§ MR. FORSYTHasked the President of the Local Government Board, Whether his attention has been called to the polluted state of the water in the Regent's Canal, especially that portion of it in close proximity to the Zoological Gardens; and, if it is the fact that the refuse of the animals in these gardens is emptied in the canal; and, if so, whether any action will be taken to prevent the same?
§ MR. SCLATER-BOOTHSir, my attention has not been called officially to the matter; and, indeed, as my hon. Friend is aware, the Local Government Office has little to do with the sanitary affairs of the metropolis; but I have had the opportunity of making private inquiries, and I have been informed that 1147 little more than surface water passes from the Zoological Society's Gardens into the Regent's Canal, the whole refuse of the animals being removed by a contractor; and that when the water draining from the gardens into the canal was examined some time back by the medical officer of health of St. Pancras, it was pronounced to be free from deleterious matter, and far purer than the water of the Canal itself.