The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-25 00:00:00

THAMES PURIFICATION AND THE

SALMON FISHERIES.

It appears probable that, before another session
of Parliament elapses, the necessary powers will be
applied for and granted to a company for the pur-
pose of utilising the sewage of the Thames, and
fertilising the adjacent land therewith. That the
scheme will have our very best wishes for its suc-
cess we need hardly say. We can see no reason
why it should not be successful. Even if it were
not successful in a pecuniary point of view, as a
question of public utility it might bo fairly entitled
to some support from the Government, if such were
required, which, however, we do not at all antici-
pate. Here, then, at length, would be the extra-
neous support which our salmon fry require. Let
us get rid of the mass of sewage, and salmon will
soon again abound in our river. To Londoners
i
generally, as well as anglers, this s a very interest-
ing consideration in every way. The difficulty
of restocking the river is nothing—is not to be
named. £5O would put hundreds of thousands
of young salmon into the river, and the river
might be thoroughly stocked from end to end for
£lOO, so there is no difficulty in that direction.
Now, this is not a small question, nor one likely to
be passed by, though at a cursory glance it may
seem so. What does the reader imagine might be
the money value of the Thames salmon ? Taking
a fair calculation from other rivers, and looking at
the number and extent of its tributaries and their
capabilities for spawning, &c., under reasonably
fair and favourable management, we might at a
rough estimate consider the money-value of salmon
in the Thames as equal to about £50,000 per annum.
The market being on the spot, and no cost of car-
riage incurred, we probably considerably under
rather than over estimate it. £50,000 a-year re-
presents a capital of about a million and a half ster-
ling created to the country out of nothing. Great
has been the cry of late years as to the dearness of
salmon in the London market, but we calculate that
an increased supply of £50,000 worthofsaa briskerlmonat
Billingsgate would make the trade easier and
ie B, u
t But,
g if
gain
thisin
and the fish less difficult
net have some 20 miles of the
atnodconmot a little, e bY
be the advantage in a commercial point of view,
the anglers
matter.have sire hwig
best fishing water on the Thames open to the pub
lie, on which not a net is allowed, Do not the
angler's nerves thrill at the bare thought of a con-
test with a 20 or 30 pounder in the white foaming
waters of Teddington or Sunbury weirs ? Yet, if
the scheme above propounded be carried into effect,
we venture to predicate that such things shall be ;
ay, and many more as bright and curious, hidden
in the sewage of ignorance and our filthy, abased,
and ruinous habits of waste end pollution.—. Field.

It may be remembered that the Second Chamber
of the Austrian Reichsrath was prorogued to the 4th of
February. The rumour of a further prorogation his given
rise to apprehensions which havo found utterance in the
Ost-Deutsche Fost. To put an end to all uneasiness on this
head, the Government has announced that the Reichsrath
will resume its sittings at the time originally fixed,