View report page

128
Company alone, in the western part of the Metropolis, have to any appreciable
extent given effect to the regulation. The "Metropolitan Authority" (Board of
Works) have not interfered for the protection of the public—having practically
ignored the regulations from the first. Nor have the Local Government Board
taken any steps in the matter, although for years the Water Examiner called their
attention, in his monthly reports, to^thejmportance of carrying out this particular
regulation. Referring to the deterioration of the water after leaving the Companies'
mains by the dirty state of the cisterns, rarely cleaned out and frequently
uncovered, often placed over the water-closet and not seldom in close proximity
to the dust-bins and other deposits of filth and garbage, Colonel Bolton remarks
that the only remedy for this state of affairs will lie in the establishment of the
Constant Supply system, and the consequent total abolition of these unfit
receptacles.
Constant Supply.— To obtain a constant supply of water was supposed to be a
principal object of the Act of 1871, and Colonel Bolton states that considerable
advance has been made in extending the system to the Metropolis. The West
Middlesex Company have 7,878 houses so supplied out of a total of 56,965 in their
district ; the Chelsea Company 1,691 out of 30,656 ; and the Grand Junction
Company none apparently, in their town district : this Company supplies 43,443
houses, of which 3,555, in their country district, have constant supply. In other
words there are in the districts of the Companies in which we are locally interested,
about 13,000 houses on constant service out of a total of nearly 131,000, or about
10 per cent. ; an increase of 6 per cent, within the year. The East London
Company, on the other hand, to quote but one, and the strongest case, by way of
comparison, has nearly 106,000 houses on constant service out of 129,000. The
western parts of the Metropolis are deplorably behind in this matter, and speaking
generally, it may be said that constant service has been given only on estates
built over since the passing of the Act, on which the intermittent service could
not be lawfully introduced.
The West Middlesex, Grand Junction, and Chelsea Companies respectively,
according to their own published statements, supplied 166, 248 and 239 gallons
daily, on an average, to each house in their districts. These quantities are in
excess of the public needs, and the fact of so much water having been supplied
implies waste, which would be almost entirely avoided by the adoption of the
Constant Supply system.
It will be remembered that the late Government entered into
certain "Agreements" with the several Water Companies for the
purchase of their property, and that the then Home Secretary
introduced a Bill for giving effect to the Agreements and for
creating a "Water Trust." Great objection was raised against
the enormous price proposed to be paid to the Companies,
amounting to some twenty millions in excess of the prime cost of
their Works. The present Government, therefore, remitted the
subject to a Select Committee of the House of Commons, which
reported adversely to the "Agreements," which have now fallen