490 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Suppose these improvements were carried out : let 

 us admit that the working of the purification installa- 

 tion and outfall discharge in the manner indicated above 

 will remove, or minimise, the danger of contaminating 

 the skears. It must be pointed out that even then this 

 report would not constitute a " certificate " or opinion 

 that the mussels were free from dangerous contamina- 

 tion, for obviously the Fisheries Committee, or its 

 Officers, could not guarantee the intelligent and 

 conscientious working of the sewerage plant. It is quite 

 possible that such a plant, worked under the super- 

 vision of the engineer who designed it, might be highly 

 satisfactory, and yet, worked by a couple of unskilled 

 labourers, it might be as good as useless. I do not 

 suggest that this is the case, but how could the 

 Committee guarantee that it won't always be the case? 

 Obviously the example of the Conway Provisional Order 

 should be considered by the Morecambe fishermen and 

 Local Authority. 



i. The Wyre Mussel Beds. 



I see no reason why these mussels should not be 

 regarded as free from significant contamination. The 

 sewers opening into the Estuary are very few, and a very 

 rapid and strong tide rushes up and down it. All the 

 sewage from Fleetwood is now being discharged on the 

 Rossall shore, at such a point that it cannot possibly 

 affect the Estuary itself. There is a storm overflow 

 into the Estuary. Several small drains discharge 

 manufacturing effluents, and there is a sewer near 

 Poulton-le-Fylde. But these, in my opinion, do not 

 constitute serious sources of pollution. If the manu- 

 facturing effluents should pfove objectionable, the 



