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95
seven other samples, all organically of very bad quality, six being reported as
undoubtedly polluted with sewage; with one exception these seven samples
gave a distinct odour of sewage on heating.
The conclusion arrived at by the author of the Report that
" it may be assumed that there is under existing circumstances no
" material risk in consuming the watercress supplied from the majority
"of the beds sending watercress to London,"
may be justified, but the Report would have fulfilled a more useful purpose if
it indicated the situation of the polluted beds.
Had the Local Government Board made this investigation the whole of
the facts would have been made known, the locality of the beds would have
been indicated, and the public would have known those to be avoided as
containing elements of danger.
This course was adopted by the Local Government Board when reporting
upon the sanitary condition of oyster layings round the coast, and has been
of the greatest service to those interested in the protection of the public from
the danger attending the consumption of polluted food, and they would
doubtless have followed this precedent had they been reporting upon watercress
beds.