§ MR. CUBITTasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether he will lay upon the Table a recent Correspondence between himself and the Duke of Westminster on the subject of the defective administration of the Smoke Nuisance Act in the Metropolis, together with the analysis prepared by the Council of the Smoke Abatement Institute of the fines imposed in the Metropolitan Police Courts; and, whether he is prepared to take any action in the matter?
§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT, in reply, said, he would do so. He had received a letter from the Chief Commissioner of Police, in which the Chief Commissioner stated that he had made a further inspection of the properties referred to, and obtained information, and prepared the drawings authorized by the Home Secretary, with a view to the institution of proceedings under the Smoke Nuisance Act. The information proved that the potteries of the Metropolis had not complied with the Act, and that the nuisance caused by the Lambeth Potteries was of a serious character and susceptible of abatement. Messrs. Doulton, who had the largest works in the neighbourhood, and appeared to possess the chief influence there, had promised to make substantial alterations with a view of preventing the evil. If this promise on the part of Messrs. Doulton and others were carried out, every practical requirement would be met. He (Sir William Harcourt) need scarcely add that he trusted something would be accomplished in the direction of abating the nuisance.