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27
"The total length of pipes laid by the Metropolitan Water
Companies up to the end of 1896 was 5,143¾ miles."
During the year 1896 there has again been a considerable
extension of the system of constant supply. The total number
of houses within the area of the Metropolitan Water Companies
having such a supply on the 31st December, 1896, was 719,882,
being an increase of 47,074 over the figures for the corresponding
day of 1895. Thus, at the end of 1896, about 86 per cent,
of the whole number of houses supplied by the Companies
were provided with a constant supply, and there were within
the Metropolis 1,645½ miles of streets in which the mains
were charged on the constant system.
With regard to the employment of cisterns for domestic
storage, the following are the facts as regards the different
Water companies' districts:—
Chelsea Company.—Cisterns are used in the majority of cases.
East London Company.—Cisterns are used in some houses,
but there appears to be a great want of proper means of domestic
storage.
Grand Junction Company.—Cisterns are in use, and a drawoff
tap on the rising main is recommended by the Company for
drinking and cooking purposes.
Kent Company.—Cisterns are prescribed by the Company's
Act, and are generally provided, but their retention is not now
insisted on in the case of small cottage properties.
Lambeth Company.—Cisterns are generally maintained in the
better and middle-class houses.
New River Company.—Cisterns for storage are always provided
in houses of any size. In small property the abolition of
cisterns is sanctioned by the Company by special arrangement.
Southwark and Vauxhall Company.—It is estimated by the
Company that forty per cent. of the houses within their district
are unprovided with cisterns.
West Middlesex Company.—Cisterns are maintained except
in a few courts of very small houses, where standpipes have
been erected with satisfactory results.
Cleansing of Persons Act.
During the year an Act was passed by Parliament entitled
"The Cleansing of Persons Act, 1897," which permits Local
Authorities to provide cleansing and disinfection for persons
infested with vermin, without having to go to a workhouse
or casual ward.