View report page

14
in the county of Middlesex, and the parish of St. Botolph Without
Bishopsgate, in the City of London, or within some or one of those several
parishes and liberties, except in respect of such houses, lands, buildings,
and premises within that area which now take, or from time to time shall
take, their respective supplies of water from the New River Company, or
are beyond the district of the East London Waterworks Company. This
extensive and densely populated area, containing upwards of 3,000 houses,
is divided into three sections, in the first of which the constant supply will
commence on the 1st of May, in the second, on the 1st of June, and in the
third, on the 1st of July. This company retain their previously announced
intention of bringing their whole district, section by section, under constant
supply."
From the above remarks of Major Bolton, the sections Nos. 8, 9, 10,
11, 12, 13 and 14, of the Metropolis Water Act, which relate to the
application of the Local authority to the Board of Trade, to compel the
Companies to give a constant supply of water, are rendered unnecessary, as
the Companies which supply this district have expressed their willingness
to give to all places within their respective limits a constant supply, provided
that arrangements to prevent waste arc made.
As the question of constant supply is not universally, or perhaps not
even generally understood, a few practical suggestions relating thereto may
be useful.
In the first place it is necessary to define what is meant in the Act of
Parliament by the word district. The term "District," shall mean the area
selected for the purpose of constant supply, such area being within
the jurisdiction of a Metropolitan authority, and also within the water
limits of a Company, and being co-terminous with one or more services of
such Company.
The term "Premises" shall mean and include any dwelling house, or
any part of a dwelling house, and any stable, yard, or other offices, used
together, or in connection with any dwelling house or other part of a
dwelling house, and the term "Premises" shall be deemed to be on the
same service or on a service, when water is supplied to them by a company
from the same service pipe.
1.—By general consent it is deemed desirable to supply water on the
Constant Service.
2.—In poor neighbourhoods, stand-pipes one to about every four or
five houses, outside the houses in each court and alley; and as a matter of
convenience to the landlords, and of benefit to the tenants, it is desirable that
arrangements be made for the Water Company to keep in repair at their
own expense, all the stand-pipes which are fixed outside the houses.
3.—That it is impracticable to have without a very large additional cost,
a constant and an intermittent service in the same court or alley, inasmuch
as the two services must involve two distinct systems of pipes. Moreover,
it was not contemplated, that the two services should co-exist, but that the
one should supersede the other.