MR. CLIFFORDsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been called to the large discharge of gas tar refuse into the River Thames; and whether he will set the law in motion to abate a nuisance so prejudicial to the health of the metropolis?
§ MR. HUNTsaid, in reply, that the law for preventing the discharge of gas water and other impurities into the Thames, such as it was contained in the Conservancy Act of 1807, had been put in force as far, he believed, as was possible or practicable. The Conservancy Board had been extremely vigilant, and had exerted themselves with vigour and effect. He was informed that the impurities of which his hon. Friend complained did not proceed from premises on the banks of the river, but rather from the creeks and canals to which the powers of the Conservancy Act did not extend. This was a great evil, but there was a Bill then under the consideration of Parliament dealing with this subject, and into that Bill a clause regulating this subject might, he thought, with advantage be introduced.