To ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that the town council of Southend have agreed to pay the owner of the Hadleigh Ray oyster beds £500 per annum for four years or so long as the corporation (Southend) are permitted to discharge crude sewage into the estuary, the owner meanwhile working his beds; whether the Local Government Board can permit a continuance of this practice fraught with so much danger to the public health; whether he is aware that some £20,000 sterling have been spent by the town council of Southend in recent years in defending their practice of discharging crude sewage into the estuary; and whether, in both the interests of the public health and of the ratepayers, he can see his way to order a public inquiry.

I have no information as to the agreement referred to, or as to the precise amount spent by the town council in defending the existing arrangements for the disposal of the sewage of the borough. It does not at present appear to me that there would be any advantage in my directing a public inquiry of the kind suggested.