[Report 1904] / Medical Officer of Health, Trawden U.D.C.

  • Trawden (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1904] / Medical Officer of Health, Trawden U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    During the summer of 1904, some men, of a class from which one might expect such practices, in order to easily obtain trout from the \^’ycollar Brook, between Dene House and Parson Lea, placed in the water Chloride of Lime, locally known as “ Chemic*” Phis happened in the height of the hot weather, at a time when Wycollar was crowded by visitors from the surrounding districts. As you know, Wycollar is a beautiful wooded glen and a well-known place of rt'sort for people from the neighbouring towns of Colne, Nelson, BurnLy and Keighley, who visit it not only on account of its beauty, but also because of the historical associations of its old Hall. Had any of these visitors drunk of the water of the brook at the time the poison was passing down, serious indisposition, if not death, would have resulted. I have personally seen children and even adults drinking of the brook water, which is clean and clear, and as this happened on a hot dry day, it is only by a lucky chance that fatalities were avoided. Chloride of Lime is a powerful corrosive poison. Fish subjected to a solution of it are suffocated through breathing the tainted water, after suffering corrosion of the skin and destruction of the eyes by burning. I trust that steps may be taken to stop such a dangerous practice in the future. The Wycollar Brook has been poisoned several times to my knowledge during the last ten years. So also has the Trawden Brook both above and below Lumb Spout. Poisoning has also been done in the district on the river whose south bank is bounded by the Bough Gap and Winewall Farms. In this portion, tliere is not the same risk of direct injury to human beings, but cattle drinking the water run the risk of suffering, and through them, the inhabitants of the district. I trust my next report will be of a more satisfactory nature. Appended are Vital Statistics for 1904 and previous years. I am. Gentlemen, Yours obediently, 168, Keighley Road, GKORGK SKFFN. Colne, March 7th, 1905.