 

 the sewers, but are also surveyors of highways, guardians of public pro- 

 perty and have the control of the waer supply. In adjusting the levels 



of streets, plans and sections are required drawn to a scale so large as to 

 exhibit, clearly and distinctly, the details of accesses and approaches to 

 the buildini^s un each side. Such a plan adnrits also of the boundaries 

 and divisions of property being minutely detailed, and allows of the 

 details of sewers, service drains, water and gas mains, and service pipes, 

 and in short the whole structural peculiarities of the locality to be repre- 

 sented withoirt confusion. It is iu fact a working plan. 1 shall briefly 

 recapitulate these reasons. 



I. It obviates the necessity of separate detailed surveys for improve- 

 ments. 



II. It enables the perfect detail to be shown of parts which most require 

 improvement in lines, levels, and sewerage, and also for the supply of gas 

 and water. 



III. It admits of the perfect measirrement of the boundaries and divi- 

 sions of property, enabling the author-ities to guard against future en- 

 cr'oachments. 



IV. It shows the structural arrangement of the streets, with the compli- 

 cated lines of water and gas-pipes, sewer's, and service drains. 



Doubtless, all these might be shown on a plan of (10 inches to the mile ; 

 but such a plan, like many other efforts of ingenuity, would be more 

 curious than useful. 



I here cite the portion of the evidence referred to. 



Captain Yolland says — " At the present moment the Corporation of Liver- 

 pool, who are engaged in carrying out sanitary measures for the town of 

 Liverpool, have abstracted a number of assistants from the Ordnance 

 Survey that will answer the purpose of carrying on this very necessary 

 work, at rates of pay varying from .500 to 700 per cent, over that which 

 they received on the Ordnance Surveys ; and this, after having been fur- 

 nished by the Ordnance Survey Department, almost at a nominal price, 

 with a skeleton plan of the town of Liverpool ou this scale, with some 

 altitudes inserted at the corners of streets." 



" How do you account for the Corporation of Liverpool desiring to have 

 an additional and accurate survey, they having already those outlines 

 which are sufficient for all purposes of drainage ? — I imagine it is to pro- 

 ject their schemes. 



" The Commissioners are anxious lo ascertain what it would cost to 

 survey the metropolis sufficiently for the purpose of drainage and sewer- 

 age ; therefore it was that the question was asked, why the people of 

 Liverpool should be anxious to have a more complete survey than is neces- 

 sary for those purposes ?— All I stated, as having been given to the Liver- 

 pool Corporation, were skeleton plans, not embracing ever'y alley and every 

 court. 



" The Liverpool Cor-poration own a great deal of properly ia Liverpool, 

 do they not? — 1 do uot know." 



First, as to the abstraction of surveyors : — the only surveyors employed 

 in the survey of Liverpool, who were known to me to be on the Ordnance 

 Survey, are two, and these applied for employment, recommended to the 

 favourable consideration of the Committee by the officer under whom they 

 were at the time. One other surveyor applied as a person out of employment, 

 whom X afterwards discovered to be engaged on the Ordnance Survey at tlie 

 time of his application, and we have other men who at some period or other 

 have been employed in the Ordnance surveys of England and Ireland, but 

 all of whom had been engaged in railway survey between leaving the 

 Ordnance and being employed by me. All the surveyors, with the one ex- 

 ception stated above, were engaged on application in writing, accompanied 

 by testimonials of their character and capability from persons in whose 

 employment they bad previously been. So far then for the truth of the 

 statement as lo the " abstr'aclion of a number of assistants." 



With regard to the amount of salary paid the assistants, I may state, 

 that it is invariably commensurate witli the work done, and ranges from 

 £48 to £150 per annum. This highest amount is, I suppose, somewhere 

 about 200 per cent, above what is paid in the Ordnance Department to 

 civilians. Capt. Yolland asserts that the salaries paid in Liverpool are 

 700 per cent, above those of the Ordnance staff; where he got his infui'> 

 mation as to the amount of these salaries I know not : he certainly did uot 

 apply for it either to the treasurer or to me — the only parties who could 

 have informed him rightly. 



The whole of the evidence relating to the getting up of surveys for 

 sanitary purposes is an attempt to prove that it can be more correctly and 

 more cheaply done by the Ordnance than by corporations or local surveyors,; 

 But, to verify calculations of this kiud, let the actual and not the estimated 

 cost of Ordnance surveys be produced. Every one knows that to produce 

 anything in extreme hasle increases immensely the cost of production. 

 The Council of Liverpool, finding that the detailed Ordnance survey of 

 the town was not completed, and being refused liberty to make a tracing 

 of the portion alleged lo be finished, urged by necessity, bad no alterna- 

 tive but to proceed with a survey of their own, although perfectly aware 

 that the necessary haste would much increase the cost. Now, however, 

 that the expense of what is done is known, and the cost of completing 

 the whole can be correctly calculated, it would be useful, as a test of the 

 comparative expense of what may be called private and public plans, to 

 ascertain from the proper authorities in the Ordnance office what the 

 country has already paid for the incomplete plan of Liverpool, and how 

 much it will yet cost ; how long it has been in hand, and when there is a 

 I'easonable prospect of its being finished. 



In ten months the work which I have already detailed has been done ; 

 and, in addition, a map of the town and surrounding district, embracing 

 an area of 27 square miles, has been compiled on a scale of 19 \ inches to 



