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31
Trade. These regulations were described as most, unsatisfactory and
indefinite in their meaning, and it was contended that the Act of
1871 had been passed altogether in the interests of the Water
Companies, and was not calculated to be productive of any advantage
to the water consumers. In the course of the debate
which followed the reading of this report, it was stated that if the
regulations were complied with, it would be at a cost to the ratepayers
of this Metropolis of about one-third of the present rates,
or about four millions sterling—not for new fittings but for additions
to those which the Water Companies might deem to be
efficient.
I reported, in some detail, upon the regulations in November,
and pointed out that the Commissioners had decided that all existing
fittings that are sound and efficient shall be deemed to be
" prescribed fittings " under the Act (Reg. 33). The regulations
inter alia, refer to pipes, cisterns, and taps—the size, weight,
position, and material of the pipes and other apparatus of supply
being specified, regard being had throughout to the prevention of
waste and fouling. With few exceptions they are non-retrospective,
Among the retrospective regulations is No. 13 to secure the proper
construction, maintenance, and placing of cisterns and inlet or ball
taps; No. 14 which provides for the abolition of waste pipes, a
fertile and unsuspected source of dangerous fouling, as they are
often in untrapped connection with drains, and allow the passage
of sewer gases which become absorbed into the water. In future
underground Cisterns are not to be employed without permission of
the Company (Reg. 16), and no wooden receptacle without a proper
metallic lining is henceforth to be brought into use for the
storage of water (Reg 17). No boiler, urinal, or water closet may
be served direct from any pipe, but only through the intervention
of a cistern or service box (Reg. 20). A group of houses e. g. in a
court may be supplied by a stand pipe, the draw tap to be of the
waste preventer kind (Reg. 19), and waste preventing apparatus
is to be applied in future to water closets and urinal cisterns, so as
to limit the discharge of water at each flush (Reg. 21). No alterations
can be made in any fittings without two days previous notice
in writing to the Company (Reg. 27), and every Act in contravention
of the regulations renders the offender liable to a penalty not exceeding
five pounds (Reg. 31)- It may be here observed that no
sample fittings have been deposited, and therefore it is but
too probable that differences of opinion will arise between consumers
and the companies as to what are " prescribed fittings,"
and lead to litigation. These regulations were expressly framed
with a view to the " constant supply," but the Commissioners stated
that they intended them to apply to the intermittent system also
to pave the way for the constant supply by requiring that when
new houses are erected, or the fittings in old houses removed, the'
new fittings shall be adapted for the constant supply, although the