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ground be laid at least 2 feet 6 inches below the surface, ???
shall in every exposed situation be properly protected
against the frost."
This clause, it will be noticed, deals with the communication
pipes, but it is obvious that if the service pipes should
be laid at a depth of 30 inches, the mains also laid since
1872 should not have been laid at a less depth; but this is
not the case, as some have been found to be at a depth
varying from 15 to 28 inches, and there can be no doubt than
if the regulations had been duly carried out many householders
would have been spared great inconvenience
Careful temperatures taken by Air. Sowerby, at the Botanical
Gardens, show that the frost in that locality did not penetrate
to quite 2 feet in the ground, so that although, of course, the
nature of the soil in other places would cause a difference
in the penetration of cold, probably if all main pipes had
been laid at a depth not less than 30 inches, few would have
been frozen.
It was stated by the President of the Local Government
Board in the House of Commons, "that on the assumption
that the failure of the supply was due to the fact that the water
had been frozen in the Companies' mains, and that that had
been due to the pipes being laid at an insufficient depth, the
Legislature appeared to have provided a course which might
be adopted by those affected. The Metropolitan Water
Act enacted that if at any time complaint as to the quantity
or quality of the water supplied by a Company in London
was made to the Local Government Board by memorial in
writing signed bv not less than 20 inhabitant householders,
paying rents, and supplied with water by a Company, it
should be lawful for the Board within two months after the
receipt of the report of such complaint to appoint some
competent person to inquire into the ground of such
complaint and report to the Board. The Act also provided
that if after the receipt of such report it should appear that
the complaint was well-founded the Board should give
notice in writing to the Company and that after the receipt
of such notice the Company should be required to remove,
within a reasonable time, the ground of such complaint.
He was advised that the provisions of the Act which