686 report— 1878. 



his strong sense of its usefulness by presiding at one of its most brilliant 

 meetings. 



When it is considered that many lives are annually sacrificed, either directly by the 

 action of floods, or by the indirect but no less fatal influence of imperfect drainage, 

 — when it is remembered that a heavy flood, such as that of last year, or that of the 

 summer of ] 875, entailed a monetary loss of several millions sterling in the three 

 kingdoms, — that during every year a quantity of water flows to waste, representing 

 an available motive power worth certainly not less than some hundreds of thousands 

 of pounds, — that there is a constant annual expenditure of enormous amount for 

 removing debris from navigable channels, the accumulation of which could be 

 mainly, if not entirely prevented, — that the supply of food to our rapidly growing 

 population, dependent, as it is at present, upon sources outside the country, would 

 be enormously increased by an adequate protection of the fisheries, — that the same 

 supply would be further greatly increased by the extra production of the land when 

 increased facilities for drainage are afforded, — that, above all, the problem of our 

 national water supply, to which public attention has of late been drawn by 

 H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, requires for its solution investigations of the widest 

 possible nature, I believe it will be allowed that the question, as a whole, of the 

 management of rivers is of sufficient importance to make it worthy of being dealt 

 with by new laws to be framed in its exclusive behalf. 



A new department should be created — one not only endowed with powers 

 analogous to those of the Local Government Board, but charged with the duty of 

 collecting and digesting for use all the facts and knowledge necessary for a due 

 comprehension and satisfactory dealing with every river-basin, or watershed area 

 in the United Kingdom — a department which should be presided over, if not by a 

 Cabinet Minister, at all events by a member of the Government who can be appealed 

 to in Parliament. 



The department should have entire charge of, and control over, all estuaries and 

 navigable channels, both because these are used by foreign vessels, and therefore 

 the responsibilities attaching to their preservation are international, and because 

 they must be protected from hostile attack, and on these accounts are essentially 

 Imperial property. For the same reason the cost of amending and maintaining 

 them should be defrayed out of the Imperial exchequer. 



As regards the regulation of the remainder of the watershed area, the con- 

 clusions arrived at in the Report of the Duke of Richmond's Select Committee 

 seem to me entirely satisfactory. I cannot do better than give a few extracts from 

 that Report. The Committee say — " That in order to secure uniformity and com- 

 pleteness of action, each catchment area should, as a general rule, be placed under 

 a single body of Conservators, who should be responsible for maintaining the river 

 from its source to its outfall in an efficient state. With regard, however, to 

 tributary streams, the care of these might be entrusted to District Committees, 

 acting under the general direction of the Conservators, but near the point of 

 junction with the principal stream they should be under the direct management of 

 the Conservators of the main channel, who should be a representative body con- 

 stituted of residents and owners of property within the whole area of the water- 

 shed." The Committee go on to say that " means should be taken to ensure the 

 appointment of a Conservancy Board for each watershed area," but that applica- 

 tion should first be made by persons interested in the district, and that then the 

 departmental authorities should send inspectors to make local inquiries and to re- 

 port upon the " necessities a»d capacities of the district, and suggest the area and 

 proportions of taxation." 



The scheme with such modifications as may be deemed necessary is then to be 

 embodied in a provisional order to be submitted to Parliament for confirmation. 

 It will be seen that this mode of procedure is precisely analogous to that of the 

 Local Government Board in relation to public health— a procedure which, as I 

 am able to state from practical knowledge, works admirably in most cases. The 

 Committee further recommend that the provisions in any local or other Acts which 

 would interfere with the proposed scheme, should be repealed. They are also of 

 opinion that " the Conservancy Boards should be enabled to execute the powers 



