16 



Appendices to Twenty -fourth Annual Report 



ings, and from the movements of groups of men and boj^s I noticed 

 here and there it was evident that the unfortunate fish were then 

 harassed by other dangers. In the very turbid waters of the lower 

 river it is, however, very difficult to see fish. The only specimen I 

 mj^self noticed was a dead sea-trout floating down the centre of the 

 stream. 



In my inspection I proceeded downwards from Balloch to Dum- 

 barton, and in two consecutive days visited each of the nine works 

 concerned in the staple industrj^ of The Vale. I should like here 

 to acknowledge the courtesy of the various managers in showing 

 me everything connected with the various processes which in any- 

 way affected the effluents to the river. In the present report I do 

 not propose to enter into a detailed description of each work and its 

 particular pollutions. Such a report would necessarily have to 

 consist largely of analysis more exhaustive than those given in the 

 reports of the Dumbarton County Council, and would be somewhat 

 out of place here. I desire rather to deal with the general ques- 

 tion of the impurities as they affect the salmon fisheries, and as 

 they seem to occur in certain of the works. 



In considering the colouring matter which finds its way into the 

 river, it is at once apparent that while certain d}^es are always 

 present, such as alizarin, which gives turkey red, chrome yellow, 

 which is a chromate of lead fixed by dilute acid, or prussian blue, 

 containing nitrate of iron, stannious chloride, and yellow prussiate 

 of potash, &c. the operations of calico-printing as carried on in this 

 district for the supply of both the home and the eastern markets, 

 involve an almost infinite variety of colour mixtures and mordants 

 used at different times. Some colouring matter which gives a most 

 evil appearance to the river may nevertheless be comparatively 

 innocuous to fish life, while others which m&y be combined with 

 bleaching liquors, and which may be less noticeable to the eye, 

 may be much more injurious to the fish. In this way it appears 

 to me that those works of The United Turkej^ Ked Co., Limited, 

 which were formerly owned by Messrs. Archibald Orr Evving & 

 Co., and which are concerned primarily in simple turkey red dying 

 operations, are less harmful than the works of the United Co., 

 concerned in bleaching and printing, as also the works of The 

 Calico Printing Association, Limited. The former also are notice- 

 able as being the works at which purification hy means of settling 

 tanks is invariably attempted, while in the works from which the 

 most injurious effluents seem to flow the same attempt at purifica- 

 tion is not apparent. In treatment by settling tanks it unfortu- 

 nately is the case that much of the highly-coloured waste liquid 

 is of practicall}" the same density as water, so that any sedimenta- 

 tion is necessarily slow and imperfect. In spite, therefore, of the 

 retention of the grosser solids and the skimming of fats, it was in 

 every case noticeable that the discharge to the river was almost as 

 high in colour as the inflow to the settling tanks. The most elabo- 

 rate series of tanks exist at the Croft Works of The United Turkey 

 Red Co. There are four sets of tanks at these the largest works in 

 the district. At the time of my visit the first set contained a 

 dense green colour and were provided with gratings and beds of 

 ashes. The ashes, I was informed, are renewed every three months. 



