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58
at £500, and by stating that owing to the probability of the sewage of
Edmonton being taken into the London County Council system in the
near future, the question of establishing a permanent refuse destructor
was not ripe for discussion. This was referred by the Council to a
Special Committee of the Council on January 22nd, but no report wa-s
received from this Committee. A fortnight later three acres more were
allotted for refuse at the farm.
In May a wire fencing (£7) was fixed round the heap in order
to keep the waste paper from being blown into the sewage carriers, and
a new sleeper-road made (£20). A contract has been entered into, with a
brick-maker to take the refuse into his yard from October to March, at
1s. 3d. a load to the Council.
RATS.—Virus is used to reduce the number of these vermin about
the Park and the refuse heaps on the sewage farm.
SEWAGE DISPOSAL IN THE LEA VALLEY.
Still another year has been spent in negotiations between the
districts of Enfield, Southgate and Edmonton in Middlesex, and the
Essex districts of Walthamstow and Leyton, as to co-operation in forming
a main sewer which will carry all the sewage from these districts by
gravitation to Abbey Mills, where it will be passed on to the London
system for subsequent disposal at Barking on the Essex shore of the
Thames.
Proposals to deal with the sewage of towns in the Lea valley can
be traced back to 1853, when the present towns were little more than
villages.
In 1908, our late Engineer, Mr. Eachus, and Mr. Holmes, the
Engineer of Walthamstow, issued an estimate of £212,025.
In 1911, the five Councils concerned agreed to leave the final
settlement with the President of the Local Government Board, but the
matter assumed quite a different aspect when my colleague, Mr. Cuthbert
Brown, after going into the subject carefully and actually travelling
along the proposed line of drainage, emphatically declared that the
latest estimate of £240,000 would be quite inadequate to construct the
line of sewer, and even then each Council would have the storm-water of
their areas to dispose of.
On 17th July, 1912, the London County Council presented an
estimate of £322,000, thus confirming the views of our Engineer.
Startled by the increased estimate, the Enfield Council in
September withdrew their support from the scheme of 1911.