Report of a committee on a plan for cleansing the drains of Black Town.

Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of a committee on a plan for cleansing the drains of Black Town. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/105 (page 10)
    FROM THE MILITARY BOARD, TO LIEUTENANT GENERAL THE RIGHT HONORABLE SIR HENRY POTTINGER, BART, G. C B., GOVERNOR IN COUNCIL, &C. &C. &C. Eight Honorable Sie, Tlie Minutes of Consultation, of Government quoted in the margin, con- veyed to us the sanction of the Honorable Court for an ex- No. 1077, dated penaitare of Rupees 73,925-0-1 upon two objects connected 25th Nov. 1851. 1 .,,,,...« ™ , m with the drainage ol Black lown, viz.:— 1st,—Reconstructing that portion of the main sewer of Black Town which traverses the north Esplanade of the Fort, and through which the sewerage of Madras discharges itself into the sea, Rupees 27,670-12-4. 2d.—Constructing a masonry channel in the place of the ditch as a sur- face drain for that part of the Esplanade, Rupees 46,254-3-9. 2. On receipt of these orders this Board invited tenders for the execution of these works on contract ; hut before completing agreements for their exe- cution, it was necessary to determine how to dispose of the sewerage while the alterations to the Tunnel were in progress ; as those alterations were of a nature to involve it's disuse during that time, viz., for a period of 18 months. If, during the operations on the Tunnel, we were to keep the west ditch open and allow the whole sewerage of this large town to flow from the main drain by that ditch into the Cooum ; that river becoming the receptacle of all the filth, would carry the effluvia throughout the whole of Madras. And inde- pendently of the stench which would be insufferably offensive throughout the Fort, the town, and all Madras, it cannot be doubted that the effect on the health of a locality so thickly peopled would be exceedingly prejudicial ; and lasting for so long a time it might very likely give rise to destructive epidemic. The only alternative that occurred to us was to deviate from the sanctioned design so far as to construct an entirely new Tunnel alongside of the present one, so that the latter might continue in use till the new work should be com- pleted. But as this would involve a material augmentation of the cost, inas- much as the sanctioned estimate contemplates rebuilding only the superstruc- tion of the Tunnel on the old foundation and flooring, and as at the best, this work would only be a mere partial attempt to correct a system of works already pronounced by a Committee of Engineer Officers to be defective in principle, wo