21 



" death to the Jish.''^ Also, that " the Fisheries loerc 

 " largely injured by the water used in steeping jlax, the 

 *' manufacture of which was greatly extending in Ireland." 



The 3rd and final Report of the Commissioners on the 30 Mar. I860. 

 t. , lon^ Third Report 



sewage of towns, I860, says :— of th^ Com- 



" As the result of our labours extending over eight inissioners on 

 ,, 1 PI . , . . o -r f' , the Sewage 



" years we nave confidence m submitting to your Lord- of Towns to 



*' ships the following conclusion : — the Lords of 



" That the right way to dispose of town sewage is to the Treasury. 



" apply it continuously to land, and it is only by such 



*' application that the pollution of rivers can he avoided. 



" We further beg leave to express that in our judg- 



" ment the following two principles are established for 



*' legislative application : — 



" ' 1st. That wherever rivers are polluted by a dis- 



" charge of town sewage into them the towns may 



" reasonably be required to desist from further 



" causing that public nuisance. 



" ' 2nd. That where town populations are injured 



" or endangered in health by a retention of cesspool 



" matter, the same may reasonably be required to 



" provide a system of sewers for its removal.' 



" And should the law be found insufficient to enable 



" towns to take land for sewage application, it would in 



" our opinion be expedient that the Legislature should 



" give them powers for that purpose." 



To this Third Report of the Sewage Commissioners is 

 appended a most elaborate report made in 1864 by Dr. 

 Stevenson Macadam, F.R.S.E., &c., &c., on the hideous 

 contamination of the Water of Leith by the sewage of 

 Edinburgh and Leith, in which it is stated that : — 



" Into this small stream is discharged the sewage of Page 6. 

 " 70,000 of the inhabitants of Edinburgh, and upwards of App. 5. 

 " 30,000 of the people of Leith, and the result has been 

 " that the Water of Leith has become a foul polluted 

 " stream, conveying matter of the most disgusting and 

 " abominable character, and evolving fetid emanations 

 " into the surrounding atmosphere. 



" That the inhabitants of the districts bordering on the Page 8. 

 " water complained bitterly of the offensive odours from 

 " the water, and which gave rise to nausea and sickness, 



