AUCKLAND.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 7, Issue 370, 19 November 1863, Page 3

AUCKLAND.

The Ladybird, which reached Wellington on Thursday last, brought Auckland news tu the 9th inst. The Ministry was getting on vigorously, and seemed strong and durable ; and the session of the Assembly was expected to end about the 24th, when Mr. Bell announced his intention of retiring from political life alter twenty-live years experience of it. The hill for confiscating rebel lands passed without division ; and one to estaolisli a mild system of martial law by 27 to 10. The debates indicate a split in the Wellington party. Messrs. Featherston land r it/hcrbert opposed the Confiscation bill, and Messrs. Featherston and Waring. Taylor the Suppression of it ebellion bill; the 'rest of the Wellington member’s voted for them. Mr. Fitzherbert spoke against the last measure, but voted for it. The news from the from the front contains the following items. General Cameron was about establishing a liue of posts from the Thames to the Waikato, preparatory to driving the Maories towards Taupci, and establishing military settlements as lie advanced. A 20-ton cutter, laden with flour, biscuit, sugar, an'cl rice, for the rebels, bad been captured by the Satidjly, outside Auckland harbour, and canoes enough to have carried more than 1000 men had been discovered hidden in the creeks of tbe Mauukair, which were being carefully searched for more. On the sth a party of rebels were reported to beat Awitu, near Manukau heads, and a force was sent to cut off -their retreat by land, and the Lady BarJdy to attack them by water. From some delay, however, in the advance of the land force, the steamer arrived first, and the Maories escaped, though they left their fires and food behind them, as well as a letter to a Wangarei chief, expressing a wish for an interview to talk matters over, and to be allowed to get to Kaipara for iisli. Two Europeans, working at a saw mill, are accused of giving them the alarm by, firing two rifles. The sequel to this was that, on the night of the 7th, the flagstaff at the Mauukan signal station was cut down, the lifeboat and a whaleboat stolen, and another boat destroyed by the Maories, without the knowledge, or in the absence, of the ten armed constables belonging to the station.

MI NIST ERIAL POLICY. Mr. Fox rose and said that with the permission of the House he would take this opportunity of making the state ment ot Ministerial policy which he had last sitting day promised. In so doing lie would confine himself to as narrow. ' limits as possible, because he was sa- | tisfied that the House would not at this ; moment, expect any large developement of new policy at the hands of the new ministry, and because be wished to give an example of the principle on winch the Government meant to act, —action rather j than words. With reference to the suppression of the rebellion now raging in the Waikato and Taranaki districts, he could only say that it would be the earnest endeavour of the present ministry, j by every means in the power ot the coI lony, by men and money, to assist his ; Excellency the Governor in suppressing that rebellion. In so doing they would continue to carry out those arrangements S which had been entered into by their | predecessors for the maintenance of the largest possible civilian force which could | be constituted in this country, and em- ; ploy them to the largest; possible extent to which they were available in aid of the Imperial troops. From the paper laid on the table by the Minister for Colonial Defence it appeared that there were at the present moment 9,(529 armed civilians in the Northern Island, not all of th in actually in the field, but all well armed and under training and in a posiii.m at any moment to be called out if their ser-

vices were required. This force was distributed in the following proportion :

