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ii TiflE LEADER. [No. 304, Saturday, j
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MR. BAZJAIXJEUTE AND THE YACANT ENGL NES...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Command Of The Baltic Fleet. There A...
racteristic must have been a certain agreeable and gentlemanly respectability . — "A gentlemanly man ; " that is the character given of him by his neighbours . Not elevel- in his profession , " but gentlemanly , " says the brother sxirgeon ; -which is doubtless as much as professional competition could allow . " A gentle - manly man "—says the reporter , describing Palmer seated in the jailor ' s pew at church" with a smiling countenance , and a decorous attention to the service . He would have been
taken for a visitor . " Every trait marks this all pervading respectability . He had a good house ; like Thurteix , lie " kept a gig , " and something more , a stud of horses , with a stable keeper . He knew when to put a present of game , and inivhat quarter . He knew how to keep a just record , and to behave like a just man . His diary tells how * 'dear Anne" fell sick and died ; and how , on the fbllowihg Sunday , he " took the Sacrament : " its
for the prayer-book never tails to mase appearance at the proper moment . " When he writes the letter to " dear Agnes , " immediately after the death of his brother , asking one payment and hinting another , it is in no terms of a dun > but rather in the tone of a benefactor , -who has cramped himself by aiding an erring brother , " many , many times , " and who feels that it is only just to the widow if he furnishes her with the opportunity of doing her duty by
the dear departed . ' t The effect of "" this well-sustained demeanoitr is perceptible all round . A medical , neighbour writes to an insurance office , when the question of Walter Palmer ' s policy is under discussion , pointing out that the "wife had died , and that in her case payment on the policy was claimed after payment of the first premium . Yet this medical gentleman appears not to have raised any whisper against a man of whom so awful a suspicion was written confidentially . George Bate thought of signing a proposal for a policy , and boltin-g to the
continent 5 Cook understood Bate ' s reluctance ; yet neither Cook nor Bate informed . The respectability of Mr . Palmer's position , his gentlemanly manners , had their influence even over the official functionaries- The postmaster was willing to place correspondence at his service , although to be found out in doing so was absolute dismissal , ruin , and imprisonment . The Coroner receives the present of game , and a private letter intimating that in the case of Cook , Palmer would like a verdict of " death from natural causes . " Suspicions evidently crossed the minds of many , yet what do we learn from the facts ? These persons dared to let their fellow-creatures pass away mysteriously ; dared to guess
at the cause of their death ; and dared not challenge the respectable Mr . Palmer . Now there never y « t was an irresponsible power in existence that did not abuse its irresponsibility , and iihat did not , besides tyranny , cover an unspeakable amount of corruption and crime . The Cjesars , who- could do what they liked , did what men abhorred . Respectability which can thus defy question , even after suspicion has been excited , must , we know it from every history of power , cover a correlative amount
ox corruption and crime . Pr-ofessor Taylor tells us he has had within the year a hundred and more cases of poisoning ; poison is not the only form of crime -which , human ingenuity has invented ; and Palmer is not the only respectable man in England .
Ii Tifle Leader. [No. 304, Saturday, J
ii TiflE LEADER . [ No . 304 , Saturday , j
Mr. Bazjaixjeute And The Yacant Engl Nes...
MR . BAZJAIXJEUTE AND THE YACANT ENGL NESHSHIJ ? OF THE BOARD OF WQBKS . We howe received a , copy of tfho li Concise Mkmt « st of Firoceedimtgai at a Specilal Oowrt of Sewers ^ holdon at th « Coui ; WWu & e , in
Greekstreet ^ Soho , on Tuesday , the 30 th day of October " This document contams a summary of Mr . F . O . Ward ' s charges against Mr . Bazalgette , now for the first time printed in an authentic form . As several members of the new Board ot Works will , it is believed , advocate the appointment of Mr . Bazalgette as engineer to the Board , an appointment which would imply the Board ' s approbation of his conduct ,, and adoption of his colossal tunnels , costing J ? orr A AHA vvn-w- »* n + V » on tVinco rlpRlO'Tiftd DV jMl * .
