THE- POLLUTION OF WATER BILL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1565, 8 October 1912, Page 6

THE- POLLUTION OF WATER BILL.

Sir, —As one interested, I was pleased] to see your paragraph setting out Mr. Tripp's objections to tlic aboyo Rill at the Acclimatisation Society's meeting. I have never seen the Bill, but understand it is introduced at the instance of tlnxmillers with the object of repealing what lias been British l law for countless pnora- . Hons. I understand the present law on the subjejt to bo as laid dovvn ; lji-Ljit;ou v. Hill: ' , ~ The right to water in streams upon the surface of the earth belongs of right to the proprietors of the adjoining lands, but the right to use it to the prejudice of any proprietor of land above or below I by throwing baclc, diverting, or polluting it is a right for which the claimant must show a title by contract or prescription. Could anything bo fairer? Mr. fnpp sets ont what, to iny mind, are .overwhelming objections to any alteration of t' ie la,v: „ . i, , The great danger of altering the law as to pollution; the absolute destruction, of fish in many stTcams; the interests of public health; the-fact that, the .present law has been the law of England from time immemorial; the fact that England, the greatest manufacturing country of tho world, lias never seen fit but to make it more stringent; and, lastly, the injury to the farming industry. I wish to add a few words from .the farmers' point of view. I have seen horses, sheep, and cattle go again and again to drink at (lax, Hill-polluted streams, smell tho water, and go awoy without, drinking, I have put up fences on drained swamp lands, through' which Haxmill-polluted water runs, and I know that the land is completely and siekeningly fouled over a big'area, and to a great depth. I have known typhoid fever ascribed to tho same cause. Does the present. Bill propose to legalise such- a condition of things? Must many farmers find water for their srtock from other sources than the drains they have dug and their natural streams? ' Tho dairyfarmer particularly must have the purest of water. Are the rights of the farming community to bo over-ridden by tho (laxmilling industry? Is the present; law "to be altered for the minority to"the injury of the vast majority? To my mind legislation that proposes to make such a radical change in our law must be vory carefully considered from every point of view, and each class affected must bo given every opportunity to state its case. —I am, eic., FARMER.