la the Province of Auckland 5,937, including the Waikato -Volunteers, under command..of Colonel Pitt ; in Welling* ton, including Wanganui, 1,768 armed, leavingHi balance of a few hundred more not yet armed and trained, but who would speedily he so; in Taranaki, the whole male population, 819 ; in Hawke’s Bay, 750, being also the whole male population, he believed : and the Colonial Defeuce Force which had been enlisted in the Australian and these colonies, and were chiefly mounted men, 375. 1 he colony had also provided in aid of her Majesty’s forces, three steam vessels, viz., the ‘ Pioneer,’ an iron-clad vessel built expressly for the navigation of the Wai kato waters; the ‘ Avon,’ a smaller vessel, and the ‘Sandfly’ in Auckland harbour, lately known as the ‘Tasmanian Maid,’ a paddle.steamer of considerable power for the purposes for which she was employed. Such was the present contribution of the colony towards the defence of the country, and it would be the object of the present Government not only to maintain them in.a state of the greatest efficiency, but to add from time to time, by considerable increases, to .their numbers : first by the introduction of volunteers from outside the colony, and in e,fb.er ways which he would -presently refer to. T'lfe number of the Queen’s troops, with which these civilian farces would have to co.-opcrate was, altogether, close upon, if not quite, 7,000. 3,000 move were expected very shortly to. arrive, making a total; of Queen’s troops of 10,000. men. In addition to, that, there were four, large ships of wav with full complements of men, and a small gunboat on the Mauuk.au, maintained by the commissariat. It was to. be trusted that Yi'heu thcsg. vqst forces, were all at the dis posal of the. colony ready-to suppress rebellion in every part of the Island where it might break out, the duration of the present calamitous state of affairs would not be very long. He- trusted indeed that even when the amount of force at present in the colony and coming, was made,known to the natives from tlie authentic source by which it would reach them,- viz; by his Excellency’s Ministers in this house,, it would have a very material effect in. subduing the violent passions of that part of the native community who were now in rebellion, and operate as a total check on the probability of an outbreak elsewhere. These figures would also show the Home Go vernment what they had appeared to doubt, that the colony was prepared to use its very best exertions in putting down the existing rebellion. He was exceedingly glad to learn on his arrival in Auckland that tlie Government had not found it neccessary to resort, to that practice so. obnoxious to every lover of constitutional liberty—the establishment of m irtial law, a practice which was of very doubtful validity and must at the best always be supplemented by an Act of the Legislature of tlie country or of the Imperial Parliament ; that extreme course however liad not been adopted, and he was glad it had not, entailing as it must so many severe consequences on the civilian part of the community. But there were a mi-mber of cases which would arise in the attempt to suppress, a rebellion like this in which the ordinarymachinery of law was too tardy, or ordi nary enactments not sufficient for the punishment or suppression required ;. and to enable the Government to. reach such cases it was their intention to propose an Act of which he had this day given notice ; “ An’actforthe suppression of the rebellion which unhappily exists in this country, and for the protection of her Majesty’s loyal subjects in this colony,” the material difference between this act and the operation of martial law was this, .that martial law was proclaimed over a whole district, and suspended practically the legal relations between man and man ; bringing every civilian within the district under its operation, and thus involving the whole community in the consequences which were attached to a breacn of the'law—a law having no written code, the principles of which were in no way settled ; but the proposals which .the Government would make to the House would be found to be entirely different to this. It would enable the Governor to deal with that lai'ge class of cases to which the law at present did not extend and would be applicable solely to persons engaged in rebellion or abetting rebellion by others, and would be free from those consequences which ordinarily and justly rendered martial law so obnoxious. It would be framed on the priciple of an act passed by the British Parliament in 1833, in time of peace. Tlie Government hoped that the time would soon come when by the exhibition or use of this large military force, and by the legal means the House might think proper to place at the disposal of the Government, this rebellion would be suppressed. Then came the question, how was the Government prepared to make peace'. They were not prepared to make peace at all. This was not a war, but an insurrection, and when the insurrection ceased, the Government would cease to pub it down, and not before. (Hear, hear.) He had always considei’ed it one of the most vital errors committed in the first Taranaki war, that the natives were treated, in public documents and communications between themselves and the Government, not as subjects in rebellion but as enemies, a position in which they could not legally stand, and which necessarily involved the Government in a position of the greatest difficulty in adjusting the subject of dispute. If the natives were admitted to the position of enemies then they must have the belligerent right of enemies, and all the consequences attached thereto. Now the present Government admitted no such consequences.

