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This table shews that the industrial classes form the great
majority of the inhabitants of Battersea, the other classes, with
the exception of the first, of whom the majority are people
retired from active business; being engaged in ministering to the
wants of the great mass of people.
Water This most important subject has been under
Supply for
London. consideration by a Royal Commission which sat
during 1892 and 1893. The Chairman was Lord Balfour, of
Burleigh; Sir Archibald Geikie, Professor Dewar, Dr. Ogle,
Mr. Mansergh, Mr. Hill and Sir George Bruce constituted the
Committee, all men of eminence and selected for their intimate
knowledge of the subject. No Commissioner was in any way
connected with either of the London Water Companies, and Mr.
Mansergh is the Engineer who is now bringing water to
Birmingham from Wales, while Mr. Hill is supplying Manchester
from Thirlmere.
The witnesses examined include nearly one hundred of the
leading sanitarians and engineers, together with representatives
of the great public bodies of the Metropolis and elsewhere,
the Local Government Board, the London County Council,
the Corporation of London and the various Water Companies
and others having interests in the Water Supply of the
Metropolis.
The conclusions of the Commission were arrived at
unanimously, and are so well set out that in the following
synopsis the language used by the Commission in its reports
will be accurately reproduced.
Briefly reviewing the inquiry, the main questions referred
to and considered by the Commission were whether the water of
the Thames and Lea Valleys was good, and whether enough of it
could be obtained for the London of the future without injury
to the interests of other districts in those water sheds. They
find, as the Companies always maintained, that " the water as