Page:On the Pollution of the Rivers of the Kingdom.djvu/58

Rh and that he would, during the forthcoming recess, give the whole subject his best consideration."

On the 20th February of the present session (1868) the Right Hon. Stephen Cave, the Vice-President of the Board of Trade, on the part of the Government, brought forward the River Lea Conservancy Bill, based on the recommendations respectively of the Committee of 1866 on the East London Water Bills and of the Pollution of Rivers Commissioners, the object being the preservation of the purity of the water of the Lea. The bill was read a first time, and Mr. Cave was to give notice of the second reading.

On this occasion Mr. Powell said "he hoped that would not be the only bill of its class the Government would introduce during the present session, but that they would grapple with the case of the Aire and Calder, which urgently demanded attention, the population in the basin of which exceeded a million, whereas that occupying the basin of the Lea was only about a quarter of a million."

On the 24th of the same month Mr. Candlish, the member for Sunderland, inquired in the House of Commons of the Home Secretary if he meant to introduce a measure this session to prevent the pollution of rivers, or to prevent solids being deposited in rivers.

The reply of Mr. Gathorne Hardy was—

"That he was not prepared to legislate on the subject this session.

"It was his intention to appoint a new Commission to inquire into those parts of the subject which had not yet been investigated, and he did not think it advisable to deal with only a part of the question."