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processes, to say when a water was or was not injurious, and
that there was no way of arriving at a solution of this question
except by inspecting the sources of supply, and seeing if they
were or were not polluted. According to this criterion London
river water stands absolutely and hopelessly condemned.
Although very little is definitely said on the subject, the
impression which the perusal of the report leaves upon the mind
is that the whole control of the water supply, from the sources to
the final delivery to the consumer, should be in the hands of one
authority, and that the time has arrived when competing
companies, the result of private enterprise, should no longer be
left in possession of a monopoly of the primary necessity of
existence.
At the time of writing the water bills brought forward by
the London County Council for acquiring the undertakings of the
various companies supplying water to the metropolis have been
wrecked for the session of 1897, as upon one being defeated in
the House of Commons by a decisive majority, the rest were
perforce withdrawn. The whole subject will have to be earnestly
reconsidered. In the meantime London waits.
Since writing above, the Government have intimated that a
Royal Commission would be appointed to consider the whole
subject of the Metropolitan Water Supply, together with the
report of the London Water Commission, and the President of
the Local Government Board, in answer to a question in the
House of Commons, stated that the terms of the reference would
direct the Commission to inquire and report (1) whether, having
regard to financial considerations, and to the present and prospective
requirements as regarded water supplied within the limits
of the supply of the Metropolitan Water Companies, it was
desirable, in the interests of the ratepayers and water consumers,
that the undertakings of the water companies should be acquired
and managed, either (a) by one authority, or (b) by several
authorities, and, if so, what should be the authority or authorities,