OS 



THE CIVIL EVGIXEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURXAL. 



[Mahcii, 



The e1ei-tii)n of a jsrcneral Commission may take place either 

 directly by tli? ratepayers, or indirectly Uy means of the boards of 

 j^uardians! The latter way will do well enough f.ir the jjresent. 



Instead of one central Commission, which cannot attend to the 

 individual dem inds of two millions and a half of peoide, living in 

 more than a quartor of a million of dwellings, we sliould prefer dis- 

 trict Commissioiiswith the power of uniting for any general purposL'. 

 'I'o these we would commit the care of the sewers, street improve- 

 ments, paving, cleansing, lighting, water, and turnpike roads. 



Our reason for preferring district Commissions is, that the 

 ■■■orking of a Central Sewer Commission is not favourable to the 

 plan of one Commission — while no general plan of drainage has 

 been adopted, and no general measure has been carried out, the 

 interests of localities have been neglected. Indeed, what care is 

 likely to be taken of Pojilar or Hatchara,by a board on which neither 

 Ilia a representative. Local intei-ests are therefore left to the local 

 officers, who becoine virtually irresponsible, and set the public at 

 defiance. Poplar may be neglected that AVestminster may have 

 tiie first turn, or Lambeth be made to give way to Pimlico. In the 

 City of London Commission, which exercises all tlie functions we 

 have wished to see united, each locality has its i-epresentative; and 

 tlie inilividual can, as he pleases, apply to his own representative, 

 living in his own street, or to the whole court. 



The system we have i)roposed will get rid of the confusion and 

 expense of so many separate trusts as now exist, afford all the 

 benefits of centralisation, and yet be perfectly accessible and 

 amenable to public control, — while it will have a sufficiently per- 

 ii\anent character. The system has worked well in tlie City of 

 J/ondon, and there is no reason it should not work well througliout 

 the metropolis. 



Of course it is difficult arbitrarily to define new districts, but we 

 think as far as possible the several natural water courses sJiould 

 form separate districts, and the line of division should be taken 

 n\)on the water shed. The Lea, the Fleet, and tlie Bayswater 

 brook districts, have few interests in common, and such as there 

 iire can readily be arranged by a <'onvention or delegation of the 

 several districts. If a new outfall is to be provided, or some new 

 s lurce for water, a delegation from the several Commissions can 

 very well manage it, as the separate committees of one commis- 

 s on or corporation perform separate functions, so in the City, the 

 Bridge Committee, the Improvements Committee, the Navigation 

 Committee, and the Markets Committee. 



Westminster and Marylebone might, we think, form one district, 

 the line of water shed passing by Holboro-hill, and so by the west 

 of the Fleet. The City of London would remain undisturbed. 

 Finsbury or tlie Fleet valley might form a di.-trict, and the Tower 

 Hamlets or the Lea another. On the south the Ilaveiisbounie, 

 Lambeth or the river marsh, and the Vauxhall brook might form the 

 bases of other districts. 



SUPPLY OF WATER TO TIIE METROPOLIS. 



On the 4th of February, Mr. Tabberner gave a lecture to a 

 x'ery respectable audience, in ^Villis's Rooms, St. James's-square, 

 '■■ On the Sonrce-t ami/ah/e for Ini/iriiriiig the Siiji/i/i/ of Water to the 

 UletrojHi/ix." The Right Hon. Lord de Mauley presided, and 

 several members of parliament and scientific gentlemen were also 

 present. 



