Any attempt to blame the Government as such for the
disaster would be entirely misdirected. The control of the river has been delegated to the Conservancy, the Port. of London Authority, the London County Council and the Borough Councils. The Ministry. of Health has been-made a target of criticism, but it has nothing what- ever to do with the Thames; except in the remote sense that if;is the supreme authority: of the Municipalities. The flqods have given a• particular importance to Lord illedisloe's Reporl. on land drainage on which we wrote at lengkh three weeks ago. That Report was written in the interests of agriculture, but its demonstration that the myriad drainage authorities overlap and collide and aie generally in a state of muddle—mainly, because no authority has power to levy rates on a large enough area— is relevant to the London floods.
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