' Soctal Scrence Congress. 185 
neighbourhood. In regard to the utilization of sewage, 
Dr. Macadam contended that the most successful system 
was that of irrigation, and detailed the manner in which 
this had been employed at the Craigentinny meadows, near 
Edinburgh, where even in a monetary point of view, it had 
prospered. Whether, however, the system paid or not, 
irrigation ought to be compulsory in all inland towns. As 
to seaboard towns, the’ discharges ought at once to be 
drained into the sea. With respect to the disposal of the 
sewage, he believed that local authorities generally were 
anxious to promote the welfare of the people, but they re- 
quired direction. They were frequently hindered in their 
good work by the constituency they represented, and they 
required to be nerved to action by the pressure of a supe- 
rior authority. The sewage question would be best worked 
by a local authority controlled by a Royal Commission or 
Government Inspector. His decided opinion was that 
sanitary measures should be compulsory and not optional. 
In discussing this question he had refrained from any re- 
marks respecting the state of the Medlock, the Irk, and the 
Irwell, but these streams did not appear to him to be pure 
water. He would leave the application of the question to 
Manchester to be dealt with by those who were more con- 
versant with the district. 
The discussion was commenced by LORD ROBERT MON- 
TAGUE, who contended that the question under considera- 
tion lay at the root of the whole matter of sanitary-reform. 
There was no Act of Parliament, no legislation which de- 
served the name of sanitary legislation unless it provided 
for the purification of rivers. Wehad as much a common 
right to pure water as we had to pure air, and he believed 
that impure water did much more injury to the constitu- 
tion than impure air. In most mines not only was it easy, 
but it was a source of gain, to separate the polluting source 
of the water before it was turned into the river. In manu- 
factures, it was equally easy to prevent a pollution of 
rivers. If this were not the case, the difficulty would have 
been rather a staggering one, as anything that would in- 
terfere with the vast productions of such a place as Man- 
chestershould be deeply considered before it was undetaken ; 
but even in that case the lives of men were of more value 
than all the wealth of Manchester. But even in the most 
difficult manufactures, such as gas works, bleach works, 
and paper works, it would bea source of gain and not of 
injury to the manufacturer to be compelled any longer to 
