POLLUTION OF RIVERS
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—" A dose of poison would kill every trout, where trout are, and perhaps even the coarse fish." So writes Sir W. Beach Thomas in your issue of August 31st. How true these words are can be illustrated from what occurred here in the upper reaches of the Thames only last week. Nearly 4,000 dead fish of all sorts and sizes—among them 150 trout —were taken out of the river in a stretch of about two and a half miles below the entry of the river Ray. No account could be taken of the number of fry and yearlings and such- like. Some of the fish were sent to London for examination and the verdict was " Poison." In 1921 we had an even more severe visitation in that the poison extended over a larger area. The origin of the poison is the river Ray, on which stands Swindon. No dead fish are ever found above the entry of the Ray. It may surprise many people to hear of " pollution " in the Thames of all rivers. There is, I believe, a special Act of Parliament to protect it from anything of the sort, but the fact remains that in this district it is from time to time a highly polluted river and the Act of Parliament is a dead letter—or feebly enforced.—I am, Sir, &el C. M. R. LUCKIKAN.
Castle Eaton Rectory, Cricklade, Wilts.
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