No peace would be made here any more than after other rebellions against the Crown of Britain. Tlie business of the Government now was to enforce the law, and submission to the law only would procure peace. But they must go further than this. They must take some substantial guarantees for the future security of the country and the maintenance of peace and obedience to the law, as would make future rebellion not only unlikely and undesirable to the natives themselves but almost impossible. They would not endeavour to secure this by any sanguinary laws or cruel punishments; no natives would be blown away from guns; we would not, because fighting with an uncivilised enemy, adopt their uncivilized practices. The policy we would adopt would be mainly that developed in a memorandum of the late Ministry on the military Defences oftheColony, forwarded to the Home Government in a despatch of His Excellency’s, dated July 31st. It would consist in the establishment of villages, held upon a certain description of military tenure by men armed and prepared to. defend themselves, in various parts of the colony, in such positions as the government may think it most advisable to locate them. There was already about 3,000 military voluuteePS who had been introduced under this system, satisfactorily so far, well selected and now on the frontiers engaged in the defence of the country. It was the intention of the Government to introduce 2,000 or 3,000 more in the same way, briugiug up the numbers to 5,000 or 6,000 ; and it was also the intention of the Government to bring from the parent country 15,000 more, chiefly agricultural labourers, to be located in a similar manner in other parts of the rebellious districts. Thus there would be located in the provinces of Auckland and Taranaki at least 20,000 souls and their families. These labourers would, for the present at all events, and as a principle throughout the piece, be strictly and exclusively confined to those parts of tlie Northern Island in which rebellion existed or had existed.

No attempt would be made to extend this system to any part of the island in which the natives had maintained peace, obeyed the law, and in which there existed now, or likely to continue to exist, friendly relations between them and the Government. If in any of those provinces where rebellion did not exist, it should be found desirable for purposes of defence, or any other purposes rendering it desirable for the General Government to introduce immigrants, it would only be done after jja full consultation with the Provincial Governments, with their concurrence, . and probably with their aid ; and in any such district as that, the utmost care would he taken to adhere to the strictest principle of justice to the native race. Not one acre would be taken for the establishment of a village in districts wlierc there had been no rebellion ; every acre would be bought either from tlie natives, the Provincial Government, or private individuals ; but in those districts where the natives had been in actual arms against Her Majesty, the Government proposed by Act of this House to enable his Excellency, the Governor, to take the lands of tribes, or portions of tribes, which had been in. rebellion, to establish the settlements he had described upon them, and a further portion to meet the expenses of tlie war. With regard to that portion of the native population which had obeyed the law of the country, and not engaged in the late .rebellion, every attempt wduld be made, as it had hitherto been made, to raise them to an equality with the European race, and to give them an opportunity of exercising all those privileges, which, under the Constitution Act of this colony they, in common with the European population, had a right to exercise, and he had no doubt that the House would be liberal as it had always been, in furnishing funds for the various measures and institutions to be employed in the civilisation of the Natives. The attempt of the Government would be to bring the two races under one law, to make them form one community, and to let the natives feel that they were not a separate people. The Government would make no attempt to draw a line beyond which natives would be driven. Their object would as far as possible, to mix them with the European population, in order that they might derive those advantages which they must necessarily derive from personal intercourse with the ■Europeans. Nothing could be so fatal to the native race, —so certain to lead to their extinction, as the atttempt to separate them from ' the secondary influence of European civilisation. That would, therefore, form no part of the Government scheme ; it would be rather to mix them with the European race that they might become civilised by their example. When referring to the suppi’ession of the rebellion, he had omitted to state that in districts where the na tives had been in I'ebellion, and were now in rebellion, the Government would require before it would consider the rebellion' apeased, that they should give up their arms. (Hear, hear). He now came to the financial means by which tlie Government proposed to carry out this system. He would not, however go into details] now, as the Colonial Treasurer would early next week make a full financial statement, and would then state to the House what measures it would be necessary to pass, and all details appertaining to that branch of the subject, but as the expenditure involved in these plans for the defence of the colony, which were unavoidable, and that of the system of military colonisation, which, in his opinion, was equally unavoidable —would be fiir beyond the ordinary annual resources of the country, it would be obsolutely necessary to raise a very considerable loan for the purpose, and the

