The present absence of any Statutory regulations as regards the discharge of sewage and other pollutions into tidal waters has allowed many estuaries in this country to be converted into receptacles for the filth of the sea-port and manufacturing towns situated near the mouth of the larger rivers. Only by an order of the Local Government Board, made after local enquiry and on sanitary grounds, can an estuary be declared a stream and thus brought under the various Rivers Pollutions Acts.