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“Maron 15, 1872.
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THE BUILDING NEWS.
227
Tue WATER IN VicTORIA Park.—Mr. Ayrton informed Mr. Stapleton that his attention had been called to the state of the water in Victoria Park, and: from inquiries he had made and his own observation he was satisfied the ponds were not likely to become a source of danger to the neigh- bourhood; but to guard against the possibility of danger steps would be taken to remove the mud as soon as the necessary funds had been voted by Par- liament. Tue. MrerroporirAn Boarp or Works.—Mr. Bruce, replying to Mr, Goldsmid, stated that he did not intend to bringin a Bill to provide for the election of members of this Board directly by the ratepayers. ———— >» WATER SUPPLY AND SANITARY MATTERS. Guascow.—At a meeting of Town Council held on 7th March the Lord-Provost intimated that it had been proposed by the Sewage Committee that a deputation of four gentlemen should inquire into what systems for the disposal of sewage should be experimented upon, and in what districts of the city they should be tried. It was thought right to place the sum of £500 at their disposal, At the same meeting it was asked whether the Police Board in- tended to do anything in the way of erecting baths and washhouses forthe poor. It was replied that three years ago the Health Committee had had plans prepared, but the estimates were higher than had been expected, and as there were not sufficient funds at the time, the matter had remained in abeyance. On two several occasions when the police assess- ment was being considered it was expected that Some provision might be made for the baths, but from other expenditure being required throughout the city, it was thought expedient to deferit. The Convener of the Committee hoped that when another assessment was imposed this important matter would be remembered. Tur Lonpon WatrrR Suppiry.—The Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company have just com- menced the construction of four enormous reservoirs at Rye Hill, Peckham. The site of the reservoirs is at the western angle of Nunhead. The excavations have already pruceeded to some depth, about 350 labourers being engagedin the work. When com- plete the reservoirs will have a depth of 22ft. of water. The upper reservoirs will contain 6,000,000 gallons of water, and the lowers ones 12,000,000 gallons. They will be roofed and covered in, and the surface above turfed, covering an area of about 15 acres. An immense engine-house and pumping engine, together with extensive blocks of cottages and other buildings, will be erected on the premises. The floors and sides of the reservoirs will be lined with brickwork, and coated with cement. The pipes through which the water will be pumped from the reservoirs will be 30in. in diameter, the water being previously filtered. THE WATER Suppry or Sour Lonpon.—Mr. McCormack states, in his report to the Lambeth Vestry :—“I have no hesitation in reporting that both waters are totally unfit for human consumption, and are little better than merely extensively diluted sewage. Of the two, the Lambeth water was a trifle worse than the Vauxhall; but both were much worse than many waters which have been already condemned and the wells closed. The analysis clearly showed that the company’s filters have been completely overmatched by the late floods, and have been totally unable to remove even the sus- pended impurities, and we have simply been drink~ ing the sewage matters and living organisms pro- duced and poured into the river by all the town and farm drains along its bans. It is little wonder that we are sickly, but it isa great wonder that so many of us have escaped disease.” —_>—__—__ CHIPS. Some of the old Hyde Park railings which fell before the pressure of a mob during the Reform agitation, have been utilised to surround the new East London Museum, Bethnal Green. At the Newington vestry, on the 6th inst., on the motion of Mr. C. Stuart Barker, £1,100 was ordered to be raised for the construction of new sewers in the parish during the current vear. The vestry of 8. Luke’s have agreed to repave Chiswell-street, Finsbury, with granite cubes, and for that purpose to apply to the Metropolitan Board for permission to borrow £8,000, to be repaid in in- stalments to extend over a period of twenty years. The pavement of Cornhill by the Limmer As- phalte Company was to have been commenced on the Ist inst., but the Commissioners of Sewers having resolved to pave the footways as well as the roadways, the operations of the Company are postponed till the completion of a new line of gra- nite kerbstone. Dr. Whitmore, medical officer of health for Mary- lebone, reports most favourably of the water sup- plied to that parish by the West Middlesex Water- works Company.
~— Ow Ottice Table. —_—__ Prorection or Lonpon rrom Fire.—tThe great fire at Chicago has not been without its lesson to other large and populous cities. Ever since that calamity, it has been asked whether in London and our other large cities there exists machinery for effectually checking the spread of a fire that has got the upper hand in the first instance. As a general rule, the Fire Brigade may be relied upon to get the enemy under before it spreads; but can we count upon this always being the case? At the meeting of the Court of Common Council last week, Mr. H. A. Isaaes called the attention of the Corporation to this question as affecting the City of London. He contended that the existing water supply of the City is not sufficient to sustain the drain upon it that would be necessitated by the outbreak of a large fire, for while the population of the district (which in- cludes the City) supplied by the New River Com- pany is increasing at the rate of 25 per cent. ina decade, the water supply shows a dimiaution. Mr. Isaacs proposed the construction of one reservoir or more within the City, to be fed from the Thames, from which hydrants in each street could be supplied; and he adduced a mass of evidence to show the in- adequacy of the existing intermittent water-supply as a provision against fires. He was compelled to confess, however, that the first cost of carrying out his scheme would be very heayy, exceeding proba- bly £100,000, or, as another member of the Court calculated, ten millions sterling. The Corporation appears to have agreed with Mr. Bedford, the Chair- man of the City Commissioners of Sewers, who said that another Fire of London was about as likely to happen as another Deluge, and so Mr. Isaacs’s motion was lost. But without incurring the vast expenditure entailed by the proposed scheme, it is surely possible to provide more effectively than at present against the very real dangers that have been pointed out. Constant Water Suprrry.