PENALTY FOR CAUSING WATER TO BE CORRUPTED BY GAS WASHINGS, ETC. (Hansard, 28 July 1897)

§ *MR. WEIR (Ross and Cromarty)
moved, at the end of the clause, to add,— And in the case of the Highland crofting counties of Argyll, Inverness, Ross and Cromarty, Caithness, Sutherland, and Orkney and Shetland, it is provided that if the local authority fail to take action under section eight of the Pollution of Rivers Act 1876, for the purpose of freeing from pollution any stream or river which within a period of ten years from the date hereof has formed the water supply for domestic purposes of any ten or more inhabitants of any township or village situated in one or more of the said Highland counties, and which river or stream may have become so polluted by sewage or otherwise as to render it unfit for drinking or other domestic purposes, then, notwithstanding any provisions contained in any section of this Act, it shall be binding on the local authority, on receiving notice in writing from any five inhabitants of such township or village, to provide a fit and proper supply of water suitable for drinking or other domestic purposes, and should the local authority fail, within reasonable time after the notice aforesaid, to afford a lit and suitable service of water, then it shall be incumbent on the Local Government Board for Scotland to take such steps as may be necessary to insure that supply being provided. He said that at present the Local Government Board had no power to compel the local authorities to take action in providing a proper water supply. He had hall brought to his notice an illustration of the present unsatisfactory position. There was the small village of Causer, containing some 17 houses on the River Nethy in Inverness-shire, which from time immemorial had drawn its water supply from the river. Recently some houses had been built above the village, and the drainage from the houses had polluted the river. The local authority had required the people of the village to obtain a water 1322 supply from another source, but this they were too poor to do. Action had been taken against them in the Sheriff's Court, and an order had been made, but it had not yet been enforced. He had received a letter from the Secretary for Scotland on the matter, expressing great sympathy with the people of this village, but saying that he had no power to compel the local authority to prevent the pollution of the river. The Secretary for Scotland added that the only course for the householders to take was to proceed under the Pollution of Rivers Act. Ho could not see why the Lord Advocate should not accept this Amendment. Not only were the people of this village liable to disease caused by the pollution of the river, but, as the locality was a resort of tourists, visitors might also suffer in health.

§ *THE LORD ADVOCATE
said it was quite impossible to accept the Amendment, for it meant that there would be an absolute right in five inhabitants of a village to have a water supply given them at the expense of the local authority by simply signing a requisition to that effect. At the same time, he was not insensible of the fact, in view of the case brought to his notice, that difficulties about water supply might arise, but when this Bill became law the powers of the local authority and of the Local Government Board would be greater than they were. Even so he would undertake to consider the application of these powers to the concrete case, and if further words were necessary he would see that they were introduced in another place before the Bill became law.

§ DR. CLARK
advised his hon. Friend to be satisfied with the undertaking of the Lord Advocate.

§ SIR C. CAMERON (Glasgow, Bridgeton)
hoped the right hon. Gentleman at the same time would consider the general question of giving the Local Government Board power to compel the local authority to provide a proper water supply.