3© Refuse Disposal and Sewage Purification. 



destroying the sewage by either a burning process or taking 

 out to sea in barges, and the latter method was said to be 

 attended with danger, considering the state of the weather at 

 certain periods. The question of precipitating the sewage 

 matter was a much more serious one than that of erecting a 

 destructor. The erection of a destructor was within measurable 

 distance, and the precipitating business must come within 

 measurable distance also. 



Mr. F. D Ward, J.P., said he had visited Paris ten or twelve 

 years ago, and a friend had brought him to see the wonderfully 

 complete system of sewerage that existed in that city. All the 

 sewage went into a river, and this river ran through a district 

 where there was a wonderful irrigation farm, and here the 

 water came out perfectly pure, as he (Mr. Ward) could testify 

 by having tasted it. He would like to hear from the lecturer 

 whether the system of Paris had been improved or not since 

 the time he referred to. 



Mr. Conway Scott, Executive Sanitary Officer, disagreed 

 with Mr. Chambers's estimate of is. 6d. per ton for carting 

 rubbish to burn in the destructors. He did not believe the 

 work could be done for that. The sludge was comparatively 

 worthless — it was the liquid form of sewage that supplied plant 

 life — and the sludge of London sewage was so valueless that 

 they towed it out into the channel and dumped it into the sea. 

 He thought the real question was how to get rid of it in the 

 cheapest possible way. He also disagreed with Mr. Chambers 

 about the power to be obtained from the destructor. While 

 he admitted there was power to be gained, the citizens need 

 not imagine that the rates would be reduced immediately by 

 the introduction of electric lights and electric trams through 

 the power derived from destructors. There was no doubt that 

 sewage could be purified, but it was all a question of expense. 

 The reason the Corporation did not purify the sewage was 

 because it was a matter of ^ s d, and that appealed to the rate- 

 payers. 



Mr. MuNCE, Assistant City Surveyor, said that Mr. Chambers 



