§ CAPTAIN DAWSON DAMERsaid, he wished to ask the First Commissioner of Works, If, while the works of the Serpentine are still in progress, it is not feasible and even expedient to take steps to render the borders of the lake more picturesque, and to do away with its tank-like and rigid outlines, which extend up to Kensington Garden Bridge, by throwing out promontories here and there, and if possible by creating an island, and as material being now at hand the expense cannot be very great?
§ MR. W. O. STANLEYsaid, he wished to ask the right hon. Gentleman, If he will submit for the consideration of the Medical Officers of the Board of Health and some land surveyor of experience in drainage operations, or other competent authorities, the present mode of depositing the noxious mud and clay taken out from the Serpentine River, in the deep excavations from which the gravel has been removed, more particularly in Kensington Gardens, to the depth of five 1171 feet, without any adequate drainage; and to obtain their opinion, if the health of all those persons who may frequent the Park and Gardens may not be seriously endangered in wet seasons from the want of the natural drainage through the gravel subsoil, and in summer heat from the noxious exhalations of the fermenting deposit?
§ MR.AYRTONsaid, in reply, that the contract for the works to which these Questions related were entered into before he took charge of the Office of Works, and when his attention was called to it, undoubtedly it appeared; that the margin of the ornamental waters; in the Serpentine would be of a somewhat formal character. He therefore requested the engineer to make it, as far as he could do so consistently with the contract, a little more ornamental. But people differed as to what was ornamental, some believing that a stone margin, and some that the natural margin, was the better. The contract had now gone so far that he feared it was impossible to make any serious changes without leading to a large increase in the expense and considerable delay. He had not, therefore, ventured to reopen the contract to the extent suggested in the Question of the hon. Gentleman opposite. With regard to the mud taken out and deposited in the place whence the gravel was excavated, the subject was carefully considered by Mr. Fowler before he recommended this mode of carrying on the works. It occurred to him, as a practical man, to be very desirable that the mud should be carted away and sold as manure; but, unfortunately, that could not be done. If the mud were carted away at the expense of the public, the expense of the work would have been at least doubled; but Mr. Fowler's experience suggested that if the mud were worthless as manure, it could not be of any supremely deleterious character. The drainage under the mud had, therefore, been carefully provided for; a good deal of lime had been mixed with the mud, and would be spread over it as far as was necessary to prevent it from being injurious to health; and the ground would then be covered with turf and planted. The same operation had been performed in the Regent's Park, under less favourable circumstances, because upon a clay soil, and no one had discovered that any injury had 1172 been caused to health. But the work would be carefully watched, and if there was any reason to apprehend injury to health, it must be prevented at any cost to the public.