§ Sir G. COLLINSasked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that, in connection with the recent decision to permit the Clyde Trustees to 754W deposit material in the lower reaches of the River Clyde, the Corporation of Greenock and other public bodies who objected to the scheme have been refused permission to take samples of the material which is being deposited in the scheduled area; will he state if his Department intend to exercise any supervision of the dumpings or will action be taken only after damage is done; and is he aware that, on the official inspection of the foreshores, deleterious and putrescible matter was found to exist in many places immediately under the surface sand?
Mr. ALEXANDERI am not aware that any public body other than the Corporation of Greenock has made application for the permission referred to. That Corporation's application was refused by the Clyde Navigation Trustees, and, as the Corporation was informed at the time, the matter is not one in which the Board of Trade can intervene. It is not intended to exercise any special supervision of the dumping in view of the conditions and stipulations referred to in the answer given to the hon. Member on 21st January last. I am advised by the Scottish Board of Health that at the official inspection referred to a black deposit immediately under the surface of the sand was found generally over the area of the foreshores examined, but that this cannot be attributed to the deposit of dredgings. The inspection also disclosed sewage pollution at various places, where crude sewage was being discharged on the shore, and this pollution also cannot be attributed to the deposit of dredgings.