1873-] A Solution of the Sewage Problem. 71 



As 1808 kilos, cost 126*65 frs., therefore 1000 kilos, would 

 cost 70 frs., equal to £2 16s. per ton. 



The value assigned to this manure was, as already stated, 

 -£3 12s. 5d. per ton. 



Had the price been taken at which the clay alum can be 

 made in England, viz., £2 per ton, instead of the French 

 price, the expenses would have been still less per ton. 



The writer has been allowed an opportunity of going 

 through the accounts of the Hastings Works for the last 

 six months. The cost of the " native guano " produced 

 here averages £2 4s. id. per ton. The operations are not 

 carried on as economically as they might be, and there are 

 several serious items of current expense which would be 

 avoided in subsequent works. 



At Bolton, according to the certificate of the Mayor of the 

 Corporation, who are themselves working the ABC process 

 under a royalty, the manure is produced at a cost of £2 6s. 

 per ton. The royalty derived by the Native Guano Com- 

 pany from the profits of the Corporation of Bolton amounts 

 to 1 per cent of the entire capital invested by the Company; 

 so that it requires but a few more applications to realise 

 the permanent payment of a satisfactory dividend. 



We are now in a position to make deductions from the 

 evidence given before the House of Commons with regard 

 to the value of the process. 



Mr. Hawksley says : — " Now, the great virtue of this new 

 method (A B C) is this, that while it is just as available as 

 the old process of precipitation by lime, it produces a manure 

 which can be sold to a profit, and the whole thing can be 

 done in a moderate compass ; and having been done in a 

 moderate compass, of course it does not render it necessary 

 to acquire a gentleman's estate by compulsion, or to produce 

 these marshes which are injurious to the health of the 

 neighbourhood. . . . The manure is now become of great 

 value. . . . By this new process a valuable manure is pro- 

 duced, which sells at £3 10s. per ton, whereas the other 

 manure (lime process) will only sell at from is. to 2s. 6d. 

 per ton." 



Dr. Henry Letheby says : — "The process is carried out at 

 Leamington so satisfactorily that the effluent water is prac- 

 tically disinfected." 



Dr. Frankland admits that he believes " the previous 

 application of some chemical process, such as Sillar's 

 (A B C) process, would entirely obviate that difficulty (the 

 clogging of the filter) attending downward filtration." 



There is one important property of the prepared " native 



