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43
1892; and the sittings of the Commissioners from the month
of October of that year were mainly devoted to the second
division of evidence, which included the general evidence of
engineers, geologists, chemists, bacteriologists bearing upon the
subject as a whole.
The areas affected by the enquiry may be defined as
extending over "Greater London" as that name is used in the
General Register Office, where it is applied to the area included
within the Metropolitan and City Police districts. Such area
includes all parishes wholly comprised within a circle of 15
miles radius from Charing Cross, and all other parishes of
which any part is included within a circle of 12 miles radius
from the same centre. Greater London thus not only includes
the whole of the Administrative County of London, but extends
widely beyond it, and contains in all an area of 701 square
miles. In the evidence given before the Commission the area
within Greater London and outside the County of London was
called the "Outer Ring," and it is within this area that at
present the most rapid increase of population appears to be
taking place. The areas supplied form together a district
which is usually spoken of as "Water London," comprising
about 622 square miles. The areas are not co-extensive with
any districts of which the populations are given by the
Registrar-General in the census returns, and no exact statement
of the population being obtainable from official returns the
Companies found it necessary to rely upon estimates compiled
from such other sources of information as they had at their
command. According to the returns made by the Companies
themselves the total population supplied by them in 1891 was
estimated at 5,469,791; but it would seem, however, that
5,237,062 persons must be accepted as the closest approximation
that could, under the circumstances, be made.
In turning to the future requirements of this ever-increasing
population, the first question that presented itself for discussion
was what area ought to be taken into account ; and it soon