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84
The Sanitary Committee at once recognised the
importance of seeking action, and under the
powers conferred upon them by the City of
London Sewers Acts, 1848, 1851, gave an order
that in all the above-mentioned dwellings cisterns
should be erected without delay.
After much negotiation the owners of 59
houses supplied the deficiency without coercion,
but in 18 instances it was not until pressure was
put upon unwilling landlords by the issuing of
"compulsory" orders that this was effected.
In five cases, however, the owners proved
obstinate, and the Public Health Department
was driven to the only alternative of ordering
the works to be executed by its contractors, and
in due course the defaulters will be sued for the
cost thereof, as the law provides.
The question of doing away with cisterns in
domiciles has exercised the minds of owners
of house property and others, who argue that a
"constant service" ensures a purer supply of
water; and so it certainly does when cisterns