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Untitled Article
, qftrk slimy matter , emitting a most offensive smell , although , * ™« q stated its condition waa less disagreeable than flS ! mvin ? to the quantity of rain that had fallen in the US innd on the preceding day . The following ex-• ments were performed , in the presence of the commis-P - eri prs upon sewage water taken , from the ditch , holding ^ suspension a large proportion of dark coloured matter , a state of decomposition , and smelling otfensively : — lU Thirty-five grains of a powder prepared by Mr . cUothert were added to a pint of sewage water , and the hole stirred up with a stick . The water instantaneously 1 st its disagreeable odour , and in the course of four or five minutes the solid matter was precipitaed to the bottom , leaving the water above it perfectly clear . " A like experiment was tried , and with the like effect , upon a pint of water of the same quality with thirty grains of the powder . tJ
. .. L , " In each of these cases the solid matter precipitated stood about one-fifth the way up in the cylindrical glass vessel used on the occasion , the other four-fifths being clear water . A portion of the solid matter , having been taken out of the vessel , was found to be free from odour . " 3 . A portion of the water cleared by the above process , being mixed with about an equal quantity of foul sewage water immediately deodorized the latter , but without precipitating the solid matter contained in it . " The commissioners expressed to Mr . Stothert their satisfaction with the result of the experiments , and signified their intention to report to the committee in favour of his app lication . "E . Jebb , Chairman . " " Greek-street , Soho , Sept . 24 , 1852 . " Mr . Woolrych also read a letter from the Messrs . Vallance , submitting , on behalf of Mr . Stothert , the
following proposal for a licence to use the sewage of Richmond : — " 25 th Sept ., 1852 . " Messrs . Vallance and Vallanee of 20 , Essex-street , Strand , beg to submit the following as the terms on which the Commissioners of Sewers should grant to Mr . Henry Stothert , or his nominees , or a company to be formed for the purpose of carrying out the same , a licence to use and dispose of certain sewage matter as hereinafter more particularly mentioned : —
" 1 . That the said commissioners shall grant to the said company full , free , and uninterrupted use and enjoyment of all the sewage matter of the town and parish of Richmond , in the county of Surrey , now draining , or which may hereafter drain , into the sewer which passes from New Richmond by the gas works towards Mortlake , with liberty for the said company to treat , use , employ , sell and dispose of the same absolutely as they may think right , subject to the following conditions : — " 2 . That the term of this licence and grant shall be for twenty years , determinablo , nevertheless , as hereinafter mentioned .
" 3 . That the commissioners are to be at liberty to determine the licence and grant hereby given , provided the operations upon the sewage matter by the said company become , in the opinion of the commissioners , a nuisance , <> r in anywise injurious to public health , or render the water of any river or stream into which the sewerage or water operated upon by the said company shall be suffered to flow detrimental to health , and in that case the said company , upon notice in writing from the said commissionurs , aro to discontinue from all further operations , and the grant and licence hereby given shall thereupon cease and determine . " 4 . That the said compauy aro to erect works at their own expense , but the anid commissioners arc to cause the Kf \ v ; i £ o t , o bo convoyed to the outlet of tho said newer : pvovidi'd , nevertheless , that tho commissioners aro to bo at liberty to alter the lino of sowers from thru * to time in
any manner they may think proper ; but it is understood they will have regard to tho worka of tho company , and facilitate their operations ho far tin they can , consistent with the interests of tho Metropolitan Commission of Sowers . " S . That for tho first , ten years of tho Haid term a rental ° t /> . v . per annum shall bo payable by tho company to tho Kind commissioners , and that ' for tho remainder of tho said ter m of twenty years tho said company shall pay to tho Hmd eoinininnionerM hucIi a fixed annual rent , as shall bo '' <|< iival ( 'rit to one-tenth of tho average net . annual profit '" ud e in tho eighth , ninth , and tenth years of ( . lie second tenii , prop ,.,- accounts to be furnished for tho purpose ) , w'th power lor tho commissionera to inspect , tho books of 'he company .
