32 



MY GARDEN. 



The effluvium was noxious; the fish died; and foul mud was de- 

 posited at the bottom of the river. It became a question whether I 

 should abandon my garden ; but I determined otherwise, and com- 

 menced an agitation to stop the pollution of rivers. Communications 

 were made to the Privy Council ; a series of bills in Chancery were 

 filed — nearly simultaneously by three separate landowners ; and injunc- 

 tions were obtained restraining the Board of Health from polluting 

 the stream. The Croydon Board resisted the law till a committal 

 was signed to commit the members of the Board to prison. The 

 ratepayers were involved in great cost ; but in the end the law proved 

 too strong — even for a board of health, — and so I was permitted to 

 enjoy my garden in peace. 



When the law turned the sewage fairly out of the river, it was 

 placed upon the land ; but then the irrigation scheme was so badly 

 carried out that a pestilential marsh was created, much admired by 

 snipes, but so little adapted for human beings that fever, especially 

 scarlet fever, raged throughout the district. 



Lately the Croydon Board have carried on their works more 

 satisfactorily, by using a far greater quantity of land in relation to 

 the quantity of water; for the real difficulty of dealing with sewage 

 is the great quantity of water which it contains. 



At the present time the sewage is filtered by a cleverly contrived 



apparatus (fig. 39), designed by the 

 engineer to the Board of Works, 

 Mr. Latham, which separates all the 

 coarse solid particles, such as bottles, 

 stones, bricks, pieces of earthenware, 

 and leaves aqueous matter alone to 

 be distributed over the land. Mr. 

 Latham's filter is self-acting, and 

 is perfect in its operation. The 

 figure shows the great revolving filter through which the water passes, 

 and also the clever arrangement by which all the solid matters are 

 carried away by a revolving screw. The motive power of the whole 



Fig, 39. 



