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THE WATER SUPPLY.
The Frost and the Water Supply.—The most interesting
feature in connection with the water supply of
London during the year, arose out of the phenomenal frost of
January—March. It goes without the saying that the
severe and prolonged cold, which was the cause of much
sickness and of many deaths, occasioned grievous inconvenience
to the people of the Metropolis, arising from the want of
water, due to the frozen condition of the communicationpipes
connecting the Companies mains with the cisterns, or to
the freezing of the domestic supply-pipes. Here and there,
in no inconsiderable number of cases in the aggregate, the
mains, too superficially embedded in the ground, became filled
with ice, and, in not a few instances, burst. The cases in which
the water became frozen in the communication-pipes were very
numerous, the resulting nuisances being great and long
continued. The Companies did what they could, by fixing
standpipes, to mitigate the inconvenience to their customers,
many of whom, doubtless, paid, in amount, a second water rate
in the shape of fees to water carriers. Complaints reached me
from householders, in several parts of the parish, of
inconvenience, far exceeding that due to mere suppression of
the water supply, caused by the freezing of soil-pipes; and
applications were made for the help of the Sanitary Authority
in resumption of their ancient duty as scavengers of night-soil.
Among the poorer classes subjected to this trouble, the
difficulty was sometimes solved by the deposit of excremental
matters in the streets, and in the street-gulleys. At certain
" Model" or " Improved " Dwellings, excreta were discharged
through the " shoots," intended for ordinary domestic refuse,
into the chambers provided for the temporary reception of
" dust and ashes," and cleared away by the dustmen therewith.
In my annual report for the official year ended 30th March,
1895, I dealt fully with this subject (pp. 219-221), and set out
the law with reference thereto. I have now only to add that,