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60
In March the Engineer reported that in accordance with the Council's
instruction the "village pump" on Edmonton Green had been removed,
and the well sealed with York stone and a cover of concrete.
Obstructed Highways. On December 16th, the Works
and Highways Committee again took into consideration the important
question of how far tradesmen shall be allowed to occupy the public
footpaths. As I have said in previous reports, all private obstructions
to the free use of the public streets are a danger to the life and limb of
the passers-by, especially secondhand wearing apparel. One busy afternoon
I counted this collection of goods outside a well-known corner, viz.:—
one hundred to one hundred and fifty secondhand articles of clothing,
chiefly for the use of females and infants; three boxes (in the road
channel) full of tools that had seen better days, and in the road itself
three step-ladders of varying length, one harmonium, and one American
organ of full compass.
WATER SUPPLY.
The district generally is supplied by the Metropolitan Water Board
(New River area). The only house for which the public supply is not
at present available is a farmhouse in Firs Lane; there is also one
group of forty-five houses supplied by shallow wells about 20 feet deep.
Samples of the water in these wells are taken at intervals. The water
supply at Messrs. Ridley and Whitley'is factory is taken from the River
Lea, and purified on the premises before use. At Ele's works a water
of excellent quality is obtained from an artesian well 400 feet deep.
The water which the Lea Conservancy Board controls runs from
Hertford to Limehouse. The hot summer of 1911 made the Board's task
of retaining a sufficient volume of water in the river and navigation a
hard one; and in the latter part of that year the heavy rainfall
was productive of severe floods. On the 1st September, 1912,
the Board took over the River Stort.
In May, Councillor Cornish submitted to the Council an interesting
report on the work of the Board for the year ending March 31st, 1912.
He there states that Mr. Young, the chemist of the Board, had analysed
173 samples of river water, sewage, or sewage effluent, of which 59 were
found to be very good, 25 good, 56 fair, 15 bad, and 18 very bad.
During the same period 37 carcases of animals were removed from the
River Lea above the drinking water intakes, and 506 below. New
by-laws for regulating the loading and unloading of petrol and other
dangerous goods came into operation on November 8th, 1911.