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They have no isolation hospital, and are unable to obtain a site on shore at
any cost, while the Corporation has the land vacant, and needs only a
separate building.
The proposal, however, has been rejected, and no fresh application has
been since made. It must, therefore, be supposed to have been finally
abandoned.
At the end of December, owing to complaints, the Chairman summoned an
informal meeting of the Sub-Committee to consider the position of the caretakers.
After due investigation it was resolved to discharge both the existing caretakers,
to appoint one temporarily to fill the vacancy until the Grand
Committee should meet in February and deal with the whole question.
METROPOLITAN SEWAGE.
Stale and wearisome as this great problem undoubtedly is, it can never fail
to be of interest to your officers, closely connected as it is with the Public
Health of London, and having so great an influence as it undoubtedly would
have on the course of any epidemic which may visit our Metropolis.
The London County Council have definitely decided to continue their
treatment of the sewage by precipitation, and on the 13th October, 1891, on a
report from the Main Drainage Committee, resolved:—(a) "That, subject to
"an estimate to be submitted to the Council by the Finance Committee as
"required by the Statute, two additional sludge ships of a type similar to the
"steam ship 'Bazalgette' be obtained; that the engineer be instructed to
"obtain the necessary plans and specifications for this purpose, and that an
"advertisement be issued inviting tenders for the construction of the ships,"
and:(b) "That for the purpose of introducing the system of continuous
"treatment of the sewage at the Crossness out-fall, the necessary weir walls
"be erected, and that the work be executed under Mr. Webster's contract
"for the precipitation works."
The report of the engineer and chemist of the Board on which the above
resolutions were passed points out—
That the original design of the works at Barking and Crossness was to
treat the sewage by deposition and precipitation in separate channels on the
intermittent system, and this plan was brought into operation at Barking.
That at Barking, although the great bulk of the solid matter was precipitated,
vet that a considerable quantity escaped with the effluent when the telescopic
weirs were lowered, and that with a view to prevent this loss they suggested
fixed masonry weirs, and continuous treatment of the sewage.