The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-31 00:00:00

THE STENCH FROM THE RIVER.

Mr. ADDERLEY asked the First Commissioner of
Works whether he had any plan for the prevention of the
pestilential stench which comes every evening into every
window on the river front of the Houses of Parliament ;
whether there is any power to enforce better trapping of
the drains, or a removal of the deposits of bones and
other refuse on the opposite bank, or whether legislation
for the purpose is necessary ; or, if there be redress,
whether any plan has been suggested by which the
stench may be shut out of the houses by closing up all
the windows on the river side, and admitting air from
another (Fraction I

Sir B. HALL replied that the providing of a remedy
for the evil did not rest with the department over which
he presided, but with the Board of Works, but in con-
sequence of the representations that had been made he
had seen Mr. Gurney on the subject. and that gentleman
had given him this explanation : —That the stench came
from the mouths of the sewers, and that the whole neigh-
bourhood was infected. Another cause of this annoy-
ance, he was informed, was that the Great Victoria
sewe-s bad broken up, so that the sewage was diverted
into the Bridge-street sewer, where it had caused a blow-
ing up of the trapping. Another great can-e of the an-
noyance was on the other side of the river, where certain
offensive trades were carried on. And here he must
remind the house of a circumstance which occurred when
a bill was brought in to suppress nuisance of this kind in
large towns, and was referred to a select committee. When
it came down from the committee it was in such a state
that had it passed as it then stood, ample power would
have been given to the local authorities to suppress such
nuisances, and there was also a clause to impose a penalty
on the local board if they neglected their duty in this re-
spect. But no sooner did this state of the bill become
known, than the bone-boilers and gut•spinoers—
(laughter)—canvassed the members of this house, and
the result was that those clauses were struck out. We
were thus left entirely in the bands of the local boards,
and if it happened that any persons carrying on those
trades were on the boards, it was not to be expected
that much would be done in the matter. It was a
curious circumstance that the hon. member who put the
question was one of those who were most instrumental
in making the alterations which bad left the law in its
present state. (Laughter.)
_ _ REGISTRATION OF IRELAND.

--
Mr. ESMONDE asked the Chief Secretary for Ire-
land if it was the intention of the Government to intro-
duce in this or the next session a measure to provide for
the general registration of births, marriages, and deaths,
in Ireland !
Mr. H. HERBERT said it Was not the intention of
Government to introduce any such measure at present.
THE MILITIA.

Colonel GREVILLE aske 1 the Under Secretary fir
War at what period and how it was intended to pay this
year's instalment of their bounty to the men of the re-
giments of militia who were not called out for training I
Sir J. RAMSDEN said the precise date had not yet
been Sxed.
CIVIL SERVICE SUPERANNUATION BILL.
Mr. S. FITZGERALD inquired what course the
Government proposed to take with respect to this bill,
the second reading of which was carried yesterday by so
great a majority.
Lord PALMERSTON said the Government had
thought it their duty to state at considerable length their
objectors to the bill, which would entail considerable
increase of expense to the country, but the house having
affirmed the second reading by so full and so 11rgo a
majority, they thought it would not be respectful to the
house, to oppose it any further.
Mr. GLADSTONE asked whether it was the inten-
tion of the Government to have any revision of the sala-
ries of civil servants in consequence of this bill I
Lord PALMERSTON said that as the effect of the
bill would be to add from 2 to 5 per cent. to the salaries
of the civil servants, the revision, if any, would be a re-
vision by which these salaries would be diminished.