§ Mr. M. A. Taylorsaid, it was in the recollection of many members, that during the session preceding the last, he had moved for a committee to inquire into the practicability of erecting steam engines and furnaces in such a manner as to relieve the places in which they were erected from the intolerable nuisance which their intense smoke had so generally produced to the health and comfort of the population of large cities and towns. That committee had been granted to him, and their report was in the possession of the House. If gentlemen would take the trouble of attending to its suggestions, they would find substantial reasons to be satisfied that such a very desirable improvement could be both easily and promptly effected. From, the manner in which these furnaces were erected, and increased as they were in number, London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, and other extensive cities and towns, were almost become uninhabitable [a laugh]. Gentlemen might laugh at the term, but he contended it was strictly true, as the persons engaged in business in these towns were actually compelled to guard the health of their families from the deleterious effects of the ebullitions of smoke issuing from those furnaces, by removing to hired houses at a distance from the place of their avocations. The whole of these dense ebullitions of smoke, which made the air of large places so unhealthy, and propagated fever and disease, principally arose from the furnaces as they were at present constructed. That such an evil could be corrected, and corrected without injury to the persons engaged in business connected with these steam engines, he was cer 51 tain he could convince both the House and the country. He had only to refer to the manufactory of Mr. Parkes at Warwick, where the experiment had been made most successfully. He had himself gone to Warwick for the purpose of seeing it, and the result had more than satisfied his most sanguine expectations. In that manufactory there were three furnaces, all of which were constructed so as to consume their own smoke, and he could add that these furnaces were constructed at as small an expense as those generally in use, and that they were worked with a less consumption of fuel by one-fourth. If, on entering Mr. Parkes's establishment any gentleman was asked to point out the position of the great furnaces, he would be at a loss to discover them, so efficiently had the experiment been carried into practice. There was not more smoke from these furnaces than from a common chimney. In order to be fully satisfied, he himself, at his visit, endeavoured to create a smoke, but was unable. Within ten yards of the manufactory was a bleaching ground, and an extensive garden; and he need not add, that neither bleaching nor planting could succeed in the vicinity of the ordinary furnaces. The garden and conservatory of Mr. Parkes were also uninjured; in short, he would defy any gentleman to go to the place as he had done, and not to return with a conviction that there was ample ground for the present motion. At a distillery within about a mile of that House, beyond the penitentiary, the smoke was nearly, but not entirely, consumed; and the owner had readily shown the mode in which the effect was accomplished. If it should be discovered, as he had no doubt it would be, that the remedy was generally applicable, every man would be glad that some compulsory law should be adopted for the preservation of the health and comfort of the metropolis. So fully satisfied was he upon the subject, that he would never cease until the object were accomplished, and he trusted that others would be stimulated by his example. He would appeal to the hon. members representing that part of the country, as to the state of the atmosphere in Manchester, Liverpool, and Birmingham. From the Speaker's house the ebullitions of smoke were constantly discernible: in Bridge-street, Blackfriars, small furnaces were erecting, to the great annoyance of the inhabitants, and gentlemen who had at- 52 tended the courts at St. James's must have often found it difficult almost to recognize their friends through the dense atmosphere occasioned by the great brewery at Pimlico. The same, or nearly the same, might be said of the Cannon-brewery, in the vicinity of Hyde-park. He could refer to his hon. and learned friend near him for his authority, as he accompanied him when he visited Mr. Parkes's manufactory at Warwick. At present, his intention was to move for a select committee to inquire into the practicability, and if their report, as he had no doubt it would be, was favourable, it would be his next step to propose a declaratory law, making the present construction a nuisance, and, of course, subject to the same legal prosecutions as other nuisances. He concluded with moving, "That a Select Committee be appointed to inquire how far it may be practicable to compel persons using Steam Engines and Furnaces in their different works to erect them in a manner less prejudicial to public health and public comfort, and to report their observations thereupon to the House."
§ Mr. Denmanseconded the motion, and bore his fullest testimony to the facts stated by his hon. friend, as to Mr. Parkes's manufactory at Warwick. He had seen three furnaces at work, and not the slightest appearance of smoke. He had no doubt that the public knowledge of the thing would of itself be sufficient to introduce the improvement into general practice, without the necessity of recourse to a declaratory law. He paid a high compliment to Mr. Parkes, for the merit of this important invention, which was remarkable for its simplicity. Of its successful result the public would soon have an opportunity of judging, by means of its introduction into the brewery of Messrs. Barclay and Co., and into other establishments in the metropolis. The country, he said, was much indebted to his hon. friend for bringing such questions before the legislature.
§ Sir C. Mordaunthad also seen the manufactory of Mr. Parkes, and had admired the ingenious and at the same time effectual method in which the desirable object was accomplished. It would, he was satisfied, be generally adopted as soon as it was generally known.
Mr. Millsfrom his own personal observation, confirmed all that had been said in favour of the invention of Mr. 53 Parkes. He was persuaded that it would be most advantageous to the country at large.
§ The motion was then agreed to.