The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-23 00:00:00

The River Thames.

A great change has come over Old Father Thames
since the period when poets sung his praises as a
" fair," " bright," and " silvery stream." Indeed,

. _
so altered are the conditions of the river that it has

been found necessary to appoint a Royal Commis-
sion to inquire into the causes of its pollution, and

circumstances which have led to its almost total dis-

use for navigable purposes. The Commissioners
appointed to prosecute this investigation commenced
their sittings a short time ago at Oxford, and for
several days last week they sat at Reading, receiving
evidence of a very important character from a large
number of millowners, local authorities, and influen-

tial private gentlemen, bearing upon the various
matters with regard to which the Commissioners
are instructed to report. Witnesses of nearly
every grade furnished facts which left no doubt

whatever but that the river has for years

past been sadly mismanaged by the exist-
ing body of Commissioners, and this mismanage-
ment was accounted for in various ways. It
was strongly urged that the Commissioners are
far too numerous to work satisfactorily, and that,

having with few exceptions, no pecuniary interests
at stake, they grossly neglect their duty, and the
public generally have seriously suffered. Sums of
money have been regularly paid to lock-keepers for

performing duties which business men have ex-

pressed their willingness to undertake, and in addi-
tion make annual payments to the Commissioners

for the privileges of receiving the tolls, the pay-

merits actually being equal to the amount of remu-
neration to the pound-keepers. This fact espe-
cially refers to stations on the river, such as Henley
and Maidenhead, where the stream possesses pecu-
liar features of attraction to parties who indulge
freely in aquatics, and where, consequently, the tolls
paid form an exceedingly good income. The neglect
of the Commissioners has also manifested itself in
the dilapidated state of, the river banks, in the
choked and polluted condition of the stream itself,
and in its decayed navigation, and the want of a
proper supervision in general has been shown in the
loose and extravagant way in which various works,
forced upon the Commissioners, have been executed.
A question for solution now is, who shall succeed to
the management of the Thames ? And the fingers of
many who have undergone examination by the
Royal Commissioners at Oxford and Reading point
to the members of the Thames Conservancy Board,
who, having discharged the duties intrusted to them
with much ability,are likely to acquit themselves cre-
ditably in conducting matters of a similar nature.
A great falling off in the navigation of the river has
taken place during the past 20 years, and for this
not a little blame has been laid at the doors of the
Commissioners, but the burden they justly bear is
already wearisome, and we would not unfairly at-
tribute to their inefficiency what may have been
otherwise occasioned. It can scarcely be denied that
when the locomotive made its way down the Thames
valley, and opened a rapid communication between
the inland towns and the collieries, a large propor-
tion of traffic was taken from the river, and that
this was particularly the case when the railway
companies resolved upon conveying heavy goods at a
reduced tariff. Whether the navigation can now he
revived to a remunerative condition is a question
upon which there is considerable diversity of opi-
nion. Individuals who occupy waterside premises
agree that coal and many descriptions of heavy
goods might be advantageously brought by boat,
and there are those who believe that with a reduced
scale of charges the navigation might be resusci-
tated. There are millers and others who would re-
sort to the old barges, could journeys be made
with any amount of certainty as regards time ; but
there is also a class of experienced men who think
the navigation of the Thames is as much a thing of
the past as stage coaches, and that whatever Board
undertakes the management of the river, it will find
itself unable to compete successfully with the rail-
way companies which now penetrate every district
of the land ; and we are certainly inclined to think
this latter opinion is a right one. We now come to
the subject which properly forms the most important
part of the inquiry now being carried on by the
Royal Commission--the pollution of the stream.
This is a matter not easily dealt with, but still we
must face the staring fact—that the Thames has for
a long while been the receptacle of all kinds of filth,
and is now ill-suited for domestic use by the inha-
bitants of the towns past which it runs, or by the
large population at the west end of the metropolis,
where the people are mainly dependent upon the
river for their water supply, as admitted in the in-
structions issued by the Home-office to the Commis-
sioners. At Reading, for instance, the Thames is
connected with the Kennet, into which, again,

pours a stream known as the Holy Brook. The
Thames for some distance forms the northern
boundary of the borough, while the river Kennet

and the Holy Brook both wend their course

through the centre of the town. On the banks
of the Kennet stand a great number of houses,
and not a few manufactories of different kinds,
and the Holy . Brook passes completely ,
beneath many dwellings which drain all
their refuse matter directly into, and may be almost
said to act as a large central sewer uncovered in
many parts, and emptying itself into the Kennet,
which, in its turn, receives various impurities from
paper mills, tanneries, and other large establish-
ments, besides the outfall of public sewers, private
cesspools, pigstyes, &c. A casual observer on the
river's side cannot fail to have many of these nui-
sances forced upon his notice, and none who value
the public health can contemplate this subject with
an indifferent spirit. To obviate the evil may at
first sight appear a matter of very great difficulty,
but the remedy is plain, and with care and fore-
sight, carried out at a moderate cost to the parties
who are accountable for the pollution of the river.
Reading, like many other towns in close proxi-
mity to rivers, has no thorough and complete
system of sewage, and the drainage works its way
into these streams as we have previously shown.
,
Proprietors of paper mills, tan-yards, and like
works find it difficult to dispose of refuse matter
and waste liquid—some being of an unquestionably
poisonous nature—and into the passing stream is it
sent. But the evidence given before the royal com-
missioners has made it clear that this objectionable
outflow of impurities might be checked, and with
positive advantage in some cases, and the simple
plan to avoid the mixture of sewage matter with
our river water would be the adoption of under-
ground drainage. The great expense, however,
that would be involved in carrying out the schemes
proposed, with the need of a suitable outfall for
the sewage, have operated so powerfully in the
minds of the large body of ratepayers as to over-
throw the good intentions of a few ardent sanitary
reteuvfeonsrmers, and, consequently, we still witness
evils which
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Lteabtotedrileys, and their
several
large centres in the north, and smaller towns in other
parts of the country, have bravely battled with diffi-
culties and successfully combated the serious evils
arising from bad drainage, and profiting by themis-
takes which in these cases might have been made,
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economically
sewage—so economically, indeed, that Mr. Rawlin-
son, one of the Commissioners, and a most experi-
enced engineer, positively asserts that a 6d. rate
only would be needed. In considering the means by
which the sewage shall be disposed, the idea of any
outfall into the river must be entirely abandoned,
and it must be utilised on neighbouring lands, as
sewage matter has been utilised already at different
places. As a rule local authorities must not look