Trunk Drainage. 
47 
exocuted by Mr. Telford on the best principles hitherto discovered, 
Both the Nene Outfall and these main drains were planned so 
that an inclination of 4 inches pfer mile should be preserved : 
with a less fall than this the current is not rapid enougli to pre- 
vent the accumulation of mud and siltli in the bed of the river ; 
but giving^ as it docs a velocity of tlircc-quartors of a mile per 
hour, it is sufficient to maintain a clear unobstructed watercourse 
by the motion of the tide in the tidal cliannel, and by the winter 
floods (under proper attention to the cutting of weeds and to the 
shores) in a sluice-locked drain We should mention also that these 
excellent works are an example of the burdensome consequences 
arising from the want of co-operation on the part of all interests 
dependent upon a great enterprise. If all the parties concerned 
had been willing to extend the Nene Outfall improvement up to 
Peterborough, the North Level might have emptied its drainage 
into the river at one corner of the district, instead of cutting a 
large canal for many miles through other lands to enter the same 
river at a lower jioint. But having been compelled in self-de- 
fence to make their own line of drainage at an expense of 
100,000/., so that the water in their ditches may now be seen 
8 or 9 feet lower than the water in the river, where it is only 
separated by a bank (both waters uniting before reaching the 
sea), the North Level proprietors cannot now be called upon to 
aid in improving the river above and tlirough Wisbech. And 
thus a great public work, requiring a general union of forces, 
has devolved upon other interests whose means are curtailed by 
this severance. 
Thus instead of having great means of assistance all along the 
river, the proprietors of the Nene Upper Valley can unite only 
with Wisbech (which will receive improvements to town and 
navigation, and to drainage of its lands), with Waldersey and Red- 
more (districts equal to nearly 7000 acres, which will get rid 
ot their windmills and have their steam-engine relieved), and 
with Morton's Leam Wash (a tract of 3700 acres lying along- 
the river and open to its floods between Peterborough and Guy- 
hirn). A scheme of improvement was brought before tlie public 
in 1840, and as soon as the removal of Sutton Bridge and the 
perfection of tlie seaward channel of the Nene had become facts 
beyond doubt, the proprietors of meadow land in the Upper Valley 
— including Earl Fitzwilliam, Lord Overstone, Lord Lilford, the 
Duke of Buccleugh, the Marquis of Northampton, John Walbanke 
Childers, M.P., Mr. Stopford, and numerous others — assembled 
together, and formed a committee to carry a measure of relief; 
not more tlian some four or five landowners being in opposition. 
Meetings were held in ]848, 1849, 1850, and again in 1851; 
the Duke of Bedford and other influential noblemen presiding 
