§ Mr. RHYS DAVIESasked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been called to the process of sewage purification covered by the world's patents which are the property of the Septic Gas Company of Australia, Limited; whether he is aware that it is claimed that a mechanical self-contained process has been discovered for the purification of sewage and trades waste by the production of gas, without the formation of organic sludge, whereby the pollution of air, land, and river is eliminated, and that the gas produced as a result is the purest and of the highest calorific value and is highly suitable for the working of any type of internal-combustion engine; and whether, having regard to the vast sums expended on the disposal of sewage, he will institute an inquiry into the merits of this process?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINI am aware of the process to which the hon. Member refers, and my Department is watching this and various other experiments that are being made for producing gas from sewage. I am advised, however, that the particular process referred to by the hon. Member is essentially a process for making gas from sewage sludge, and that it should not be assumed that its adoption would obviate the need for other measures of purification.