Since the foregoing observations were penned, the Chairman of the
Royal Commission on Sewage Disposal has delivered a very interesting
inaugural address, in August last, at the Congress in Exeter of the
Institute of Public Health, to which attention ought to be drawn at
this point.
According to _The Times_ he is reported to have stated as follows: “He
regretted that he could not give some idea of the probable date at
which the Commission would issue its final report and recommendations.
They would soon, he hoped, be able to publish the results of a
prolonged investigation into the treatment of sewage on land; and
their experts were now making elaborate parallel examinations of some
of the processes of filtration by artificial means. But he feared that
they would ultimately be obliged to bring their proceedings to an
arbitrary close; for, however much they could learn, he was quite
certain they could never come to a point at which they could say there
was nothing more to be learned. The subject was inexhaustible.”
These very guarded observations are almost in direct contrast with the
very positive assurance of some enthusiastic supporters of artificial
treatments, who a year or two ago did not hesitate in proclaiming
throughout this country that the panacea for all sewage difficulties
had been discovered, and that the investigations of the Royal
Commission were a mere matter of form and a foregone conclusion.
To all those who did not share these very sanguine expressions of
faith, and who were painfully aware of the great gaps in our knowledge
of the processes taking place in sewage purification, these words of
Lord Iddesleigh will prove an assurance that the commissioners are not
swayed by popular likes and dislikes, however fascinating they may be,
but that they are earnestly endeavouring, in an impartial manner, to
throw such light upon this abstruse question as will enable them to
arrive at correct conclusions.
For a like purpose the foregoing remarks have been written; and if the
facts recorded in the previous pages, and the opinions expressed
therein, should prove of assistance to anyone in forming correct
views, the labour spent on them will be amply repaid.