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45
his remarks with the reiteration of the various
suggestions that had been previously made for the
improvement of the Canal Basin, viz.:—The provision
of a concrete bottom, frequent change of water,
its conversion into a running stream, thorough cleansing
of the basin during the winter months, and the
use of dredgers throughout the year, and adds that
it would be quite feasible to buy the ground for
building purposes, and to remove the noxious
businesses further into the country.
In my first annual report (1875) I expressed the
opinion that the Canal Basin must remain a nuisance
so long as the offensive trades carried on upon its
banks are permitted, and its bed is left in its present
state; that all attempts at disinfecting the basin
would be nugatory; that if the mud were removed,
a hard impermeable bottom provided, and the water
changed as often as the necessity arose, the main
conditions would be secured for bringing about a
better state of matters; and that the Vestry could
take care that the sewers were not choked with mud,
and oblige the Canal Company in turn to compel
their tenants to carry on their business with some
regard to the public health. In June, 1876, on my
representing to the Sanitary Committee the offensive
condition of the water in the Canal Basin, the Vestry
Clerk was instructed to write to the Grand Junction
Canal Company requiring them to change the water