§ SIR JOSEPH DIMSDALE (London)To ask the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware of the state of the sewage now being discharged into the River Thames from the military establishments at Sheerness and elsewhere, notwithstanding that the attention of the Secretary of State was, in March, 1903, called to the subject by the Corporation of London as the Port Sanitary Authority; and whether he will state what steps he proposes to take to prevent the continuance of discharge of sewage in its present state.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Arnold-Forster.) My attention has been drawn 1483 to the matter alluded to in the Question. As a similar state of affairs exists all along the lower river in the case of the civil population it is considered inexpedient that the War Department should take action separately from the local civil authorities affected.