() ''hat at the expiration of the said I . erm of twenty . vl' » rH , the Haid commissioners shall be at liberty to take .. w <> rks and machinery of the said company at a valua"• ' ¦" , } made in the usual way . ' The company to accept , Hindi title as the present ; ! ' ''""!" ' '" noi'N ran " give them under the statutes esta-> 'Hliiiifr ai ,, l regulating tho Metropolitan Commission ol fiOWdl-H " l
"e Secretar y then rend tho resolution and recoin'"'¦ nditUon of t , ho general committee of the commission I " ' l > e su ! , j ( . ( . | , of the above proposal , viz . : — Resolved , ' ""' in the opinion of thin committee ( be process <> i - > tnthcrt is deserving of encouragement , and that , ¦ •! . r * ' ° u"onl a , fair opportunity of testing its nppli-¦'¦ "I'ly to n more extended area of drainage , it would M'roper ut present , to grant to the parlies on whoso I ' " j'pplication in now made , a license to take , use , ' ' ( '" . I . V the sewage of Richmond as horeinafler meii-^ "" ed , on <]„ , ( , ( ,,, ns piop ,,, ^ ., ^ i , i ( he hope that they tM l ; Hll ( ' ' ^ 'd in establishing | ;] lo complete cflieioncy ol ' M . YKtein , and the commissioners heroine justified in 11 " ' . "' K . t ' them tho sewage of an extended portion ol ' uno ' ' ° '' Ull ( lor the jurisdiction of thn commissioners , ° U HUcu terms aH shall appear lair and reasonable , to
both parties . Recommended , accordingly , that license to take , use , and enjoy the sewage of Richmond , now draining , or which may hereafter drain into the sewer ( as in proposal ) , be granted to Mr . Stothert , or his nominees , upon the terms proposed . The Court then adopted the recommendation of the general committee . The Chairman said , that in agreeing to Mr . Stothert ' s app lication the commissioners had not granted to that gentleman any indulge nce which they were not equally prepared to extend to any other party who brought forward any similar scheme which appeared to them to be likely to succeed .
Untitled Article
THE FLOODS IN CHAMOUNIX . A correspondent of the Times has furnished that journal with a capital account of the late floods at Chamounix . The date of his letter is September the 18 th . " The greatest inundation which has occurred this century has just carried misery and desolation through this secluded valley . On Thursday last the rain commenced falling in torrents , and when morning broke the Arve had risen considerably , but there seemed no reason to apprehend any danger , as the river has carved for itself a channel deep and wide enough , one would
have thought , to drain all the Alps between Chamounix and Geneva . It was observed , however , with some uneasiness , that the strea m which precipitates itself from the Glaciers des Bois into the river Arveiron had swollen into a cataract . Towards night the river had risen five or six feet above its ordinary level , and the mountain sides were marked in every direction with the white seams of new water-courses . On Friday morning the aspect of the Arve , as it tore through the village , hurrying forest trees , planks , and fragmentsof wooden bridges on its turbid waters , and momentarily rushing higher and hig her up against its banks , was
enough to excite the gravest apprehensions . All the people in the village turned out by beat of drum to help each other in the approaching calamity . It was not long coming . Ere nine o ' clock a . m . the river had burst its banks , and flooded the whole of the lower part of the valley , sweeping away the flax crops of the poor cottagers left out to dry , and covering their scanty supplies of food and corn with thick layers of white mud , composed of the debris of granite and shale rocks , which will take years to remove . The increasing force and power of the torrent was marked every minute by the greater size of the trees and timber it bore along ,
and , by-and-bye , the most painful feelings were excited by the appearance of the plank * and roofs of chalets whirling down in its waves , which boiled and chafed in huge masses of water resembling liquid mortar . All the strangers at the hotels turned out , in spite of the incessant rain , to watch ii wight so novel and so terrible . Ab : > ve tlu ? ir heads hung a . dark canopy of clouds , which settled down to the very base of the Alps , or drifted now and then up along tho mountain sides , only to show the glaciers pouring down their furious cascades through the pine-trees , and to reveal the ampler currents of the water-courses . Around on every side was a . dense vapour ,
concealing every object tit the distance of J 00 yards , but still leaving the angry rush of the roaring Arve and its chaotic burdens but too plainly visible ; as it seethed through its widely-spreading banks , which grew moredistantfroineachotlicr with every minute . Thesound of the huge boulders which it / oived along , as they struck the rocky bottom , literally shook the ground and tilled the air like growling thunder , and the long reverberations of the avalanches mingling with this horrid tumult , the crash of trees and limber , and the hissing of the toppling waters of river and cataract , formed an awful chorus . The anxious faces of the villagers but too well revealed the amount of the destruction that was taking
place , us , surrounding their priest , who stood with uncovered head beneath the teeming clouds , they gazed lrom the bridges in hopeless despair at the torrent below . By the fragments , which passed in quick succession , it was known Unit all the bridges along the road to Martigny had been destroyed , and , from experience , they had reason to believe greater mischief would be done lower down the valley . At the Hotel de Londres strenuous efforts were made to preserve the bridge which led from the garden ncrosss the river to the road ascending towards the Cascade den 1 'olerins , and large beams of wood , trees stripped of their branches , were conveyed with great . labour , and placed so that one end was fixed under the bridge , and the
