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as the result of complaints made to the Local Government
Board, in conformity with section 9 of the Metropolis Water
Act, 1852, that Board deputed Major-General Scott, R.E., the
water examiner, appointed under section 35 of the Metropolis
Water Act, 1871, to make inquiries in several districts,
including Kensington, the results of which, are set out in an
elaborate report to the Board, dated 5th January, 1896.
THE WATER REGULATIONS.
In my annual report for 1893, (page 242), I referred to
the negotiations that had taken place between the County
Council, and the seven associated Water Companies, and the
Local Government Board, with a view to an alteration in the
21st of the Water Regulations, with the object of securing a
three-gallon flush for the water-closets, to which, by the nature
of their construction, flushing tanks are applicable. The
Companies did not see their way to compliance with the
recommendation of the Council, which was based on representations
made to that body by certain of the Sanitary
Authorities, your Vestry among the number. The Companies'
attitude was that of non possum as ; based on the great, and,
as they held, unnecessarily, increased consumption of water
which they feared would be entailed, the present regulation,
forbidding a larger discharge at one flush than two gallons. In
October, 1894, the Council addressed a letter to the Local
Government Board, asking for the appointment of a " person of
engineering knowledge and experience " to report to the Board
on the subject of the proposed alteration in the regulation, as
provided for in section 19 of the Metropolis Water Act, 1871.
The Board thereupon directed their engineering Inspector,
Colonel Ducat, R.E., to make the desired inquiry, the result of
which was published in a report dated 10th December, 1895.
The Inspector reported adversely to the application of the
Council, and recommended that the suggestion "to alter