The proposal to build a great power station in Battersea
may become a test question as to -the placing of these stations under the . Government's electrical scheme. Weighty protests have been made against the Battersea proposal, which has been sanctioned by the Commissioner of Works. It is said that the Battersea station would consume four times as much coal as is consumed by the Barton Power Station, near Manchester, which damages crops over a radius of a mile. Even when smoke is eliminated, sulphurous fumes are projected into the atmosphere which not only ruin vegetation and stone and metal work, but are poisonous to human beings. Of course the Commissioner of Works exacted the condi- tion that the Battersea station should " so far as is reason- ably practicable " prevent the emission of smoke and oxides of sulphur, but we know only too well from experi- ence what is meant by the abatement of smoke " as far as possible." As the Times points out, a south-west wind would carry the fumes of the Battersea station over Battersea Park, Chelsea Hospital, the Tate Gallery, Lambeth Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, St. Thomas's Hospital, Whitehall and the National Gallery._ The new power stations are, of course, urgently required, but surely they can be placed in uninhabited spots, or at least, where the prevalent winds will not do the greatest conceivable amount of mischief.
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