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155
section of which requires the Company's water rentals not merely
to be paid when demanded, but to be paid in advance. Without
notice to your Vestry, as responsible for the sanitary condition of
the Mews, or to the people inhabiting the Mews, the water was
cut off, on December 15th, by severing the service pipe of each
separate building. The fact came to my knowledge on the 16th,
and I at once wrote to the Secretary to the Company to enquire
whether he was aware of what had been done? On the 17th I
reported on the subject to your Vestry, and my report found its way
into the daily papers on the following day, with the result that
the Company immediately put up a stand-pipe in the Mews, from
which, for a limited time each day, the people were enabled to
draw a supply for domestic purposes in whatever pots, pans, or
other vessels they possessed; but the drains and water closets,
naturally, did not get regular flushing, so essential for keeping them
clean and to prevent obstruction.
Your Vestry on the same day (December 17), authorised the
issue of notices requiring the water to be re-laid on. The notices
not having been obeyed, summonses were applied for, and in due
course Orders for laying on the water were made by the Justices.
As usual, therefore, the powers of the sanitary law were invoked
for the Company's benefit, i.e., to secure the payment of their
water rentals. But all the parties were in difficulties at the
time, and the Justice's Orders, equally with your Vestry's
notices, were disregarded. The case came before the Justices
more than once and ultimately, possession of the stables having
been given up by the tenant, and the Company having consented
to rank on his estate as an ordinary creditor, the
water was laid on, just nine weeks after the supply had been
cut of.
An observation with reference to the inconsistencies of water
legislation is suggested by the fact that Hayden's Mews is on the
"constant service." Had the water been cut off because the
"fittings," or water supply apparatus, were not of the "prescribed"
character, (and they were not), your Vestry as "Nuisance
Authority" would have been entitled to receive notice from the