Eoe , it appears essential , at the present juncture , to fix public attention on this important document , -which charges Mr . Bazalgette , and the engineers identified with him , in manner following : — "That after solemnly stating to us , in a printed return entitled ' Data , ' that a certain specified mode of computation was used , it has turned out that Mr . Bazalgette used two modes . " That of the two , one was publicly stated , the
ployed , und by endeavouring to expujige as an assist- m tant ' s error , three pages of calculations ; in another §| case ( in your Consulting Engineers' Report ) , by vary . M ing a declivity from 1 in 1 , 350 to 1 in GOO , and nt the ffl same time reducing the discharge required ; in another ( m case , by describing as 4 ft . 6 in . by 2 ft . 9 in ., a sewer m which is really 5 ft . by 3 ft . 4 in . - M " That the calculations for the south side , Ordered M "b y the Court , have been wholly omitted to be re- if turned , and that on testing the south side high level if sewer by each of the three formulae employed to M justify those on the north side , it id found that neither m formula fits . m " That the private use of an unpublished formula \ $ r-nmrniinicated hv an individual , has rendered that . HI
individual virtually our adviser on the question of | | sizes , and this on a formula not yet before the -world , M and in opposition to his own previously published Pf views ; which matters are such as we ought to have , l been allowed-to judge of , especially as controverted El points of grave importance wore involved . j | " That " the confidential nature of the communica- m tion above referred to , might luwe justified Mr . M Bazalgette in declining to make a return of his for- || mula , but could not justify him in reluming one when m he used another . Had he adopted the former course , M ¦ we should have been free to judge whether we would ~ %
other Kept unarvuigeu . . - n " That the public one required for given , ram-falls a much greater discharging power than the one reserved for secret use . . " That these two modes of calculation were used alternately by Mr . Bazalgette ; one to discredit a rival ' s tunnel in our eyes , the other to justify his own , which latter will not stand the test of the published formula , as applied to his rival's tunnel . " That the second mode of computation was only brought forward on compulsion , when tbe detailed calculations were insisted on ; that even then it was ^ - ' i .- ± ~ j ~~ -iA A ^ nlntra / i Vin-K flip morn anma rlnnc Viir UVlf
or would not rely in so grave . a matter on individual : % authority , and on an unpublished formula . " m The extreme importance of these charges at m the present crisis , when the fortunes of the ^ new Board of Works turn on their getting as § their engineer the " right man in the right 1 place , " has induced us to make incfuiry , in | every accessible quarter , as to the hi story of | the case , which appears to "be shortly as follows : —¦ ..=.. late commission oi
_ JjQ ^ j J 5 X « V ^ " - CLIHA . CAUICUJJV / Vt f * J \ . * . V V ** W ** M . V * . V cJJU ^ .. W-MV r ^ J it inserted amongst a mass of figures confused and inaccurate to the iast degree , and Loaded with needlesssurplusage , so that without the closest investigation , it would have passed unnoticed . " That , increasing the perplexity- ^ hus occasioned , and still further baffling investigation , several tunnels ¦ were entered in duplicate in tlie calculations , and computed twice over—namely , once by -the public mode , and once by the secret one ; these duplicate calculations being so disposed as to elude observation . " That when the calculations were unexpectedly ordered to be printed , and the proof was brought before the Court , several pages of these double enti-ies were sought to be eliminated as mere matters of
or-As a member of'the . ScAver ? , Mr . F . O . Ward found it his duty to study closely the plan of main intercepting a | drainage , proposed by Messrs . Bazai . gette and " | Hatwo-od , and approved by Messrs . Stephenson , and CrBiTT ; their estimate being , for the north side only , £ 1 . 627 , 000 . In contrast ^ Vith this plnn Mr . Wai : d had also to study the plan proposed , for accomplishing precisely the same ' object , by Mr . ¦ - ' John Roe , at a cost of only £ 753 , 000 . The magnitude of the saving proposed by Mr . Roe—no less tlian £ 874 , 000—led to iu
