338 Air-pollution hj Chemical Works. [July, 



The plaintiff proved he had received damage from smoke coming 

 from the direction of the defendant's works, and alleged that the 

 damage he had sustained was wholly done by them, intimating that 

 if he gained a verdict in the present suit he should apply to the 

 Court of Chancery for an injunction to restrain the carrying on of 

 the works altogether, as he believed he would then be free from all 

 damage. In defence it was pointed out that the defendant's works 

 lay in a straight line between the plaintiff's land and St. Helens, so 

 that the same wind which brought defendant's smoke would also 

 convey the smoke from a large portion of St. Helens, and that in 

 general, as the plaintiffs park was subject to injury from all the 

 factories in the neighbourhood, it was unjust to charge the whole 

 damage upon the defendant. 



It will be seen that the following question would at once pre- 

 sent itself : — Is it possible to determine the amount of damage which 

 each factory in a district contributes towards the damage done by 

 all? 



In other words, if a farmer sustains a loss of 1007. through his 

 crops being injured by the accumulated smoke of a manuiacturing 

 district, is it possible to set down to each manufacturer the amount 

 which he ought to contribute towards this 100/. ? 



Turning to the fifth of Dr. E. Angus Smith's very able reports 

 under the Alkali Act, we find this question anticipated and an answer 

 given. Referring to the amount of acid vapours thrown up with the 

 smoke of factory chimneys, he says at page 25 : — " Xow it is easy to 

 estimate this amount, and it is easy to put down to every one in the 



district the exact share of guilt so far as the acid is concerned 



Perhaps we may also bring in the element of distance." 



In consequence of this Mr. Alfred E. Fletcher, the Inspector 

 under the Alkali Act for the district which includes West Lancashire, 

 was asked to apply himself to the question. He had to consider : 



1st. The distance of each factory from the injured land. 



2nd. The rate at which the increase of distance diminishes the 

 power of the smoke to do damage. 



3rd. The number of days throughout the year on which the 

 wind blows from each point of the eonipas3. 



4th. The amount of acid vapour discharged from each factory 

 in a given time. 



First, the distances : these are easily measured on the map. 



Information on the second point was obtained in the following 

 manner. At a time when the ground was cover ed with snow for a 

 week, lines were drawn, in a direction following the wind, from St. 

 Helens and from other groups of works, to a distance of two or 

 three miles. At each half-mile a saraple of the surface snow was 

 collected and brought home for analysis. Also during a period of 

 rain, collecting vessels were set at regulated distances from a group 



