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named processes are vouched for by Sir Henry Roscoe; the former
as suitable for dealing with the sewage of small towns, the Webster
Process as practicable even as regards the large volume of London
sewage. In summing up my observations on this system, I stated
that it was 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." The matter appears to rest at present
as it was when my last Annual Report was published.
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"
(Metropolitian 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 part, regarding this Regulation simply as a provision
* Sir Henry Rosecoe's conclusions are corroborated by Mr. Alfred E. Fletcher,
H.M. Inspector under the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act for Scotland.