The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-09 00:00:00

liir.L."4fr)'.l4'L
tor*
4LY.

LONDON, THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 1865.

The importance of pure water to health has been
ranked by most of our scientific men as next to the
value of pure air, while some even rank it higher.
Whatever may be its exact position in the scale
there can be no possible doubt as to its vast conse-
quence to the public well-being. It does not need
a careful analysis of the component parts of impure
water, or a knowledge of the unwholesome materials
of which it is composed, to be certain of its injurious
agency. A great many of the diseases which render
an Anglo-Indian life perilous are directly traced to
the scarcity and impurity of the water, but we need
not go so far to witness the deleterious effects of a
bad supply. Our courts and lanes and byeways
have since the increase of our population suffered
terribly from this cause, • one of the prime agents
of the dreaded typhus, while, besides its immediate
results, it slowly but surely undermines the health
and predisposes the system to every contagious in-
fluence. Agricultural districts, too, whose griev-
ances are less known to the social reformer or the
philanthropist, often greatly lack a sufficient supply
of pure water, which may without exaggeration be
called one of the first necessaries of healthful life.
The question naturally arises, how it is in a country
like England, temperate, well watered, and inter-
sected by canals, there should be any scarcity ? and
the " intelligent foreigner," when asking the ques-
tion, would perhaps be surprised to learn in answer
that it is a self-made trouble. By an ingenious
application of " matter in the wrong place," we
have contrived to corrupt our rivers at the same
time that we pay enormous sums for sewage, that
we import guano for manuring our land, and that
water companies charge us heavy rates for supplying
us with what might be had at little or no cost were
it not for our own perverse folly. Lord ROBERT
MONTAGU, in his speech last night, certainly did not
do much for the temperance cause, for his revela-
tions were start ing enough to frighten all water
drinkers for ever. We are in the habit of proceed-
ing somewhat slowly with our reforms ; but when
the Sewage Commission reported, four years since,
that upwards of 100 rivers were in an absolutely
poisonous condition, and the Committee of last year
not only confirmed this statement, but added to it,
it is really time that we got upon the road to im-
provement of some kind. The official opinions not
only confirm the assertions of private individuals,
but go far beyond them. Mr. RAWLINSON, the
Government engineer, on being asked what he
thought would be the probable condition of the
rivers if the present course were persisted in,
answered that he " could hardly imagine the rivers
and streams ever becoming worse than they are
now." The river Exe has suffered so much from
the sewage that a farmer on the • banks is obliged
to dig artificial places for his cattle, as they can-
not touch the river water. Mr. RAwLINSON says
that on the Mecllock, at Manchester, there
is a scum so thick that birds walked on it,
and you can see the gas rising up in a bubble. As
for old Father Thames himself, we metropolitan
citizens have had pretty convincing evidence of his
condition, but the details furnished by official
reports are as startling as unpleasant. The injury
to health is the great consideration, but the waste
of money has also a claim on our notice. "At Leeds
£150,000 had been spent in sewage operations. It
was then found .that the water of the river Aire
could not be drank, and they accordingly spent
upwards of £350,000 in getting water from
another river" This, as it proved, was no
great acquisition, for sewers, factories, paper
mills, and other miscellaneous contributors,
rendered the water absolutely poisonous,
so that when a carpenter's foot-rule was dipped
four inches below the surface it was impossible to
read the figures. There are plenty more such
practical proofs forthcoming. A bottle of pure
paraffin has been made from the waters of the Dee.
A gentleman tumbling into the Calder, found him-
self not only figuratively but literally in the blues,
for his white trousers emerged of a deep blue colour
from the dye stuff with which the river abounds.
Some years ago a salmon was an every day prize in
the Calder, but now there is no such thing as a
fish to be found in its " deep dark blue " waters.
This is another part of the public loss, since no fish
can live in such poisoned rivers, and cattle in some
instances have been destroyed by them. The
fishermen at Chester have picked up dozens of
poisoned salmon, which, remembering the paraffin,
is not surprising. The Severn, with a watershed
of 4,437 square miles, only yields salmon to the
value of £l,OOO, while the Tay, with only 2,283
square'miles, gives 30,000. This is certainly a very
great argument in favour of a change, for one of
our great national resources is thus wantonly de-
teriorated and destroyed. The waste of the sewage
matter is another drawback to the present system,
though that of course is secondary to the injury to
public health. " Would it not be as sensible,"
asked Lord R. MONTAGU last night, "to throw
away the whole of our sheep and to send to Saxony
for cloth, as to throw away our manure and send
to distant countries for guano ?" The answer to
the apparently difficult question of how to dispose
of the sewage which poisons our fish, lowers the
public health, wastes money, and produces evils
and discomforts innumerable, 'is readily supplied by
mother earth herself. That which in the wrong
place is the fruitful source of disease is if rightly
applied conducive to health and plenty. We have
already had numerous instances of the improved
value of land after the judicious application of
sewage, but a case mentioned by Lord It. A.....tONTAGU
last evening is worth notice. At Croydon some
land was worth £2 an acre, but when the sewage
of the town was utilised it went up to £4 an acre,
and the town afterwards let it to a tenant at £5.
By the application of sewage this tenant got four
crops of grass a year, averaging from 12 to 14 thug
per acre, which he sold, as it stood, for £8 a crop.
He therefore paid £5 rent and received for the pro-
duce of his land £32. This would seem convincing
enough ; and the owners of land, and of the rights
of fisheries, as well as the people at large, who are
poisoned by bad water, or have to pay heavy rates
for a tolerable supply, are equally interested in the
matter. When we read such details as were fur-
nished us last night we must all fervently hope that
the Government will fulfil a promise for once, and
take immediate steps to secure the public from a
further consumption of blue dye, paraffin, and other
animal, mineral, and vegetable poisons.

It is satisfactory to find that his Royal Highness
the Prince of WALES has set his face against the
pernicious practice of " percentage to servants,"
and that his intention has been made public, for we
may now confidently expect that an end will be put
to the evilcustom that has so long prevailed. The
same West-end firm that forwarded the Duke of
SUTHERLAND'S letter on the subject to the Times has
now sent communication received from General