§ SIR R. ASSHETON CROSSasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been called to the Report of Sir John Hawkshaw upon the purification of the Clyde, made some years ago; and, whether it is now proposed to take any steps under that Report, or otherwise, with that object?
§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT, in reply, said, it would be within the right hon. Gentleman's recollection that in 1876 Sir John Hawkshaw made his Report on this subject, and the Corporation of Glasgow had gone to great expense in the matter of promoting a Bill. They met with very formidable opposition. They applied then for a promise of Government support to the Bill, which the Government was not able to afford; but the late Government at the same time intimated their intention of introducing a measure for constituting Boards of Conservancy in such cases as that of the Clyde. That, however, was never done. In 1883 he (Sir William Harcourt) made a further attempt by applying to the Corporations of Glasgow and other towns. The Corporation of Glasgow declined to go to any further expense, seeing that they had gone to so much expense already without any result; and the other towns consulted said it was Glasgow alone that was concerned in the question.