37 



account of the pollution of the river by these towns as 

 follows : — 



" The injury inflicted by the river pollution of these 

 " and other towns to the estates of many riparian owners 

 " is very great ; streams which in the memory of men 

 " now living were comparatively pure and well stocked 

 " with fish are //oiv black and stinkincj. The land through 

 " which such polluted streams flow is ruined for resi- 

 " dential purposes, and is injured and reduced in value. 

 " Even for mill purposes the water is so bad as to be con- 

 " sidered unfit for manufacturing uses, and other sites 

 " are selected, where water can be obtained from canals 

 " or by sinking wells. In many instances cattle will not 

 " drink the local river water, and farms are depreciated 

 " in consequence. Large country houses, which for- 

 " merly, with their river frontage, rights of fishing, and 

 *' ornamental gardens, were valued as residences, have 

 " been abandoned, or are let merely at farming rents. 

 " The cattle plague prevailed to a great extent in the 

 " Thorpe Hall meadows below Leeds, and on lands 

 " bordering foul rivers in other districts. This fatal 

 " disease was considered by the tenants and pro- 

 *' prietors to have been aggravated by the foul state of 

 " the w^ater and by the tainted atmosphere, caused by 

 " river pollutions." 



" In some cases the manufacture and dyeing of finer 

 " sorts of goods has necessarily been abandoned, and in 

 " other cases extension of manufacture is rendered impos- 

 " sible, because there is no additional clean water to be 

 " obtained in the district." 



And at page 51 the Commissioners point out that 



" One great argument for the purification of the rivers 

 '' up to an available point should not be passed over in 

 " closing the consideration of this question. Manu- 

 " facturers require clean rather than inire water. They 

 *' cannot get on with water fouled by solid suspended 

 " matter." 



Having shewn (pages 51 to 53) that the existing laws 

 are practically, for one reason or another, quite insufficient 

 to correct the dreadful evil of the pollution of streams. 



