254 ON THE POLLUTION OP THE RIVER IRWELL. 



minations. I do not wish to make comparisons between 

 Wanklyn's or Tidy^s methods, because both are excellent; 

 but it would appear from the curves that the first-men- 

 tioned method is more reliable in its indications of real 

 sewage contamination than the method of Tidy. Having 

 now shown the state of the Irwell and some of its tri- 

 butaries, I ask, What is to be done to cleanse it or improve 

 it ? The answer to this question is, ^' Insist sternly upon 

 the sewage of all towns and local authorities abbutting on 

 the river being treated in a proper manner and removed 

 in the crude state from the rivers ; see that the so-called 

 ' sewage processes ' or ' schemes ' of the various local 

 authorities on the map appended to this paper, are 

 thoroughly carried out, and not shams, as some of them 

 are to my knowledge at the present time ; have the powers 

 of the Elvers Pollution Act put into force in a reasonable 

 but determined manner against the disgraceful and selfish 

 pollutions at present caused by manufacturers on the 

 banks of the Irwell and its tributaries, and at once do 

 away with the dangerous and abominable practice of cast- 

 ing ashes and cinders upon the banks in order to be 

 washed away at the first flood." 



I know, from personal knowledge, that the Rivers 

 Pollution Act is an absolute dead letter, not being applied 

 at all on the Irwell, and might never have been passed. 



I must not conclude my paper without acknowledging 

 the very valuable assistance I have received throughout 

 this inquiry from my assistants, Messrs. A. E. Fasnacht 

 and W. J. Rowley ; also from my friend Mr. Cartwright, 

 the Borough Surveyor of Bury, who has prepared for me 

 the map of the Irwell showing all the Sanitary Authorities 

 on its banks, and the vertical section of the same districts 

 giving the inclination of the River Irwell from its source 

 to Manchester. 



