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were reduced to 600 in the effluent. To sum up then, it is
averred that, by the electrical process, the sewage is clarified ; the
bulk of the sludge is reduced to a minimum; smell is removed; and
secondary putrefaction is prevented—results that could not be
produced by chemical precipitation—the process being at once
simple and economical. Assuming all this to be true, and it
appears to be justified by the high authority of Sir Henry Roscoe,*
it may be inferred that an approach to a solution of the question
of sewage disposal has been reached, and one in all respects only
less satisfactory than that to which in the end we shall have to
come, when every other process must give way to the only rational
system—that, namely, of restoring to the land the valuable organic
matters contained in the sewage.
WATER SUPPLY.
Regulations authorized by the Water Act of 1852 were
framed by the Companies in 1872, consequent on the passing of
the Water Act, 1871. The " Metropolitan Authority " (Metropolitan
Board of Works) declined any responsibility in regard to
the regulations—which were allowed by the Board of Trade—
disapproving of the provisions with respect to fittings, which
they considered would entail an unduly heavy outlay on the consumers.
I have always contended, but as yet without success,
that the Sanitary Authority should have co-ordinate power
with the Companies to enforce certain of the regulations which
appear to have been framed in the interests of Public Health;
especially Regulation 14, which enables the Companies to cut
off all connections of waste-pipes of cisterns with drains; the
Companies, for the most purt, regarding this Regulation simply
as a provision for preventing waste. Your Vestry, upon my
recommendation, applied to the Local Government Board to
obtain legislative power to enable the Sanitary Authority to
enforce the regulation; but without result, although the application—which
was endorsed by many of the Vestries and
*Sir Henry Roscoe's conclusions are corroborated by Mr. Alfred E.
Fletcher, H.M.' Inspector under the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act for
Scotland.