View report page

33
would still be a holding back at Hogg's Mill.
As none of these mills use their water power, it is
to be hoped that the Corporation may be able to
acquire their rights, and then if the bridge for the
Chelsea water mains is enlarged, and the stream
allowed to run in its natural channel, deepened and
straightened at some of its most sinuous bends,
I venture to prophecy that there will be no more
floods in Mill Street. Should this desirable event
come off, I hope the banks will be kept in order and
beautified, by the removal of the rubbish that the
cottagers seem to think it suitable to deposit on
them.
The site proposed for the Isolation Hospital
was not affected by the floods.
The water might also be the better for the
absence of the effluent from sewage works, which
should be carried in pipes to a stream with a large
body of water, like the Thames.
This improvement would greatly improve all
the district of Mill Street, as well as the land
further up the valley. Mill Street is considered by
a leading practitioner in the town to be the district
where Phthisis is most prevalent, and this disease
always shows a predisposition to places more or less
water-logged. Should the stream be lowered to its
natural level, many of the wells in the neighbourhood
might run dry, but this would be a great
advantage, as they are always liable to pollution,
either from the effluent water in the stream, or from
the drainage of the cemetery, leaky gaspipes, or
other accidental occurrences.
The floods in the Thames Valley were very
serious, but appear to have done very little damage
to health in the town. A bill giving popular advice
as under was issued immediately:—