Government proposed to do so. That loan they proposed ultimately to pay off, wholly or in part, by the sale of portions of those lands that might be in the hands of the rebel subjects. A sufficient portion would be taken to refund to the country the expense to which it has been put in suppressing the rebellion— -a. principle not only in accordance with every feeling of justice, but also in accordance with the customs of the natives themselves ; who had always been in the habit of considering that a conquered people forfeited and surrendered their land. If the portion of lands available for the purpose should not be sufficient to extinguish the whole of the loan, the Government laid -it down as a decided principle that the balance should be allocated between the different provinces which had derived permanent advantages from any portion of the expenditure. He did not mean such expenditure as the pay of the militia, which was a benefit to the whole colony, and only a transient expenditure of which no traces would permanently remain, but expenditure on road making, establishment for population, and other advantages of that sort, which would remain permanently of advantage to any particular locality were such works are carried out. With reference to the military colonisation scheme, it would be his duty next day to move for leave to introduce a bill to enable the Governor to establish settlements for the colonization of the Northern Island of New Zealand.

There was one matter more which they would have to settle this session, and he thought the House would be nearly unanimous upon it, and that was the question of responsible government in native affairs. They appeared to have got into a rather peculiar position in reference to this question, a position which appeared to be eminently unsatisfactory to the Imperial Government, and to various members of the House, who last session did not vote with the majority on that question. The first occasion, to the best of his recollection, on which the House distinctly put forward any demand to get the administration of native affairs subjected to the ordinary administration of the colony, was at the close of the session of 1861, when, in the course of a long debate upon the salaries of the subcommissioners of the Waste Land department, a resolution was moved by the hon. member for Wallace, Mr. Dillon Bell to the following effect : “ That any reconstruction of the Land Purchase Department on a satisfactory basis, necessarily involves also the entire reorganization of the political branch of that service ; and no such re organization will be effectual or satisfactory to the country which does not, while fully recognizing and securing to the Governor both the initiative and the decision where Imperial interests are involved, place the conduct of the ordinary business of native administration under responsibility to the Assembly.” Although the special occasion of this resolution was tlie vote, upon the salaries of certain officers, there was no doubt that the words of the resolution and its 'intention did embrace the whole question (Mr. Bell, hear, hear), that it was intended as the hon. member for Wallace appeared to concur, that the principle should be asserted of responsible Government in native affairs. But when the next meeting of the Assembly oc curred, whether it was one of those instances in which—he would not call it a temporary insanity, perhaps a temporary hallucination of the House induced it to lay aside its usual wisdom, or whether, owing to motives of mere prudence and economy bearing on the financial aspect of the question, or motives of chivalrous generosity, which made hon. - members desirous that his Excellency should have all the credit for himself of settling the great problem he had taken in hand—the House did then and thei’e recede from the position taken up, and disclaimed altogether its desire for the establishment of responsible Government at present. The Duke of Newcastle appeared to have been in some degree puzzled by the action taken in the House in this matter, though he was not at all in difficulty apparently as to tlie course he would himself pursue. In a despatch to his Excellency the Duke said “ The Colonists have persistently claimed from the Home Government by the different methods In which it was possible to make such a claim, that it should cease to manage native affairs, and (what is still more important) having refused to render that management possible, which under responsible government was at any rate most difficult, the Horne Government has resigned that function. This relinquishment does not require the assent of the colonists to make it effectual. It is completed by the act of the Home Government which (in conformity with request which it is now too late to recall), no longer requires of you to take personal charge of the Native Secvetai-y’s department.” He would not say that after the transmission of that despatch there was no choice for this colony whether or not it should altogether assume the responsibility of native affairs, although certainly his Grace the Duke of Newcastle appeared to think that he had placed it in that position, and that they had no choice in the matter; but he would say this, that the present Government felt, and he had no doubt- the House felt also, that whatever might have been the past views of the colony in reference to that question, the time had now arrived when the Home Government, having in the most liberal manner placed enormous resources-at the disposal of the colony, and requested it to bear that burden of responsibility which it had thought proper to lay upon it, —that the time had arrived when it could, with equal advantage to the interests of both races, assume the responsibility of administration of native affairs. On the part

