The Condition of St. Petersburg

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 88, 23 January 1892, Page 3

The Condition of St. Petersburg

The unsatisfactory condition of th< Russian capital in more than one respect is discussed by the British Consul there in his last report. Mr Michell says that, according to the census taken in December, 1890, the population, exclusive of the suburbs, numbered 956,226, being an increase oi 31,760 as compared with 1889, and oi 22,443 as compared with 1888. The rate of mortality is still abnormally high, owing chiefly to insanitary conditions. There is a total absence of sewers, their place being mainly taken by primitive cesspools, and to some extent by rain-water drains, and the death-rate during the past five years has varied between 26*2 and 29*6 per 1,000. At the request of the municipality, Mr Lindley, the well-known engineer, drew up a plan of sewers for the whole town in 1880. It still remains under consideration. In addition to the sanitary disadvantages, St. Petersburg is frequently exposed to the danger of inundation during a prevalence of strong winds blowing from the west, south, and north-west. Hardly an autumn passes without some of the low-lying suburbs being submerged to the depth of several feet, exposing the poorer classes of inhabitants, who occupy these parts of the town, to considerable danger, suffering, and material losses. To prevent these it has been proposed to build a sea wall from Oranienbaum, on the southern side of the gulf, to Lissy Noss, on the northern, leaving open the present southern channel at Cronstadt. Such a wall would, it is said, by preventing a flow of water during westerly and south-westerly gales in the direction of the mouth of the Neva, effectually preserve St. Petersburg from being buried under the waters of the Gulf of Finland and partly those of the Baltic. The existence and imminence of the danger are exemplified by previous inundations, especially that which took place in 1824, when the water rose 13| feet above its ordinary level. In 1691 .the overflow is stated to have been still more serious, the water attaining a height of more than 15^ feet. During the past year there were two succestive inundations in August, which at ; brie time threatened to prove very calamitous. When the overflow had reached the height of 10 feet above the usual water-level the wind luckily subsided, and the water soon regained its normal height. There is no indication at present of any intention to carry out the sea-wall referred to, the resources of the Government being already too heavily taxed for other and more pressing requirements. — London Times.