MAY 143 



except where built on, bright flint gravel or clean sand. 

 Men may be seen on either side all the way down from 

 Woolwich filling barges with this sand, to be carried 

 away and sold for building purposes. A few years ago 

 these men might as well have washed for gold as dug 

 for sand. The current is still turbid, as all water must 

 be in a sandy estuary ; but so far as regards suspended 

 matter, there is nothing in its present condition to 

 injure fish life. Proof of that is afforded by the recent 

 return of sprats to the reaches about Barking and 

 Tilbury in such numbers that the Conservancy are now 

 considering the application of fishermen to be allowed 

 to erect fixed nets for their capture, the objection to 

 these being that they catch so many other kinds of 

 fish. The condition of the water was tested by the 

 nose at various points in the channel, and betrayed no 

 more perceptible odour than always accompanies 

 brackish water. Indeed, at one place, immediately 

 below the outfall from the sewage works at Barking, 

 two of the party, not content with olfactory evidence, 

 had the hardihood to fill their mouths with the fluid, 

 and declared they could taste nothing but salt. The 

 improvement has been effected by the rigid precautions 

 of the Conservancy in prohibiting all impurity being 

 cast or drained into the river above bridges, and by 

 dredging the channel below ; and also by the scrupulous 

 care of the County Council in removing all solid and 

 flocculent deposit from the sewage to the extent of 

 many million tons per annum, and carrying it out to 

 sea in hoppers. 



