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17
The Canal Basin.
The water in the Canal Basin was not run off this
year at Whitsuntide, when the usual annual cleansing
takes place. The Company have caused a considerable
amount of mud to be removed by dredging
during the winter, and, up to the present time, the
water has been tolerably free from malarious exhalations.
It generally begins to emit foul gas, generated
from the mud at the bottom, when the temperature
reaches about 70° F. The putrefactive fermentation
of the water in hot weather begins sometimes on a
sudden. The manure loading and deposits on the
wharves have been much complained of lately, more
especially the offensive smells from stable manure,
which is kept too long in sunken pits before removal;
when so offensive, it ought only to pass along public
streets in covered carts, and on no account ought to
be deposited on the wharf, but shot at once into
barges. These should not remain in the basin over
twelve hours; and as a rule this order is complied
with. As a large trade of this kind must be carried
on somewhere, it is desirable to have it under better
control, in order that it may be conducted with as
little nuisance as possible. It is a disgrace to sanitary
law in the Metropolis that we are not in a better
position to deal with this and other offensive trades
and nuisances in a more summary manner than at
present. All the efforts of the Vestry to control these
trades and to prevent nuisances, and even avoid
threatening dangers from the foul and stagnant water
c