Mr. Tabberner commenced his discourse by observing, that there 

 was no necessity for his alluding to the great urgency of improving 

 the water supjily of the metropolis: the imperative necessity was 

 universally admitted as the first step to be taken towards the at- 

 tainment of any comjirehensive sanitary ameliorations. Public 

 O])inion had very much changed within a short space of time, as to 

 what was to be understood by \i gond supply of water. The quan- 

 tity now estimated as absolutely essential for the social require- 

 ments of the inhabitants of all large towns had increased from 

 200 to 3gi) per cent, over the quantity deemed necessary stmie 

 three or four years since. \Vithout unnecessary preface to his 

 object, he would therefore at once proceed to point out — first, the 

 various means of improving the metropolitan supply afl'orded l>y 

 the surface waters adjacent to London; secondly, he would enter 

 into a geological explanation of the structure of the chalk stratum 

 beneath and around London, and its cajiabilities of affording water 

 to the inhabitants by means of Artesian wells, which he would 

 illustrate by the several diagrams then before them; and, thirdly, 

 expound tlie great benefits that will accrue to the public socially 

 and fiscally, by consididating the whole water su|>ply of the me- 



tropolis, the drainage and sewerage, paving and lighting, and the 

 regulations pertaining to the erection of metropolitan buildings, 

 under one jiublic commission, directly responsible to the inhabi- 

 tants and the government conjointly. The lecturer then pro- 

 ceeded to say, that the surface waters available to London prin- 

 cipally rose as springs from the chalk formation, by which the 

 metropolis is surrounded, and e.\tending under the alluvial deposits 

 U(ion which it is built. If we took the simth and east of London 

 friirn the outsides of the inclinations of the chalk basin, we bad the 

 rivers Kennet, Loddon, Auhorne, Wey, Mole, \Vandle, Ravens- 

 bourne, and Cray; and on the west and north, the rivers Brent, 

 Colne, Cade, Verulum, Lee, Stort, Ware, and Rodding — all of which 

 took their rise as chalk springs, and grew into important streams 

 and indirect tributaries of the river Thames: the latter taking its 

 rise from several springs in Gloucestershire, and, as they were 

 aware, grew into a navigable stream by the natural drainage of 

 the country through which it wound its course to the metropolis. 

 The quantity of wholesome water available from the above surface 

 sources alone to the use of the London public, would amount to 

 from 200 to 300 million gallons per diem. 



The schemes now before the public for improving the general 

 water supply, viz., the Wandle, tlie proposed improvement of the 

 Lambeth Company's works, by taking their future supply from 

 Thames Dittun ; the .Maidenhead, the Henley-on-Thames, the 

 Mapledurham, and Watford schemes, were severally explained by 

 Mr. Tabberner, who, of the Thames schemes, gave the preference 

 to the Henley-on-Thames, in consequence of the confluence of the 

 rivers Kennet, Lodden, and Auborne, just above the source of 

 supjily ; and also because it proposed to place the whole water ser- 

 vice under the control of a public commission. As to whether the 

 quality of the water would continue permanently good, and as to 

 whether the navigation of the river would be damaged by the pro- 

 posed abstraction of 100 million gallons of water every 2i hours, 

 were points to be decided. These, he said, were difficulties to be 

 overcome, which would at least require skill and mature consi- 

 deration; and concluded the first part of his discourse by ex- 

 plaining the late Mr. Telford's schemes, and the propositions made 

 to improve the New River Company's and the East London Com- 

 pany's su])plies, by taking the waters of the rivers Ware, Stort, 

 and Rodding. 



Mr. Tadbebner then described the alluvial and chalk deposits 

 upon which London was built, and proceeded to urge that the 

 many statements which had gone forth to the public from Dr. 

 Buckland, the Rev. Air. Clutterbuck, Mr. Braithwaite, and others, 

 were wrong with respect to the alleged failures of many of the 

 commonly-called Artesian wells sunk in and around London — 

 especially the theories of Mr. Clutterbuck. It had been stated that 

 the Messrs. Barclays and .Messrs. Calverts were now compelled to 

 work alternate days on account of their interfering with each 

 other's wells: there was not a particle of truth in such a state- 

 ment. Originally, when both their wells were sunk only into the 

 sand above the chalk, they undoubtedly did affect each other; but 

 since Messrs. Barclay had sunk 153 feet into the chalk, tliey had 

 had an uninterrujited supply of water. The quantity had, how- 

 ever, somewhat diminished since 18+3, owing to a fact important 

 to be known. \V'hen they first sunk the bore-pipe into the chalk, 

 they at the same time continued to avail themselves of the water 

 afforded in the sand, by perforating that ])ortion of the pipe which 

 passed through it; the sand had consecpiently percolated tlirough 

 those perforations with the water, and had precipitated down, and 

 become consolidated in the pipe of the chalk to the extent of 73 

 feet, and had stopped the free passage of the water from the fis- 

 sures of the chalk. A sh(U"t time since the pipes had been cleaned 

 out, and the water had since gradually risen. He had no d(mbt 

 that many similar unascertained casualties existed. Mr. Tab- 

 berner then gave a description of the capabilities of the Trafal- 

 gar-square works, showing that when they were quite completed 

 they would be able to aft'ord from 1,000 to 1,200 gallons of water 

 per minute, a sup])ly which would be sufficient to furnish the Ser- 

 pentine River, the Barracks round the parks and at the back of the 

 National Gallery, the Fountains in Trafalgar-square, the Queen's 

 Palaces, the Houses of Parliament, the whole of the Government 

 Offices, the Baths and AV'ash-houses in St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, 

 &C., at an annual charge of from 1,200/. to 1,500/. less than such a 

 supply would cost if taken from the Chelsea Water Comiiany. The 

 whole outlay would be about 18,500/., and the annual working ex- 

 penses 1,000/. He further adduced many facts, showing, by care- 

 fully prepared di.igrams of the principal deep wells, and of the 

 sand and chalk strata, at what depths beneath the London clay an 

 uninterrupted supply of water might be obtained, and where and 



