§ MR. BORLASEasked the President of the Local Government Board, Whether he will state the cost which is being incurred at the present moment for deodorising the sewage of London by the use of permanganate of potash; and, whether it is a fact that this process does not actually remove any of the solids or putrescent matter, or relieve the river of the four hundred tons of sewage matter which, according to the Report of the Royal Commission, are daily discharged into it, but merely renders them less offensive?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKEThe Board are not, at the present moment, in possession of full and precise information as to the cost now being incurred in deodorizing the sewage of London. We learn from the Metropolitan Board of Works that permanganate of potash has not been used to any considerable extent. Between three and four tons have been delivered, the cost being about £130 per ton. As has been previously mentioned, Mr. Harrison, an Inspector of the Board, has been making inquiries as to the works; and, in a preliminary Memorandum, he informed the Board that, between the 10th of July and the 1st of August, perchloride of lime to the extent of, on an average, about 30 tons per day had been mixed with the sewage discharge at Crossness and Barking, the price of the perchloride of lime being about £9 per ton. Mr. Harrison has been on the river in connection with his inquiry two days in the present week; but the Board have not yet received his Report, and until the Report has been received the Board are not prepared to express an opinion as to the effect of the means adopted by the Metropolitan Board of Works. The time has not admitted of the Board communicating with Mr. Harrison on the question.