43. Major MALONEasked the Minister of Health whether he will have inquiry made by his Department into the polluted and offensive state of the River Lee; whether he is aware that complaints have frequently been made to the local authorities by the inhabitants and persons using the river, and that, as late as last week, the medical officer of health for Tottenham reported to his committee that objectionable matter consisting of decomposing organic material and oily substance enters the River Lee below the Tottenham lock, causing that reach of water to be highly polluted and offensive; and will he exercise such pressure on the Lee Conservancy Board as to compel that authority to purify the river in the interest of the health of the inhabitants and the users of the river?
§ Sir A. MONDThe Lee Conservancy Board are by virtue of Section 9 of the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act, 1876, the authority for enforcing the provisions of that Act and of the Lee Conservancy Act, 1868, with regard to the River Lee, and I have no power to compel the Board to take action in the matter. I have no information as to the complaints referred to in the second part of the question.
Major MALONEIn the interests of the health of the district, and in view of the complaints which have been made, has not the right hon. Gentleman power to step in and compel the Board to carry out this work?
§ Sir A. MONDNo, Sir. I have not.