of the Government he should move in this House, on a future day, a series of resolutions, very brief, in which the House would commit itself to that principle. There was one other subject in connection with the Northern Island to whioh he must refer, —viz. : the Taranaki compensation. The Government felt itself in considerable difficulty with, reference to that subject; the terms in whioh the Act of last session was drawn were such as to lead the Attorney General to the inevitable conclusion, in which he himself fully concurred, that the sum of ,£200,000 voted for the re-instatement of Taranaki could not be expended iu simply compensating the settlers for the heavy losses they had suffered, hut that the Government was bound to expend it in that way which the Act prescribed,—the permanent re-instate-ment of the Province of Taranaki. The present Government felt itself bound by that, act and its terms, and it could not therefore do more at present than continue i * appropriate, for the benefit of the Taranaki stiff -rers, the interest of a sum equivalent to that which would have had to be raised for this purpose. This, the Government would continue to do, making it, for the present at all events, a charge on the General Government j paying the interest on the balance of the £300,000 according to the rate at. which the money would have been raised in the London market. The balance, of course, was open to adjustment. If this House wished, the time had now arrived when it could alter the stringent terms of that act. (hear,) It would rest with the House to do so, and if they thought proper at once to hand over the £200,000 in the shape of compensation to the Taranaki settlers, it was a matter iu which the Government would feel they bail little or no concern. The £200,000 had%eeu voted and set aside for the use lof the Taranaki settlers, and how it. might be expended upon them was of little importance to the colony and none to the Government, who would therefore be prepared to carry out whatever the House wished. The subject was open to legislation, and, perhaps, the Taranaki members would themselves cot fer with the Government on the subject. In reference to the Southern Island he was well aware that owing to the pi’essure of circumstances arising from the present crisis in the northern Island the depart mental wants and necessities of the Middle Island must necessarily have been very much neglected. Every attempt had been made by this Government anu by the previous Government to lessen the evil, but he was sorry to learn from members of the Southern Island that the Government had not been able to do so to their satisfaction. He had intimated when he announced the formation of the the Ministry, that Mr. Gillies, the Post-master-General would reside for the present in the Middle Island, 'with general Executive powers that would enable him to act on all emergencies and greatly alleviate the existing difficulties ; but he was aware that this was not a sufficient solution of the question, and the Government was prepared to propose to this House a Bill for the establishment of a more extended Governmental machinery in tlie Middle Island, involving the creation by the Crown of a Lieutenant- Governor and the establishment of three officers under him. He would] not say that he was sanguine of satisfying by this means the residents of the Middle Island as a whole (hear hear), and of any particular Province of the Middle Island, but if they did not they were quite ready to accept from the Middle Island any proposition in reference to the arrangement of its Government which might meet with the concurrencenf this House. Their only object was to secure good government for the Middle Island. There were minor matters in the Middle Island requiring action which he had not yet had time since lie had been in office to fuliy enter into, or to learn from the members of the Middle Island what action on the part of the Government they required in them. It was evident that an improvement was required in the arrangements for the administration of justice at the goldfields. A Court of Appeal had been suggested, but that system was too cumbrous, productive of protracted litigation, ami very costly to the suitors. As the judicial business in the Middle Island had increased at such a rate that it was impossible for the present judges to get through all the work properly, the Government proposed that another judge should be appointed in the Province of Southland ; a portion of whose duty would be to go circuits amongst the gold-fields, in order that he might disptse of all the cases of tho wuigbfer class which might occur in his jurisdiction. Another veiy important subject from Otago, and also from Nelson, from Hawke’s Bay, and from NVairau, was the land regulations, of those respective provinces, in each of which the provincial Government had passed a new series of regulations —some of them materially different from the existing law. With regard to this the Government advice would he to let the Legislature of each pro vince have its own way with reference to its own land regulations. He was sorry to find he had detained the House longer than he had intended to do, and had not, he was afraid, exhibited an example of that system of action, as opposed to words, which he intended to have done. He assured the House, that there existed, as far as he was aware, on all the great subjects that were likely to fall within the scope of their functions as his Excellency’s advisers, a perfect unanimity. They would not be hampered iu action by any doubts or disputes amongst themselves, but he prepared at once to address themselves,' vigorously he hoped, and certainly with the best intention to be vigorous, to the important solution of the great problem' of the government of this country.

