19 



" sewerage may be effectually prohibited from being dis- 

 '' charged into rivers and streams. 



(Signed) " J. M. Habershon, 



" Chairman of the Local Board." 



From Memorial of the Mayor, Aldermen, &c., of Bir- 1864. 

 - Memorial of 



mingham :— the Mayor, 



" That your memorialists have been advised by the ^l^^ermen, 

 " most eminent chemists and engineers on their difficulties 7?,vL,v«;,^,« 

 " in relation to sewage, and they have expended large sums to the Home 

 " of money and exhausted all their efforts in vain attempts Secretary. 

 " to obviate the evils arising from it ; and tJiey are now ^^^^}\ Paper, 

 " convinced beyond a remaining doubt, that the time has -,qq- ^^^ ' 

 " arrived for the introduction, by Her Majesty^s Govern- j^Tq. io5 

 " mcnt, of a practical and comprehoisice measure, by page 2.] 

 " means of which your memorialists may be enabled to 

 " carry the whole of their sewage, both liquid and solid, 

 '' upon some adjacent lands, so that it may be applied, in 

 " accordance with natural laws, in adding to the fertility 

 '' of the soil. 



" Your memorialists hardly think it necessary to point 

 " out to Her Majesty's Government the extreme impor- 

 " tance of preserving the purity of the rivers and streams 

 " of this kingdom ; but they would respectfully suggest 

 " that the great and increasing number of towns and 

 " populous places exercising the drainage powers of the 

 " ' Local Government Act,' and other Acts of Parliament, 

 " in all parts of the kingdom, will result in the intersec- 

 " tion of the Island in all directions with a network of ojien 

 " ajid noxious sewers instead of the former pure and whole- 

 " some streams, unless the evils arising from the present 

 " method of disposing of sewage are immediately arrested. 



" That your memorialists would also respectfully draw 

 " your attention to the increasing dijficidty now expe- 

 " rie7iced in obtaining a supply of icatcr for large popu- 

 " lations fi'om a pure and icholesome source ; because the 

 " rivers and streams are all becoming more and more in- 

 " infected with the pollution of sewage. That your 

 " memorialists are surrounded by the very large popu- 

 " lations inhabiting the manufacturing districts of South 

 " Staffordshire and East Worcestershire, immediately 

 " adjoining the borough boundaries, being only separated 

 " from them by small streams, some of which, by means 

 *^ of the sewage of such populations, have been long since 

 *' converted into open sewers of the worst description, and 

 " others are rapidly becoming in a similar condition. b 2 



