6 9 



tive pollution, and, for the first time in the history of the 

 country, made it a misdemeanour to pollute a river either 

 at the source or any part of the stream where it passed 

 through a populous district, wherever there were any 

 riparian proprietors prepared to enforce the law. The mis- 

 chief of the Act was that there was no one to put it 

 in force- It was a beautiful piece of logic, but in many 

 cases where an attempt had been made to enforce 

 it they found their hands were tied, and they were 

 perfectly powerless. It was rather a prolix question to 

 explain, but he would endeavour to do so shortly. In 

 the first place the persons charged with the enforcement of 

 the Act were generally the greatest offenders against it, 

 viz., the local authorities. If you went to the local autho- 

 rities and asked them to stop a particular firm polluting 

 the stream they would say : Yes, we will do what you v/ant, 

 but inasmuch as the local authority was polluting the 

 stream with sewage, they were naturally nervous about 

 commencing proceedings, and thought it better not to stir 

 up muddy water, and so in the end nothing was done. 

 Then the Act gave power to an individual to go under 

 those circumstances to the Local Government Board and 

 ask them to assist. That had been tried, but there was 

 so much red tape and circumlocution that the libraries and 

 registries of the office were papered with documents, in 

 which they threatened, exhorted, encouraged, and so on, 

 but it really ended in nothing. He believed there was 

 only one city in England where any attempt was made 

 to put the Act in force, and there it failed because the 

 local authority would not take the steps. Perhaps the 

 Local Government Board did not think it worth while to 

 offend the town, and the end was that nothing whatever 



