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52
the water as supplied from the companies is
perfectly free from injurious contaminations, and
any impurity must arise from the impurity of pipes,
cisterns, or other reservoirs in which it may be kept.
The wells in this Parish are gradually being
abandoned, as the longer they stand the more
liable they are to impurities from the leakage of
drains through rat-holes and the percolation of
street gutters and cesspools. There are now but
seven remaining in the whole parish, and these
I constantly examine, for the purpose of preventing
their use should any dangerous impurity
arise. I have from time to time during the past
year presented you with analyses of these waters.
Some of them were carefully analysed by the late
Dr. R. D. Thomson, in the laboratory of the
Medical Officer of Health for St. Marylebone.
The almost universal result of these examinations
has been to shew that these waters present a
greater amount of impurity than that supplied by
the New River and Thames Water Companies.
The few pumps remaining in London are
almost entirely neglected for drinking purposes in
favour of the fountains, which have been so generally
erected in London by the Drinking Fountains
Association. I would remind the Vestry that whilst
the Parish of St. James's, Westminster, offers some
of the finest sites for free drinking fountains in
London, that there are fewer public fountains in its
streets than in any parish in London.