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9
cleanliness. In some of the courts where Landlords have erected cisterns,
whereby the inhabitants expected to have a better supply of water, there
is a general- complaint that the water is turned off before the cistern is filled,
and in these instances, the inhabitants have been in no way benefitted as
regards an increased quantity of water, although considerable expense has
been incurred by the landlords in the erection of the cisterns.
It is stated by the inhabitants of Hurn's Buildings, where a large
cistern has been erected, that the supply is so short that the cistern is never
filled, and that on Sundays they are always without water. On the 18th
June, I wrote to the Secretary of the Company respecting this short supply,
but as yet I have received no answer.
This short supply of water by the Companies is an important question,
and is one that should be well considered by the Local Boards and the public,
so that Parliament may be petitioned, and thereby induced to pass such laws
as will compel the Companies to supply a larger quantity of wrater daily to
the poor localities of the Metropolis. The poor have long suffered from the
want of an adequate supply of water, and it is greatly to be desired that an
energetic movement should be made on the part of those in authority to get
this evil remedied.
As the Companies do not supply water on Sundays (except in a few
instances), which, in my opinion, they ought to do, the daily supplying of
water being a work of necessity, it is almost a matter of impossibility for
landlords to erect tanks of sufficient size to hold the quantity which the last
amended Metropolis Local Management Act gives power to Vestries and
District Boards to enforce, viz., 30 gallons to each inhabitant per day. So
large a quantity as 30 gallons daily to each inhabitant of a court containing
100 persons, would, unless the water were supplied every day without exception,
require a tank capable of holding 6,000 gallons, the dimensions of
which would be (allowing 6 gallons and 2 pints to a cubic foot) about 960 cubic
feet. It would be impossible in many of the courts in this District to find
space for so large a tank ; and even if it were possible, it would not be desirable
to erect so large a vessel. The Legislature merely intended by the 68th
section of the Act that the inhabitants of courts should have a proper supply
of water.
I have long held the opinion that there is a great want of economy in
watering the roads, in supplying manufactories, in extinguishing fires, in
flushing sewers, &c., with filtered water, as is now practised, owing to the
circumstance of the Water Companies having only one set of mains. The
large quantity of water required for the above purposes has a tendency to
render the supply to the poor inadequate to their wants. But still the Companies
have it in their power to increase the quantity of water to the Courts,
and they ought to do so; for I am persuaded that an ample supply to the
poor, will do more to promote habits of decency and self-respect, and foster
a disposition to personal cleanliness among them, than any injunction