33 



" Our inspection was corroborated by uncontested and 

 ** overwhelming evidence." 



" The rivers Aire and Colder and their tributaries are 

 ' abused by passing into them hundreds of thousands of 

 ' tons per annum of ashes, clay, and cinders from steam- 

 ' boiler furnaces, ironworks, and domestic fires ; by their 

 ' being made the receptacle, to a vast extent, of broken 

 ' pottery and worn-out utensils of metal, refuse from 

 ' brickyards, «&;c., earth, stone, &c., from quarries and 

 ' excavations, road scrapings, street sweepings, &c. ; by 

 ' spent dye-woods and other solids used in the treatment 

 ' of worsteds and woollens ; by hundreds of carcases of 

 ' dogs, cats, pigs, &c., which are allowed to float on the 

 ' surface of the streams or putrify on their banks ; and 

 ' by the flowing in, to the amount of very many millions 

 ' of gallons per day, of water, poisoned, corrupted, and 

 ' clogged by refuse from mines, chemical works, dyeing, 

 ' scouring, and fulling worsted and woollen stuffs, skin- 

 ' cleaning and tanning, slaughter-house garbage, and the 

 ' sewage of towns and houses." 



" Many streams where, by reason of their foulness, no 



form of life can at present be found, persons now living 



recollect abounding in fish." 



One enormous penalty paid for this abuse of the rivers 

 is flooding, consequent on the raising of the rivers' beds, 

 and at page 12 the Commissioners exemplify this as 

 follows : — 



" That on the 15th of November, 1866^ rain com- 

 " menced and continued for several days, flooding the 

 " valleys of the Aire and Calder most destructively from 

 " the mountains to the sea. In several instances persons 

 " were washed away and drowned. It is not possible to 

 " form an estimate of the money value of the damage 

 " caused to the manufacturers, landowners, and others in 

 " the West Riding. 



" The total loss was locally estimated at from half a 

 '' million to a millioji sterling. 



" The lesser sum would have been sufficient to put the 

 " rivers in a condition to render such destruction of life 

 " and property impossible." 



After stating at page 13 that the amount of solids taken 

 into the streams from sewers is in the aggregate enormous. 