other , weighed down by lurge stones and balks ol timber , rested on the ground ; but , in spite of this eccentric engineering , it was plain to those who watched the progress of the Hood , that , thn erection could not . long withstand the furious tide that heat ugainst its l » ul , - tressos . ltelbre eleven o'clock the waters hud rushed into tho hotel garden , nixl in a I ' moments affer the stone buttresses and foundations wen- , sapped and
overthrown , and with a tremendous crash down came the bridge into the Arve , which , whirling it round and round like a straw , speedily hurried it out of sight . Only one bridge was now left in the village , and it was crowded during the day with people , and , though several false alarms caused them to run off , it was fortunately so high above the Arve , and its foundations were- so strong , that it escaped , all injury . All the
walls by the side , and part of the roadway , however , were washed away . On walking by the mountain side , above the valley , the appearance of the torrent w , as frightful . Enormous pine-trees , ash , and beeches of great bulk , were to be seen struggling to rise out of the race , and lifting their dark roots and branches for an instant , but to be whelmed again by the stream , the course of which was marked everywhere by ruined mills and Lalf-drowned chalets . Women , gathered on
the hill-side , stood wringing their hands and weeping as they looked on their submerged homes , their friendly roofs just peeping above the water , or , with their husbands , fathers , and sons , bore their humble household goods to some securer elevation . All the population agreed in saying they had never heard of or seen such a deluge before , and I certainly was inclined to believe it , from witnessing the inefficient and unskilful attempts they made to check the destruction caused by the river For the most part , indeed , they submitted in silence to a calamity which they seemed to consider inevitable and irremediable . The small millers whose houses
stood by the roadside , were , of course , the great sufferers . In every case their dwellings were destroyed , and their property carried away : and it was melancholy to see some of those great stout fellows crying like children , as they beheld the fruits of years of industry and toil swallowed up in an instant for ever . A more touching subject for a painter than one of these sad groups perched on a rock over their home , and lamenting over its loss , as they watched the Arve scaling its Avails , till it gurgled through the windows , and the whole building sank with a crash , could not be imagined . It is to " be hoped that M . Hugard , a Savoyard landscape painter , who is here by order of the French Government to finish some large pieces of
Alpine scenery for the Ecole des Mines , may render the world familiar with the details of this flood , ot which the pen can never convey a description . In one night the river rose , in some places , twenty-five and thirty feet . All communication has been cut olf between us and Geneva , and up and down the valley , for some days ; but there arc many reports respecting the loss of life and property down towards Sauenches . It is said that fifty person ' s have been drowned at Bonneville , and that those who escaped were taken out of the windows in boats . Persons belonging to other hamlets down the valley are missing . Mules , cows , sheep , and goats , have perished in numbers ; and , if one were to credit tho stories told by the peasantry , they must have been the richest set of fellows in the world before ;
the flood burst , on them . The lowest estimate any ot them fixes on his personal disaster is about 200 (> f . ; and it is astonishing to see how quietly they endure the annihilation of such comparatively colossal possessions ; there ; brin only one instance , to my knowledge , of one of these rural Crnesi getting drunk , that being the case of a man \\\\ o avowed that , not being able to bear his misfortune fit i > luto . sop ! t <' , he had had recourse to the bottle on purpose . As some slight token of their sympathy , the v sitors at the various hotels subscribed 500 C . for the sullerers . " At tho end of his letter he notices the great number of travellers who have swarmed into the Alpine regions
this summer ; and the many unsuccessful attempts which have been made to ascend Mont , lUane . lie also appends the following postcript : — " 1 am enabled to confirm from personal observation the truth of the reports which have reached us of the damage done by the Hoods . The villagers are literally deprived of all food . They must , buy corn for bread , and there is not a mill left , within twenty miles . Considering the awful winter before them ( heir case well merits consideration and sympathy , and M . Micliou , the physician tit Chaniounix , will he happy to give I lie fullest information to those who feel inclined to aid / he sullerers . Tlie road between this and Martigny is destroyed . "
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THIS OIMJANOIMIONIC HANI ) . A KATlllOK singular and novel enterijiinmcnt is beiiitf given at the St . James ' s Theatre , under ( his title , by a company of twelve ( Jernians , characteristically dressed , who , without any mechanical rial , perform , by Mm . voice only , a varied selection of music , consisting ol polkas , marches , son ^ s , accompaniments , . *« . 1 lie " orchestra" of voices comprises the horn , the trumpet , thr violin , Mini other wind and stringed instruments , down to Ib" military drums and cymbals , and tho fearful bagpipes . A musical box in also represented .
Untitled Article
October 2 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . _ J ^ L .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 2, 1852, page 941, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1954/page/9/
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