§ MR. BRIGGSasked the Chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works, Whether, in view of the fact that a Royal Commission has been appointed to inquire into the pollution of the River Thames, he will state what steps have been taken to delay further expenditure of the ratepayers' money upon new Metropolitan sewage works at Crossness and Barking, until the Report of the said Royal Commission has been presented?
§ SIR JAMES M'GAREL-HOGGI beg to inform the hon. Member that, in consequence of the great increase in the population of the Metropolis, the Metropolitan Board have been obliged to take measures for the enlargement of the sewage reservoirs at the outfalls, and the works referred to in the Question have been designed to obviate the necessity which has occasionally arisen of allowing the sewage to pass into the River before high water. No money has been spent on them up to the present time; and, in view of the appointment of the Royal Commission, further action in the matter has been adjourned for three months from to-day.