Mr. Whittaker, Attorney-General, made a statement to the same effect in the Legislative Council.

LONDON MAIN DRAINAGE. It would perhaps, be too much to say that the great question of the drainage of London and the simultaneous purification of the Thames is solved and set at rest for ever ; but it is certain that no expense has been spared in an endeavour to find some adequate means of disposing of the filth of the metropolis. On Saturday, the 18th of July, the gigantic works of the main drainage system were more fully exhibited by lowering the contents of the high-level sewer, which collects the drainage of Hampstead, High gate, Holloway, Cam-den-town, Hackney, and Bethnal-green, for the first time into the river at Barking.. It is impossible in our limited space to recapitulate the attempts which have been made to deal with the enormous question of London drainage. We all know too well that whatever improvements have been 'from time to time introduced, they have all stopped short of redeeming the river which runs through Londonfrom the condition of an open sewer, until at length seven or eight hundred miles of drain added daily 200,000 additional gallons of sewage to the Thames at low water, there to mingle with a similar quantity which had, before the “improved system,” been a constantly moving mass of filth, discharged daily by the former drains into the bed of the river, where the tide was powerless to carry it thoroughly away. It will be sufficient indication of the state of the river to mention that each 200,000 gallons of sewage daily added to the Thames water contained about 300 tons of “organic matter in plain language, disgusting filth, which is proof against any means hitherto tried either to get riel of it or to neutralise its effects. The main drainage scheme of Mr. Bazalgette, the chief engineer of the Board of Works, will be completed in two years, in which time we may expect to find the Thames purified and London effectually drained. The plan Consists of three enormous tunnels or main sewers on each side of the river, and completely dividing underground London from west to east, anti cutting all existing sewers at right angles, to intercept their flow to the Thames, and carry every gallon of London sewage, under certain conditions, into the river on the north side below Barking, and on the south to near Erith. These main drains are tailed the/ High Middle, and Low' Level Sewers, according to the height of the localities which each respectively drains. The High Level on the north side is about eight miles in length, and runs from Hampstead to Bow, being at its rise only 4 ft. 6 in. in diameter, and thence increasing in cii'cumference, as the waters of the sewers it intercepts require a wider course, to 5 ft., 6 ft., 7 ft.,. 10 ft., G in., 11 ft., 6 in., and at its termination, near Lea River, to 12 ft. 6 in." in diameter. This drain is entirely finished, and in full work. Its minimum fall is 2 ft. in the mile ; its maximum at the beginning nearly 50 ft a mile. It is laid at a depth of from 20 ft. to 2G ft. below the ground, and drains an area of fourteen square miles. The Middle Level, as being lower in the

