13 JULY 1944, Page 14

RIVER POLLUTION

SIR,—The causes as stated by Mr. Hobday of the Lea Conservancy Board are correct and of long standing. They were brought frequently before the notice of the Board some twenty years ago when I and some friends who used to fish that one-time beautiful little stream foresaw what was happening. But nothing was done, although the Lea is an important part of London water supply. "The trout's standard of pgrity is much higher than that of the human being," as we were told by an eminent water biologist whom we then consulted, and the upper Lea gradually became the smelly sewer which it now is. My recollection is that we fishermen were considered fussy old busybodies worrying about nothing —only one more of England's little rivers destroyed.—Yours faithfully, The Flyfishers' Club, 23 St. lames's Square, S.W. z. R. D. PECK.