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57
" The village of Leigh has "within recent years assumed -considerable
importance as a centre of cockle gathering, boiling,
and exportation. The cockles are collected by the fishermen
from off the Maplin Sands, brought by boat to Leigh, and
laid down for a 'tide or two' on the banks of Leigh Creek.
It is said that this temporary deposition of the cockles tends
to clear them of the sands acquired by them on their native
beds on the Maplins. After this cleansing process the cockles
are scraped with a small hand-net by means of a short rake,
and washed on the bed of the Leigh Creek; they are then
taken into the boiling huts, of which there are some twenty
or more along the foreshore immediately west of Leigh, and
boiled in coppers. The boiled cockles are then riddled in
a wire-meshed sieve, by which process the soft parts pass
through, while the shells which remain behind are deposited
in heaps near the sheds. The cockles—i.e., the 'fish'—are,
after the boiling process, washed in sundry tubs of water,
packed in wicker baskets, and despatched by rail.
" That the cockles laid down to ' clean ' in the bed of Leigh
Creek are liable to pollution must, I think, be admitted, since
they are often placed near one or other of the Leigh sewage
outfalls. Furthermore, the cockles here, prior to boiling, are
rinsed in the bed of the stream, which is certainly liable to
sewage pollution—in fact, one of the Leigh outfalls is near
the cockle boiling sheds, while just below them are other
sewage outfalls. On the foreshore, which is the reverse of
clean here, I observed at the time of my visit evidence of
sewage.
" In regard to the risk of contamination incurred by the cockles
of Leigh, the question seems to be whether, assuming the
boiling process to destroy all germs present, the after-treatment
of washing is open to suspicion. One of those engaged
in boiling cockles, however, observed to me that no water
would be taken from the stream during flood tide, as the
sewage of Leigh floated up at that time. The water in
which the cockles are washed after boiling is taken from
tubs along the foreshore, and I was informed that these tubs
are filled oidy at high water. But even if this rule is always
observed in practice, it seems to me that the water stored in
the tubs must still be liable to pollution."
On inquiry I find that Dr. Bulstrode's description still applies,
although some improvements have been made. Since his visit