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43
which will be sufficient to meet the requirements of London for
fifty years to come. As to the purity of these supplies, the
chemical and bacteriological evidence of Dr. Frankland, Dr.
Odling, Professor Crookes, Professor Ray Lankester, Dr. P.
F. Frankland and others, is most satisfactory; and no evidence
submitted as to impurity could stand the test of the investigations
and inquiries of the Commissioners. In their report,
however, they very properly advise that further efforts shall be
made to keep pollution of all kinds out of the Rivers, and maintain
their purity in every possible way.
The report of the Commissioners, given below sums up the
evidence and gives a general outline of the whole enquiry and
is followed by the conclusions at which they finally arrived and
their consequent recommendations.
The Commission, which was appointed in January, 1892,
constituted for the purpose of ascertaining" whether, taking
into consideration the growth of the population of the
Metropolis and the districts within the limits of the Metropolitan
Water Companies, and also the needs of the localities not
supplied by any Metropolitan Company but within the watersheds
of the Thames and the Lea, the present sources of supply
of these Companies are adequate in quantity and quality, and,
if inadequate, whether such supply as may be required can be
obtained within the watersheds referred to, having due regard
to the claims of the districts outside the Metropolis but within
those watersheds, or will have to be obtained outside the watersheds
of the Thames and the Lea." For the purpose of
acquiring the information necessary to enable them to form a
judgment upon the questions submitted, the Commissioners
placed themselves in communication with the Metropolitan
Water Companies, the Corporation of the City of London, the
London County Council, and the Councils of the Counties of
Bedford, Berks, Buckingham, Essex, Gloucester, Hants, Hertford,
Kent, Middlesex, Oxford, Surrey, and Wilts. They also
invited the Boards of Conservators of the Thames and Lea,