HH62/2/RENFRE/45

Transcription

[Page] 44

Having in regard to the length to which this report has already run,
I can only deal with the matter here very summarily.
According to the provisions of the Rivers Pollution Prevention
Act, 'every person who causes to fall or flow, or knowingly permits
to fall or flow, or to be carried, into any stream, any solid, liquid or
sewage matter, shall (subject as in this Act mentioned) be deemed to
have committed an offence against this Act'! Now it happens that
in the county the Local Authorities are as much in default as any
one or any class. It may be said that in this matter we are 'no
worse than our neighbours'; but this, it will be admitted, is but a
poor excuse; and in so populous a district, in which there are so
many manufacturing processes carried on which contribute to the
pollution of our streams, the question of 'Rivers Pollution' is rapidly
approaching a crisis. During the warmer months of last year the
condition of the Cart and of the Clyde can hardly be described in
moderate language. The purification of the Clyde is a problem which
must be seriously faced in the near future. One point I wish to make
clear, in this connection, is, that it must be the policy of the county,
having no very direct interest in the purification of the Clyde per se,
to decline, when the time comes, to allow itself to be rated - as was
formerly proposed, I believe, - for the purification of the Clyde, but
to organize, with the Burghs in the County contributing to the pollu-
tion, a general scheme by which all artificial (manufacturing) pollu-
tion and all putrescent matter of the nature of sewage, shall be so
dealt with as to cease to contribute to the pollution of the Clyde. In
that way we shall secure for ourselves, within the county, a fluvial
system such as has not been known since the beginning of the cen-
tury. It would be premature, at this time, to enter into a discussion
of the means by which this may be attained.
At this present time, it may be remarked, nowhere over the
county, except it be in the case of Kilmalcolm, where the crudest
possible attempt at sewage irrigation has been made, has anything been
done to purify the sewage of either town or village. This has been of
the less consequence in the past, so far as the Districts under the con-
trol of the District Committees are concerned, in that in most of the
villages no proper system of sewerage has been introduced; the sewage
matter has either been tossed into the ashpits, converting them into
foul and fœtid cesspits, or has been simply thrown upon the ground
in front or in the rear of the houses, whereby the soil has been
polluted, as well as, frequently, the water-supply; to these causes,

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in a considerable degree, is to be attributed the relatively high death-
rates of the villages, and in particular, the high death-rate from
enteric fever and diarrheal diseases.
I do not propose to discuss in detail the condition of the different
villages in respect of sewerage; that will be matter for report to the
District Committees in the course of the ensuing year. I shall here
only refer to cases in which something has been done or inaugurated
in the course of 1891.
At the beginning of the year there was no Special Drainage Dis-
tricts in existence in the county, within the limits now defined.
In the autumn a requisition was presented to the First Dis-
trict Committee for the formation of a part of Clarkston into a
Special Drainage District. The sewage of the area in question
discharged itself in such a way as to cause a nuisance, and it is under-
stood that legal proceedings had been threatened. An immense
amount of time and trouble was expended over this matter by the
Special Committee appointed to deal with it, and by myself and Mr.
Little, the area suggested by the requisitionists being considered too
limited. A report on the subject was obtained from Mr. Stodart,
C.E.; several meetings with parties were held upon the ground, and
a great effort was made, having regard to the probable requirements
of the future, to secure the assent of adjoining proprietors to the pre-
scription of a more comprehensive district. These negociations
failed, and the Committee was compelled, towards the end of the
year, to adopt, with some slight modifications, the original scheme.
In association with the representatives of the village of Eaglesham
upon the District Committee, I found it necessary to direct the atten-
tion of the Committee to certain defects in connection with the
drainage of the village. A special Committee was appointed to con-
sider the subject, and it was finally decided that the most efficient
method of dealing with the question would be the constitution of the
village into a Special Drainage District; at the end of the year
matters were in train for the completion of this project. The
necessary requisition had been lodged, and Mr. Little had prepared a
plan defining the area which might properly be included within the
district, and had been instructed to prepare a plan and specifications
for the extension and improvement of the existing sewers. The
works to be executed, in the meantime, consist mainly of the prolon-
gation of the sewer on the south side of the village, upwards and
downwards; and the assessment required will be little more than
nominal.