52 



1868. 

 Lea Conser- 

 vancy Bill. 

 Times Re- 

 port, 21st 

 Feb., 1868. 



Ibid. 



Times lle- 

 ])ort, 25th 

 Feb.. 1868. 



" 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 Jire and Calder, 

 " which urgently demanded attention, the population in the 

 " basin of which exceeded a million, whereas that occu- 

 " pying the basin of the Lea was only about a quarter of 

 " a million." 



On the 24th of the same month ]\Ir. Candlish, the 

 member for Sunderland, inquired in the House of Com- 

 mons 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." 



