Page:A protest against the extension of railways in the Lake District - Somervell (1876).djvu/84

 parts of Lancashire which lie around Wigan and Bolton and southwards to Manchester, the country is permanently disfigured, and we cannot believe that the Inspectors of Nuisances have ever put into execution the powers they possess. In the West Riding towns something has been done, though to a very small extent. In Huddersfield orders to abate the nuisance in a few cases have been issued, but with little or no effect. In Barnsley some of the principal manufacturers and colliery owners have been compelled to erect new chimneys. In Bradford over seven hundred informations have been laid against offenders, and penalties were inflicted and orders to abate by the borough justices were made in all cases, the number of chimneys coming under the Act being about four hundred and seventy-six. In Halifax, owing to the measures enforced, there is a great improvement in the consumption of smoke. In Leeds a local Act of Parliament has been enforced. In Wakefield Mr. Ruskin will be interested in hearing that nothing has been done, and it is said that a meeting which was held many years ago to protest against the non-consumption of smoke resulted in a vote of thanks to the manufacturers who made it and brought trade to the town. Charles Lamb was heard to declare that his love of natural scenery would be abundantly satisfied by the patches of long waving grass and the stunted trees that blacken in the old churchyard nooks which you may yet find bordering on Thames Street. Wakefield, though not entirely consisting of Charles Lambs, shares the same opinion.

It may be asked, What is to be the end of all this desolation and destruction of life? Those who can undoubtedly will migrate in search of pure air and water, and evidences of refinement will become gradually scarcer. Houses descend very fast in the social scale in the neighbourhood of towns. In the agricultural counties the downward progress of the old manor-house is often slow. It has probably but one tenant, and when his farm-servants are dining together at the long oaken table in the central hall he is