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side might collapse. I join with every word that has been said as
to the frightful state of the river, and Mr. Pearce has said properly
that a more thorough drainage on both sides of the river is necessary
Mr. Whittingham, Chairman of the Sanitary Committee of the
Essex County Council, said : We are all more or less sinners, and I
am glad you suggested that we should be in conference harmoniously.
I agree with what has been said about the stream in West Ham,
but at the same time the intake of water for drinking purposes
requires an extra amount of watchfulness over the condition of the
river above it. I believe, sir, the Lea Conservancy has been fairly
tolerant of the effluents of the districts named, and if it had not
been so some action would have been taken by my committee. I
hope the result of this evening's conference will be as you suggested.
The districts on the River Lea in Essex have looked with longing
eyes to the London County Council, because they know that they
have the power to take the sewage of these districts along their
sewers. Walthamstow has its sewage farm, and Leyton its sewage
works for consuming the sludge, but still it would be better if the
sewage could be taken away into the London main sewer as it has
been suggested.
Mr. McSheedy, a member of the Walthamstow Urban District
Council, said: We admit that we are sinners, and we trust that
having admitted that you will help us to carry our sewage away.
We have only about 180 acres of sewage farm, but as we have a
population of 71,000 in Walthamstow, increasing at six or seven
thousand yearly, that is quite inadequate. We have to deal with
about two million gallons daily, and it has been a source of great
anxiety to us all to know what to do. It is not our fault; it is not
the fault of our officials that we have not that effluent as well as it
might be. We have done all we can, and we are surrounded on all
sides by people looking askance at us. We are under the cloud of
a prosecution, and the court has allowed us till July in order to
make our effluent better. W hen we applied to the Local Government
Board to sanction the borrowing of money for a large scheme,
what was the reply? Their answer was, "We will not allow you to
borrow this money to carry out this scheme until you have used