valley on the slope of which London is built, is laid at a greater depth, varying from 30 ft. to 36 ft., and even more below the surface. This is nearly complete, and extends from Kensal-green to Low. The low-level will extend from Cremorne to Abbey Mills, on the marshes near Stratford ; but as the City portion of Jbhis will pass through the Thames Embankment we shall have occasion to reter to it hereafter. At Bow the Low Level waters will be raised by powerful engines at a pumping station to the junction of the High and Middle Level ducts, thence* descending by their own gravity through three tunnels to the reservoir and final outfall below Barking. These three tunnels are each 9 ft. 6 in. in diameter and nearly four miles long. Great engineering difficulties existed in the construction of these main arteries, as, from the height at which they all met, it was necessary to take them above the level ofjt-he marshesjleading to Barking. For a mile and a half the embankment which encloses the three tunnels is carried on brick arches, the piers going 18 It. below the surface, and being based on solid concrete. In the marshes at Bai*king the reservoir for the reception of the sewage of the north side is formed. This reservoir is a mile and a half long by 100 ft. wide and 21 ft. deep. It is made of this great length in proportion to width to allow of its being roofed with brick arches which are again covered with earth to a considerable thickness, so that not the slightest smell or escape of miasma can take place. This is capable of containing more than' three times the amount of sewage which can enter it while the pipes are shut, and thus, when all is complete, the works will not only be large enough to take off all London’s sewage now but its sewage when London is double its present size. While the sewage is in the reservoir it will be completely deodorised by an admixture of lime. When the tide is at its height the sluices which pass from the bottom of the reservoir far out into the bed of the river will be opened, and the whole allowed to flow away. It takes two hours thus to empty the reservoir, by which time the tide will be flowing down strongly, and will carry its very last gallon a distance of thirteen miles below Barking, which, being itself thirteen miles below London, will place the contents of the sewers, every twelve hours, twenty-six miles or more distant from the metropolis. Thus instead of letting loose the rankest of this great City’s abominations in the very midst of London, and leaving it to stagnate, or, still worse to be agitated backwards and forwards in a small body of water, it will all be carried, away a distance of

thirteen miles, then deodoris«%.then suffered to escape into a body of water more than a hundred times greater than that into which it now crawls, and thus disinfected and diluted, so as to be without either taste or smell, and finally swept still further down the stream, till every trace of it is lost. On the south side the three great sewer arteries are constructed on similar plans-—the high level from Dulwich to Deptford ; the middle level from Clapham to Deptford ; and the low level from Putney to Deptford. At this point is a pumping-station, which raises the water from the low to the high level, whence it flows away through a 10 ft. tunnel to Crossness Point. One part of this tunnel, passing under Woolwich, is a mile and a half in length, without a single break, and driven at a depth of 80 ft. from the surface. At the outfall will be another pumping-station to lift the water to the reservoir. The southern reservoir is only five acres in extent ; that on the north is fourteen. In the reservoir it will be deodorised’and discharged in a similar way to that already described.

These last-named works appear to be an inextricable labyrinth of culverts, arcades, chambers, and columns ; and two culverts, almost as large as railway tunnels, carry the sewage to the east and \ye.st pumping stations. Before the entrance to the pumps are massive iron strainers, which keep out all the coarse refuse brought down the sewer, and which i&. afterwards dredged up by the filth-hoist into the filth-chamber, which, is flushed into the river at low water. The pumping-stations will each consist of an engine-house, containing ten boilers, calculated to work- up-to 500-horse power nominal. This power, working through eight pumps of 7 l‘t. diameter, and 4 ft. stroke, will daily raise 19,000,000 cubic feet of sewage from 19 ft. below low water to the level of the outfall; but in case of necessity, the pumps can raise 25,000,000 cubic feet per day. The reservoir into which it will all flow will hold 20,000,000 gallons of sewage-.

At the Barking outfall the works are larger, simpler, and much more advanced, for on the north the sewage is brought afr such a level as to be discharged into the reservoir by its own gravitation. The reservoir here is advanced, and will be completed in months more. From: our Illustration an idea may be formed of the magnitude of the works now in progress. The total length of the three rows of intercepting sewers on each side of the river will be fifty miles, and before all the works are completed 800,000 cubic yards of concrete will be consumed, upwards of 300,000,000 of bricks, and 4,000,000 cubic yards of earthwork.