" That the responsibility of these double entries and other errors in the calculations is now sought to be laid on an assistant , on whom such responsibility cannot properly devolve . " That upon investigation it turns out , that the second mode of calculation , or formula , substantially embodies , though , as employed by Mr . Bazalgette , it misapplies , theinvaluable experience of John Roe , the very rival on whose plan discredit was sought to be thrown by the application of the firat formula ; a fact -which , it is submitted ,, stamps tho transaction with an unusual want of generosity . " That whereas John Roe carne before us in a plain straightforward way , resting on no formula at all , b"ut on his observations of tho flow in sewers , and in the Fleet River , carried on by day and night for twenty years ; and whereas ho , -with a generous frankness , freely gave his advice , and the results of his long experience to our engineers , by wiiom ho was several times consuix uorrtwpuuuiu oi
investigation as to the relative value ot r . Roe ' s judgment , compared with that of Messrs . Stepiienson nnd Cubitt , in drainage matters . From this investigation it appeared that Messrs . Stephexson nnd Cubitt , though eminent ns railway engineers , had no experience in matters of town drainage , to compare with that of Mr . John Roe . Mr . RoEwasfor upwards of twenty years engineering surveyor to the Holborn and Finsbury Sewers Commission . In that capacity lie introduced all tho great improvements in the modern system of town drainage ; as , for instance , the egg-shaped sewers , which , though at first , violently opposed , arc now universally adopted ;
« u ; u ^ uugree candour has not been Bhown towardh him , but the benefit of tho second formula , which substantially embodies his . experience , has been denied him ; nnd that he has further been hold up aa having blundered , on account © f an error which was not hie , but his assailant ' s , which fact was subsequently admitted in Buch ambiguous terms , aa to seem still to fix tho blunder on him . " That tho question between John Jtoe and our engineers , is no mere question of rival fonnulKs , or rival opinions , but a question of oxporionco ngainwt formula ) , and of facts against opinion » . " That thin qtiention involves public interests of to in tno matter
| the method of flushing away deposit with water , instead of lifting it by hand labour ami I carting it away at great cost ; the plan ot draining houses in combination , by short branches , at a great reduction of cost ; the use of stoneware pipes at a third of the cost ot brick drains , for houses and minor streets—h practice at first violently opposed , like the cgg-slmpcd sewers , but now universal — scoTe ? of provincial towns being thus dminrd , ami in London alone between 200 nnd SJOO miles " __ . _ . . A . I i
Tast magnitude , amounting ^ ouu , uuu of the Metropolitan Intercepting Drainage alono , nnd probably of millions sterling , in like casee , throughout this country and Europe . "That it was therefore a question requiring on tho part of youy engineer an extraordinary degree of goto as well as -candour , whioh it ie submitted have not I been shown . " That engineering orrora of greator or Iobh importaTXco , manifcBtrng wunt of care , exist in yoiir ongin-eorifl deeigp o » d reports , and tlint certain of these erroTH were aowght to b « ditjguised ; in one cnao by varying a declivity from 1 to 20 in ono part of the document "to 1 to 652 in another , —by introducing a third formula giving 8 per cent , more discharge than tno first , Which weus declared to be th-o only one
emot pipe sewers and drains being m successnu operation , and in course of rapid extension . Mr . Hok also paid great attention to the velocity of flow in powers , and to their discharging power ; which he found 1 o exceed very considerably -what had been previously supposed ; and he was thus enabled greatly to reduce the size and cost of tho . sewers in in * district ; ihn saving in one instance being n <» lesa than £ 2 2 a . a foot , amounting to , £ 4 , 0 O () on a single length of sewer . Tho rcsnlt ° > these and other improvements woh that Mr . Bolt saved , on nn average , £ 8 ,-000 a-year to
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 19, 1856, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19011856/page/14/
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