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the pollution of the water by the careless introduction
thereinto of manure and other offensive
materials. In consequence of these communications,
I was invited on the 28th of March to attend
a Meeting of the Directors of the Company, at
which several of the Wharfingers were also
present. I was then informed that it was the
intention of the Company to cleanse the basin by
hand labour, in Whitsun-week, and that with a
view to the regulation of the lading of the barges,
it was intended to submit to the proprietors at
their next Meeting a Bye-law, by which all persons
guilty of fouling the water, whether wilfully or
from neglect of proper precautions, would be
subjected to a penalty.
The basin was accordingly emptied on the 15th
of May, and remained empty until the 24th.
On examining the channel after the water was let
out, it was found that the deposit of black mud
with which it was covered, varied in depth from
eight inches to a foot. It consisted in the deepest
parts in great measure of rotten straw and other
light material, which had drifted from the various
manure wharves. During the week that the basin
was empty, almost the whole of this mud, amounting
to several thousand tons, was removed and
deposited on the banks. In order to guard against
the nuisance likely to arise from the exposure and
conveyance through the public thoroughfares of so