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54
Parish of St. George the Martyr, Southwark.
very unequal and insufficient, to what it might be if better managed. Surely, if the waste
is everywhere one-half or three-fifths, some better plan might be adopted, so as to make the
present amount nearly if not quite equal to our wants. One remedy which might be adopted
in some cases, is to make the waste pipe where there is a sink, a very [little smaller than
the supply pipe—so to compel attention. The actual cost of raising water to the tops of
houses for a year is estimated at 4d., while the companies exact from 10s. to several pounds
for high deliveries. There is no help for the consumer, the districts being tnore or less
parcelled out among the companies.
The gross revenue of seven principal water companies in 1864 was £702,059 ; the working
expenses, £275,547 ; the profit to pay dividends, interest, &c., £404,585. For this
money they are said to supply 108,000,000 gallons to 470,000 houses, through 3,290 miles
of main and branch pipes.
From the experience of extra-metropolitan corporations, and from the absurdity of
making this first necessary of life a monopoly, yielding an absurd profit; from tho fact that
it is very unequally distributed, and the poor often get little or none, we must conclude
that it would be far better that private companies should not be permitted much longer to
supply water, but that it should be in the hands of responsible municipalities, acting on
the general behalf without profit, and so supplying the maximum that can be supplied up
to the full wants of the poor and rich at the very lowest cost.
Waste in the constant system is not so certain as interested witnesses would have us believe
; nor would the alteration of apparatus be so great as is set forth. The intermittent
system requires larger pipes, there are sediments. The constant supply requires piping
of about half the size, and there is no sediment. People would be likely to take what they
want, while at present there is a great waste not observed or not controlled. Mr. Storrat,
a witness before the Board of Health, was most decidedly in favour of the constant supply
system, in the interest of both company and consumer, and he believed there would be
far less waste of water. He said the water was so much better; it was at all times clear
and cool, and the pipes, he considered, would last three times longer. It may as well be
mentioned that, in case of any very shameful lack of supply or quality, a remedy is supplied
by the Act of Parliament as it stands:—" Any twenty inhabitants dissatisfied with their
supply may at any time memorialise the Board of Trade, and in most cases the Board will
cause inquiry to be made within a month." This remedy appears to depend a little upon
the disposition of the ministers for the time being. So far the minister has not shown himself
altogether acquainted with the condition and wants of the lower people. For instance,
one minister does not see that gasworks near a park would be very injurious or unpleasant
to the people. Another thinks the present water supply is good and ample, it being
the case, nevertheless, that tens of thousands of poor people in London have, for all Pur"
poses, only about three gallons of dirty, more or less dangerous, water daily. For further
information as to the present condition of things, late numbers of the Edinburgh and Fortnightly
Reviews may with advantage be consulted; and upon the general subject, " Hughes s
Treatise on Water Works," (Weale's cheap series), and the masterly and invaluable bhie J
books, published, with maps andjplans, by the Board of Health in 1850. It remains f°r
the committee to recommend this Vestry to join the Bermondsey Yestry and others in seek
ing a constant supply, to be first fully and fairly tried in limited spaces among the rich a®