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machines, might, some years ago, have been valid, but now that all the
courts in the District are supplied with water, the objection has little or
no weight, for, as the inhabitants of all the courts pay for water, it can make
no difference to the Company where they obtain the supply, as only the
amount which they require for use will be drawn. A tap from the main,
without the intervention of some machine to prevent waste, will not be permitted
by the Water Companies, unless a meter is used. MR. Wicksteed,
formerly Engineer to the East London Water Company, in his evidence before
the Commissioners for Inquiring into the state of large Towns and Populous
Districts, states that, " the best mode of supplying water to the poor would be
by a common stand-cock so constructed that when the water was required it
would be necessary to hold up the valve to keep it open, and when the supply
was obtained, the valve would shut itself and remain closed until water was
again required—this would prevent a waste of water.”
There can be no doubt that, for many reasons, the constant supply from
the main would the best mode of supplying water to the Courts and Alleys
in the District. By providing a constant supply from the main without the
intervention of a tank or butt, the water when required for use would always
be fresh and cool. The water which is retained in butts soon becomes contaminated
and unfit for drinking, owing, in the first place, to the butt itself
being, in many instances, partially decayed. Secondly, as the greater number
of the butts in use are uncovered, there is always a film of dust on the surface
of the water, and if the butts are not placed sufficiently high from the
ground to prevent persons from dipping all sorts of vessels into them, and
washing vegetables, &c., therein, the water soon becomes so filthy that it
cannot be used. Covers to the butts, unless well secured and placed beyond
reach, are soon destroyed by the tenants. Thirdly, the butt is generally so
placed as to be exposed to the heat of the sun in summer, in those courts
where the sun's rays penetrate, thereby rendering the water warm and disagreeable
to the taste. Slate or iron cisterns are a great improvement upon
the wooden butts, but even to these there is an objection, for however carefully
they may be covered, the water will, in the course of time, become
contaminated, unless they are cleansed out thoroughly once in every three or
four weeks. But as neither the landlords nor any of the tenants are likely
to perform so frequently this necessary work, the cistern will soon become
dirty.* Besides, unless the Companies will allow the water to flow for a
longer period than they do at present, the cistern will not be washed out.
The properly cleansing of a cistern can only be performed while the water is
flowing; therefore, if the inhabitants of the court cleanse the cistern, they
must, under the present arrangements, go without water for that day. The
very short supply of water which is given by the Water Companies to the
poor localities in this district has, to a great extent, frustrated my endeavours
to ameliorate the condition of the poor as regards personal and household
* In private houses the cistern should be cleansed once a month at the least.