—We learn that the Metropolitan Water Companies have made and sub- mitted to the Board of Trade the regulations which the Metropolis Water Act of last session authorises them to make with regard to fittings and arrange- ments for preventing waste, previously to providing a constant supply of water. These are being care- fully examined on the part of the Metropolitan Board of Works as representing the interests of the consumers, who are entitled to be heard before the regulations are confirmed by the Board of Trade. A preliminary examination of the regulations has (says the Metropolitan) shown them to contain sufticient objectionable matter to lead the Board to request the Board of Trade to withhold their confirmation of the regulations until the Metropolitan Board shall be in a position to place the whole of their objections before them. We believe that when the Bill was passing through Parliament last year the Board strongly represented the expediency of the regula- tions being made by them in order to secure fairness and a due regard for the interests of the consumers. The Board urged that if the regulations were to be made by the companies, the latter would only seek to secure themselves, and would impose such stringent and vexatious conditions as to make the provision for a constant supply practically inopera- tive. The result is said to prove the correctness of these anticipations, many of the regulations being of such a character as to render a constant supply under the conditions which they would impose much more inconvenient than the present system. The Metropolitan Board of Works, however, appear determined to protect the interests of the public in this matter to the utmost. of their power. Sea Water to Make Breap.—At the Paris Academy, says Good Health, the propriety of using sea water to make bread has been under discussion, M. Moison stated that, in the neighbourhood of Cancale, yeast alone is made with fresh water, and that pure sea water is exclusively employed in knead- ing the paste; the bread thus made has not more than the necessary amount of saline matter. On the contrary, when sea water has been added to soup, instead of salt, a food has been obtained which should be rejected. The author asks if he must not see, in the comparison of these two results, proof of a par- ticular transformation undergone in the salts of sea water during the process of baking. He also calls the attention of the Academy to the good hygienic effects which he attributes to the use of bread salted with sea water. This discussion is interesting in reference to making bread on long voyages. Why should we not have hot rolls every morning ? More- over, it may be that the therapeutic effects of the constituents of sea water may be obtained in that | way.
Purney Brice.—In anticipation of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat-race, a correspondent calls at- tention to the very dangerous state of Putney Bridge. He states that it has been under repair for some months, only a small portion being done at a time. At present the workmen are about the centre of the bridge, and for about 200ft. the width for carriage traffic is under 9ft., without any provision for foot passengers. There is only a very narrow siding at each end of this portion of the work. Hundreds of carriages and thousands of pedestrians will attempt to pass over this narrow space. It is, therefore, of the greatest possible importance that the public should know what they will have to be exposed to. The railings are old and rotten, and should a block occur anda panic ensue, the conse= quences may be dreadful, and it is suggested that a Government inspector should visit and report, Lamerre Scroon or Arr.—On the 7th inst. the distribution of prizes to the students of this very suecessful institution was made by Canon Gregory, at the school, Miller’s-lane, Upper Kennington-lane. Miss Agnes Schenk waa awarded the gold medal for design for lace, and also received the Prince of Wales’s scholarship of £25. The silver medallists were Miss Alice Purkess, for a head from life; Mr. Arthur Barlow, for a model from the antique; and Mr. Tom Hunt, for a life study. There were seven bronze medals, and numerous other prizes, including books, money, and several useful articles. Canon Gregory, before the presentation, sketched the eighteen years’ history of the school, from its modest origin, with which he was personally con- nected, to its present handsome, useful, and large proportions. The aim of its founders and existing managers was to render the teaching a practical ad- junct to the iron and pottery industries of the district. A Merrororiran Hore, pe Viruz.—A rumour has obtained currency that the Metropolitan Board of Works is disposed to make arrangements with the Metropolitan District Asylums Board and the London School Board for the erection of a building capable of accommodating all of them upon a centrally situated site. The Thames embankment is spoken of as the most fitting site, just west of Waterloo Bridge, and it is suggested that the facade of the new building should in some measure harmonise with that of Somerset House. Tur ArcairectuRAL Musrum.—The suggestions made at the Conference at the Museum on February 15th, for the extended usefulness of the Institution, have been under the consideration of the Museum Committee, who have come to the conclusion that some one competent to instruct students and art workmen in drawing, and to give information re- specting the various objects, should be in attendance at the Museum daily from two to five, and on Satur- days from two till eight o'clock. The Committee desire to know on what terms such services can be obtained, and invite gentlemen willing to engage themselves to send their names and addresses and terms by letter to the Honorary Secretary, Joseph Clarke, Esq., 13, Stratford-place, W. The Committee then propose to call the members of the late con- ference together with the view to further action. ——<—_—_>_<§_ MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. Monpay.—Royat Instirure or BririsH ARCHI- TEcTS.—‘‘ On the Fall of a Church Dome, with Suggestions for its Construction on Better Principles.’ By Mr. Wyatt Pap- worth. 8 p.m. TUESDAY. — INSTITUTION or Cryin ENGINEERS.— “On the Conditions which favour, and those which limit, the Economy of Fuel in the Blast Furnace for Smelting Iron.” By Mr. Isaac Lowthian Bell, Assoc. Inst. C.E. 8 p.m. WEDNESDAY.—Socrery or ArTs.—‘‘ On the British Trade with France during the last Ten Years inits relation to the General Trade of the United Kingdom.” By Professor Leone Levi. 8 p.m. FRriIpAY. — ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION. — “On Christian Iconography.” By Mr. G. H. Birch, V.P. 7.50 p.m. —_—_@—___ The new schools and teacher's residence at Corse are now complete, and will be opened on the 25th of this month. The buildings have been constructed in the most complete manner, and will be used for a Chapel of Ease as well as a school. Frederick Fowles, of Hartpury, was the contractor, who has carried out the works satisfactorily; Messrs. Fulljames, Waller & Son, of Gloucester, being the architects.
