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170
wells should be abolished and water laid on to
houses by the water companies. No direct power
of the kind, however, is given, excepting in respect
of small houses for which the water rate does not
exceed three pence a week. Vestries have power to
order water to be supplied to houses for the purpose
of flushing closets and drains; but they have no
power, for this purpose, of insisting that the water
shall be derived from any specific source. They
have power if they have sufficient direct evidence to
prove that their water is unfit to drink, either (in the
discretion of the magistrate) to have private wells
closed or to require that they shall be used only for
specific purposes. But supposing that in any such
case where water is not laid on by a company a
magistrate were to direct that the well-water should
be used only for flushing closets and drains, the
Vestry have still no power, or at any rate a very
doubtful power, to order that drinking water shall be
provided. I cannot help here remarking on the
improper powers which the water companies possess,
and abuse, of cutting off the water supply from
houses in order to enforce obedience to their
regulations, or because their water-rent is in arrear.
Not only are houses thus left sometimes for weeks
without one of the first necessaries of life, owing,