Sewage Farm Competition, 1879. 
23 
amination of the accounts now shows that the farm pays its 
way. 
About 6000/. have been expended in preparing the land for 
the reception of the sewage, in the construction of sewage-tanks 
and carriers, the erection of farm-buildings, bailiff's lodge, and 
cottages, and in the formation of roads. This sum was provided 
by the Secretary of State for War, in the shape of an annual 
subsidy extending over a series of years, but the amount was 
found and expended by the tenant in the very beginning of the 
operations on the farm. We were informed that prior to the 
sewage being taken on to this land, and the expenditure of this 
money on works, it cost the authorities 1600/. a year to deal 
with the sewage at the Camp in a very unsatisfactory manner. 
The sewage flows upon ninety acres of land by direct 
gravitation ; and is delivered in a fresh state, and is much 
stronger than ordinary town sewage. All the sewage goes 
on to the land. There are storm-water outlets provided in the 
Camp, but we were informed that they only partially acted, and 
that there is no mode of diverting the sewage so that it can pass 
by the farm into the streams of the district, but all of it has to 
pass on to the farm. At the time of our various visits, a con- 
siderable quantity of effluent water was flowing from the drains 
of the farm. This water was bright, clear, and free from 
offensive matter, and was evidently much purer than the stream 
into which it was discharged. The solids of the sewage are 
removed by subsidence in small tanks placed at the head of 
the farm, and only the liquid sewage flows directly on to the 
land which is irrigated. The solids collected in these subsidence 
tanks are occasionally flushed out through the main carrier 
into three sludge-tanks, which have been formed at a lower 
point on the farm. These sludge-tanks were constructed by 
simply throwing up the earth into banks, and protecting the 
slopes with a coating of gravel mixed with tar. They are each 
about 37 yards long, 7 yards wide, and 2 feet 6 inches deep. 
The solid matter remains in these sludge-tanks a sufficiently 
long time to allow it to drain and consolidate so as to be easily 
carted upon the land, when required, at certain seasons of the 
year. Near the lower portion of the farm an engine-house, a 
high-pressure steam-engine, and pumps have been erected ; these 
can be used either to pump sewage on to the nine acres of land 
which cannot be commanded by gravitation ; or in the summer 
and during dry periods water can be raised from a stream in 
the neighbourhood for diluting the sewage ; or a portion of the 
effluent water from the sewage farm can be again thrown over 
the land. The liquid sewage is conveyed over the farm through 
earth-cut carriers, the sides of which are protected with grass 
