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Resolved—(Mr. Beasley: Mr. Vice-Chairman Bisley)—That the Vestry support the
action taken by the Vestry of St. James', Westminster, in the matter.
The Voluntary Schools Act received the Royal Assent on the 8th April, 1897, and is an
Act to provide for a Grant out of the Exchequer in aid of Voluntary Elementary Schools,
and for the exemption from rates of those Schools, and to repeal part of Section 19 of the
Elementary Education Act, 1876.
Water Supply.
On 2nd June, 1896, the General Purposes and Works Committee reported having
considered the following reports of the Surveyor, with reference to the water supply of the
Parish:—
"During the summer of last year I reported the failure of some of the pumps to give
sufficient water for street watering purposes, and upon the 2nd July, 1895, I was instructed to
have three stand-posts erected and connected with the Water Companies' mains, one near the
'Lion' p.h., and the other two in Rotherhithe Street; but owing to the terms asked by the
Kent Water Company for those in Rotherhithe Street being such as I could not ask you to
accept, I only erected the one near the 'Lion' p.h. I have again approached the Engineer to
the Kent Water Company, and he is not prepared to supply the water by meter as in the case
of the Southwark and Vauxhall Company, but by the mileage of road watered, and I have
succeeded in getting him to reduce the amount to £20 per mile per annum, or £50 for the
miles from Surrey Bridge to Plough Bridge and the side streets. This district is watered
by two carts ; and if the stand-posts are erected I shall save 8s. 10d. per day for labour now
required for pumping. The average number of days the carts were out for the past two years
was 105, representing a cost of £46 7s. 6d.; so taking these figures as a basis, the extra cost
will only amount to £3 12s. 6d. per annum; but as this water without extra charge will be
available for flushing sewers and gullies, the £3 2s. 6d. will be more than saved on that
account. More efficiency will also be obtained, because at present it takes 6 hours per day to
pump water, leaving only 4 hours for distribution, whereas with the stand-pipe it will only take
3 hours to fill the same number of carts; therefore, I estimate that each cart would be take
to distribute one-third more water, or 24 loads per day against 18 loads, the present average
quantity, if the pumps would give the water, their present yield being only about one-quarter
the quantity required.
"The argument set forth above is applicable to the whole of the parish, and I have to
inform the Vestry that, having only one stand-pipe at the 'Lion' p.h. is a loss with no equivalent