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were or were not pollutted. 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 London County Council have
introduced a Bill into Parliament, empowering it to bring a
supply of water from South Wales. The Bill failed to pass the
second reading. It is certain that some further source of supply
other than the Thames and Lea must before many years be found.
The Vestry has ordered that monthly samples of water
for the purposes of analyses be taken from the supplies of the
water companies in the Parish.
Public
Health
(London)
Act, 1891.
The procedure of the Public Health Department is
almost entirely based upon the provisions of the
Public Health (London) Act, 1891, which consolidated
and amended the various Acts under which the Sanitation of
London has been previously carried out. It contained also many
valuable provisions which had hitherto only been extra Metropolitan
and contained in the Public Health Act, 1875, under
which provincial Sanitary Authorities had effected great improvement
in the Sanitation of their districts. A condensed synopsis
of its provisions here will be useful for reference.
Sec. 1 provides for house to house inspection by the Sanitary
Authority, for which additional Inspectors with separate and
smaller districts have been appointed within the last few years.
Sec. 2.—A nuisance must be abated that is dangerous or
likely to be dangerous to health. Under the Metropolis Management
and other Acts it was necessary to prove actual injury tohealth.