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33
a tap at one end so that pails could be used. After consultation
however with its veterinary surgeon and officials of the London
County Council, who were of opinion that there was danger of
spreading infection amongst cattle by the use of these troughs, the
Vestry on the 4th March declined the offer.
Water Suply.—For the purpose of investigating complaints received
respecting defective water supply during the late severe
winter the Local Government Board appointed Major-General Scott,
R.E., to hold a public inquiry at the Vestry Hall on the 20th May
1895. The Vestry was represented by Mr. Morton Smith, whose
fees amounted to £6 16s. 0d. The inquiry resulted from three
memorials, signed by 63 householders in the parish of Newington ;
and from the exhaustive report issued by Major-General Scott it
appeared that no less than 46 such memorials, signed by 1,486
persons in the various sanitary districts of the metropolis, had been
presented to the Board. Careful measurements were made by the
Surveyor (Mr. Waddington) of the depth of mains at various points,
from which it transpired that the average depth was 1 ft. 5 in.,
varying from 5½ in. to 2 ft. 9 in. in the case of the Lambeth "Water
Company, and average 1 ft. 3 in., varying from 7½ in. to 2 ft. 8 in.,
in the streets served by the Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company.
The report of Major-General Scott stood referred to the Public
Health and Sanitary Committee at the close of this Report.
On the 29th May the Vestry declined to send delegates to a conference
convened by the Vestry of Kensington to consider steps to
be adopted for placing the control of the water supply in the hands
of a representative body other than the London County Council,
preferring that such control should be in the hands of the Council:
and in response to a further similar invitation from the same body
repeated this decision on the 2nd October, and again to the Vestry
of Paddington on the 19th February 1896. Another conference
convened by the Marylebone Vestry was also declined as premature,
on the 18th March.
With the view of meeting a similar difficulty with regard to the
water supply to that experienced during the preceding winter,
should it again arise, the Vestry on the 30th October and 13th
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