Section 19 provided that the Alkali Act 1863 was to continue in force until 1 July 1868, and no longer.

c. 36 was repealed by section 30 of the Alkali, &c. Works Regulation Act 1881 (44 & 45 Vict.

The first Chief Inspector was Dr Robert Angus Smith, he was statutorily responsible for the standards set and maintained by the Inspectorate, and reported directly to the Permanent Secretary of his department.

For the first sixty years of its existence, the inspectorate was solely concerned with the heavy chemicals industry, but from the 1920s onwards, its responsibilities were expanded, culminating in the Alkali.

This placed all major heavy industries which emitted smoke, grit, dust and fumes under the supervision of the Inspectorate.

c. 30), and subsequently by the Alkali, &c. Works Regulation Act 1906 (6 Edw.

Together with amendments, the Alkali Act became the main legislative control of industrial pollution in the UK.