§ MR. PICTON (Leicester)asked the President of the Local Government Board, Whether his attention has been called to the pollution of the Regent's Canal by the sewage from the Zoological Gardens; whether the Canal is, by section 20 of "The Rivers Pollution Act, 1876," a "stream" within the purview of that Act; whether complaints have reached him that the sewage so discharged is slowly conducted through a succession of locks into the Thames at Limehouse; whether he is aware that repeated applications have been made in vain to the St. Pancras Vestry to obtain an abatement of the nuisance; and, whether, failing the action of the Local Authorities, he will take means to enforce the law?
§ THE PRESIDENT (Mr. RITCHIE) (Tower Hamlets, St. George's)No complaint has been made to the Local Government Board that the Regent's Canal is polluted by the sewage from the Zoological Gardens, or that the sewage, as discharged, is conducted through a series of locks into the Thames at Limehouse. The term "stream" in the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act, 1876, includes canals; and I presume, therefore, that the Regent's Canal would be held to be a stream within the purview of that Act. I understand from the Medical Officer of Health for the parish of St. Pancras that no complaints have been received this year from any source of a nuisance caused by the Canal. The medical offi- 94 cer states that he has repeatedly examined the effluent water from the Zoological Gardens, and has always found it brighter and clearer than the water of the Canal. The Local Government Board are not empowered to take proceedings under the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act in respect of pollutions caused by sewage; but such proceedings may be instituted by any person aggrieved by the commission of the offence.