TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 693 



FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 1878. 



The following Papers were read : 



1. On the Drainage of the Fenland considered in relation to the Conservancy 

 of the Rivers of Great Britain* By W. H. Wheeler, M. Inst. G.E. 



The contention of the writer of this paper is that in the Fenland is to be found 

 the type on which the future administration for the conservancy of the rivers of 

 this country should he founded ; that as in this large tract of land on the east 

 coast of England the science of drainage has received more attention than in any 

 other part of the kingdom ; that as' here various forms of administration for the 

 management of four important rivers have been on their trial for long periods ; 

 that as by private enterprise alone immense sums of money have been sunk with 

 a result that has placed this district in the very first rank as yielding corn, cattle, 

 and agricultural produce of all kinds, so here our legislators may turn in order to 

 learn what to copy and what to avoid ; that the meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion affords a fitting opportunity for bringing together the results of local expe- 

 rience and placing them before those interested in the subject with a fulness and 

 freedom of expression which no Parliamentary inquiry can bring forth. 



The great lesson the " History of Fenland Drainage " teaches is, that no scheme 

 •of improvement can be effectual unless the rivers are dealt with as a whole, and 

 placed under one governing body from their source to their outfall ; that the organi- 

 sation of the administration for this purpose can only be effected by imperial legisla- 

 tion, and must not be of a voluntary nature. The whole government of the Fen- 

 land drainage is made up of piecemeal legislation ; and although the administration 

 of the several districts is thoroughly efficient, and the aggregate result superb, yet 

 as each has sought only its own interest, all, more or less, are suffering from the 

 defective condition of the common outfalls, large areas above the Fens being left 

 without protection, and year by year subject to greater Hooding. Had each "river 

 been originally treated as a whole from the source to the outfall, better results 

 would have been secured, thousands of pounds have been saved, and much future 

 legislation and outlay avoided. 



The subject is treated in the paper under the three heads of Engineering, 

 Administration, and Finance. 



Under the first head it is sought to be shown that the object of all future legis- 

 lation should not be drainage only, but the regulation of the water supply. The 

 circumstances of our rivers having been altered by the modern system of drainage, 

 at becomes necessary to adapt their channels to carry a vastly increased quantity of 

 flood water at uncertain and distant intervals, and during the- intervening period 

 to discharge the diminished regular supply in such a way that the channel may 

 ■not become choked by weeds and shoals, yet be made available for storing a supply 

 of water in lieu of that which formerly percolated slowly through the soil. To 

 effect this, a modification of the plan of wash-lands adopted by the old Fen en- 

 gineers is suggested ; the river proper being adapted for the ordinary summer and 

 winter flow, the flood-banks to be set back sufficiently distant from the channel to 

 leave a cess or margin to receive the flow of the greatest floods. The space 

 thus left between the ordinary channel and the banks being only covered by water 

 occasionally, would, like the wash-lands, afford valuable pasturage. The rapid 

 voidance of the rainfall by the modern system of drainage leaving a diminished 



* The paper, of which this is an abstract, has been printed in extrnso by the 

 Committee of Section G, together with the President's Address and the other papers 

 •on the same subject. 



