Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume III

THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM OF LONDON. 225 CUT-AND-COVER WORK FOR THE NEW SOUTHERN HIGH-LEVEL INTERCEPTING SEWER, BETWEEN CATFORD AND BLACKHEATH. {Photo, E. Milner.) at Barking and Crossness in 1890 and 1891 respectively. The decade 1891-1900 had'an average death-rate of only 19*1 per thousand ; and th© improvement has been rapid ever since. Last year the rate had fallen to the unprecedentedly low point of 13'8, or 11 per thousand less than in 1841-50. These figures surely speak for themselves ; and Londoners have little reason for grudging the £11,000,000 odd spent on works which carry away foul water and matter from their homes, offices, factories, and streets. The staff engaged on the drainage works of London is made up of 456 men on the north side of the Thames, 335 on the south side, and 150 men on the sludge vessels—a total of 941. Their work proceeds night and day inces- santly. [Thanks are due to Mr. John E. Worth, M .Inst.C .E., District Engineer in charge of the Drainage Work on the north side of the Thames, for valuable help given in connection with the preparation and illustration of this article] (1,408) 15 VOL. III.