72 
Report of the Judges on the 
he lived were some children ill with the scarlet fever, and I 
believe that some deaths had occurred, which clearly showed 
that the child had caught the fever before it left Croydon. The 
other death was a little boy who was accidentally run over by a 
waggon on Mitcham Common. These are the only deaths that 
occurred during the time I was there, and it was the only time 
scarlet fever was on the farm." 
Mr. F. M. Cold wells, who was also for a short time manager 
of the farm under the Farm Company, wrote, Sept. 9th, 1879 : 
" Although a great many hands were employed on the Croydon 
irrigation farm during the time I was manager, and at least 
two families with children resided on it, I only knew of one 
case of sickness." This case was that of a man who attended 
the sewage extractors on the farm at Beddington ; but he soon 
recovered, and shortly afterwards left the farm at Beddington, 
but has since been engaged on other sewage farms, and is now 
employed on the sewage farm at Northampton. 
Class 2. — Reading Sewage Farm. 
The Reading Sewage Farm is known as the Whitley Manor 
Farm. It is situated between two and three miles to the south 
of Reading, and is the property of the Corporation of the 
Borough of Reading, Mr. W. W. Champion being the farm 
manager. 
The farm contains an area of 688 acres, of which 
350 acres are pasture, 
325 ,, ,, arable, 
13 „ „ let in allotments. 
688 acres. 
The entire area of land purchased by the Urban Sanitary 
Authority of Reading for the purpose of sewage disposal was 
about 770 acres; and this area, exclusive of legal expenses, 
but inclusive of compensation to occupiers and of a sum 
of 4000/. awarded to Mr. Attenborough, the owner of the 
adjoining property, for consequential damages, was about 
80,300/. Up to the time of our inspection 76 a. 0 r. 10 p. 
had been laid out for irrigation, and 54 acres were then under 
preparation for irrigation, but to which no sewage had been 
applied. The farm was established in 1875 for the purpose of 
purifying the sewage of Reading, which town, we were informed, 
now contains a population of about 40,000 people, the sewage of 
33,000 of whom is passed on to the farm. 
