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17
The last point connected with the sanitary work
of the quarter has been the examination of the
water supply of the City. The water from the
mains of the New lliver Company has been examined
on several occasions, and the average
amount of solid matter dissolved in it has been
18.94 grains per imperial gallon, of which 1.24
grains were organic matter. The saline matter
consisted of corbonate of lime and magnesia, with
a small proportion of sulphate of lime, alkaline
chloride, nitrate, and sulphate. These results are
satisfactory, for they not only indicate a good
quality of water, but they also show how great has
been the improvement thereof during the last ten
years: in fact in 1851, when the Government
Commission inquired into the condition of the water
supply of London, the amount of organic matter in
the New River water was nearly three grains per
gallon. At the present time it rarely exceeds half
that quantity. There is, therefore, but little cause
for complaint as regards the quality of the water.
I wish I could report to you as favourably of the
quantity of the supply. In the aggregate, without
doubt, there is abundance, but the means of storing
the water, and the appliances for distributing it
are so defective in the poor localities of the City,
that there are constant complaints of a deficiency
of water. Indeed, the water is on for so short a
time in many districts that the poor have but little