1873O A Solution of the Sewage Problem. 57 



Mr. Thomas Hawkesley, C.E., says (in reference to the 

 Blackburn Corporation Improvement Bill, March 15th, 

 1870) — " Water irrigation carried on in warm weather is 

 exceedingly unhealthy ; in fact you make, so to speak, a 

 kind of fen of the large area of land which you put the 

 water over." . . . " Where the water is foul I can speak 

 positively to it, from repeated observation in different places, 

 that the odour, particularly at night, and particularly upon 

 still damp evenings in autumn, is very sickly indeed, and 

 that in all these cases a great deal of disease prevails ; but 

 I need not do more than upon that subject refer to the 

 evidence taken by the General Board of Health itself." . . . 

 " With regard to sewage irrigation this happens : — The 

 sewage forms a deposit on the surface of the ground ; that 

 deposit forms a cake of organic matter ; and that organic 

 matter, when it is in a damp state, as it usually is, gives off 

 in warm weather a most odious stench." Of the Barking 

 farm Mr. Hawkesley says — " The stench was of a very 

 foetid character indeed, and of very considerable intensity." 

 At Edinburgh, at Carlisle, and at Harrogate, the state of 

 the atmosphere varies with the state of the weather. Of 

 Edinburgh the witness says — " I cannot call it a mere odour 

 in the ordinary sense. Everybody who walks down to Leith 

 from Edinburgh, or to Portobello, in warm weather, cannot 

 help being assaulted by it." At Carlisle, "they were utilising 

 only about one-sixth of the sewage." At Croydon, where 

 the soil is the most favourable that could be had, consisting 

 of only a slight covering of alluvial matter upon chalk, 

 gravel, and gravel-flints, " the people complain of this foetid 

 smell in summer, and particularly at night, and of a very 

 low state of health in consequence ;" and " the water does 

 not run off clear," " nor nearly free from organic matter." 

 At Birmingham, " It has a very prejudicial influence on the 

 value of property." " Irrigation works with sewage water 

 for the utilisation of sewage are most pernicious." Mr. W. 

 E. Cressy, M.R.C.S., states, to the same Committee, that 

 in the case of the sewage farm belonging to the Croydon 

 Board of Works there has been, since 1867, typhoid fever 

 in every cottage on the estate, which he refers to the exist- 

 ence of the farm. The water from the wells in the neigh- 

 bourhood becomes putrid if allowed to stand for 24 hours. 

 Cows feeding on the grass from this land \ield milk which 

 has been proved, by a series of experiments, to cause fever. 



Dr. Henry Letheby, Medical Officer of Health to the 

 City of London, gave evidence before the House of Com- 

 mons in reference to both the Blackburn and Reading 



vol. in. (n.s.) 1 



