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REPORT TO THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SCIENTIFIC 



SUB-COMMITTEE ON THE EXAMINATION OF 



THE LLANFAIRFECHAN MUSSEL BED. 



By Jas. Johnstone. 



Some time ago Dr. Jenkins suggested to me that it 

 would be desirable to make an examination in situ, and 

 a further bacteriological analysis of the mussels from the 

 Llanfairfechan shore. The mussel bed there has very 

 little commercial importance, but it is alleged to be 

 seriously polluted, and circumstances arose which made 

 it advisable to examine it in detail. Accordingly, Dr. 

 Jenkins and I visited the locality in question on the 

 afternoon of May 18th and collected a sample for analysis. 



Strictly speaking, there is no mussel bed at 

 Llanfairfechan. The shellfish, however grow on the piles 

 supporting a sewer-pipe, and have frequently been 

 gathered and sent to the markets. The case of this mussel 

 supply has previously attracted some attention, and was 

 referred to in the proceedings of the Royal Commission 

 on Sewage Disposal (Rept. 4, Yol. 2 [Cd. 1884], 1904, 

 Question 16325). 



All the sewage from the village of Llanfairfechan is 

 conveyed out to sea through a 9 inch iron sewer pipe, 

 which runs out over the sands in a direction nearly 

 N.N.W. from the patch of stones in front of the 

 village. The pipe is supported on wooden piles driven 

 into the sand at regular intervals. It is about 1,500 yards 

 in length and terminates very near the low water mark of 

 high spring tides. A pumping station is connected with 

 it, but there is no intercepting tank, and the sewage, 

 which is quite untreated, flows continuously through the 

 pipe and discharges on to the sands. About six months 

 (we were informed) before we visited the locality a block 



