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of those Rivers, and all the Water Companies and Public
Authorities who have waterworks in the same area to give them
any information bearing on the subject which they might be in
a position to afford. The Commissioners sat on 45 days, 32
of which were occupied in having oral evidence. There were
92 witnesses examined, most of whom were put forward by the
Metropolitan Water Companies or the County Councils of
London and the counties of Hertford, Middlesex, Surrey, Essex,
and Buckingham, and by other public bodies in London and
the neighbourhood. Some of the evidence produced was of
such a character that it was found necessary to employ an
Assistant Commissioner to visit the localities under enquiry,
and to ascertain upon the spot the precise facts. For this
purpose, with the sanction of the Treasury, Mr. R. E. Middleton,
M. Inst. C.E., was appointed.
The inquiry, as far as possible, was conducted in two
divisions, the first of which comprised all the particular
evidence as to the individual circumstances of the Water
Companies at the present time, and the anticipations of the
future which might be based upon them. Under this division
was taken the evidence of the Metropolitan Water Companies
as to the quantity of water which they were daily supplying per
head of the population, the sources at their command to meet
that supply, and the grounds upon which, in their opinions,
future demands ought to be based ; the evidence of the Officers
of the Conservators of the River Thames and Lea as to the
powers of the Water Companies to abstract water from those
Rivers and the measures taken to prevent their pollution; the
evidence as to the amount of rainfall in the valleys of the
Thames and Lea, and the existing pollutions of these Rivers;
evidence prepared at the General Register Office as to the
populations of the areas affected by the inquiry; and, lastly,
evidence offered by Councils of counties and by corporations
and local boards within the watersheds. Nearly the whole of
this division of the evidence was taken before the end of July,