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15
It is difficult to do justice to the present conditions of the Lea,
but the following is an attempt in the local press:—
"HACKNEY.S PUTRID RIVER.
The River Lea, described by satirists as . Hackney.s
scent bottle,. is again exuding foul smells. It rarely does
anything else at this time of year, when the blazing orb plays
upon its putrid surface and increases the pungency of its
odour. The only cause for wonder is that Hackney.s indignation
has been bottled up so long.
For as many years as most of us can remember the Lea
has been a source of recurring complaint. Scarcely a
summer goes by without the catalogue of protest being added
to. But there has been no permanent redress—nothing but
inquiries and analytical tests, the serving of abatement
notices on offenders, sporadic prosecutions, and then more
effluvia and another period of stagnation.
When the Lea Conservancy Board was reconstituted in
1901 it was expected that a remedy would be found, but the
optimists of that day would probably be the most confirmed
pessimists of to.day were they to seek first.hand information
or read extracts from letters received in recent years.
One writer, referring to the section between the old sluice
gates and Tottenham Lock, stated:- The filth on the surface
here could be gathered with a spade, and eventually
floats into that portion of the river in the jurisdiction of
Hackney.. Another, speaking of conditions lower down,
wrote that . gas bubbles and matter were rising to the
surface, the latter boiling and seething until its
. viciousness. had spent itself.. Owing to its
urgency,. the Public Health Committee have instructed the
Town Clerk to take steps. to have the matter raised in
Parliament, with the object, first, of emphasising the advisability
of promoting legislation to make the Lea Conservancy
Board the Pollution Prevention Authority for the whole
length of the river and its tributaries, and, secondly, of action
being taken to induce the urban districts in Middlesex and
the Middlesex County Council to cease discharging sewage
into them. It might have a more convincing—and certainly
a more moving—effect if the Lea matter could be brought
under the noses, as well as the notice, of Members of Parliament
! The Conservancy Board have discovered that a