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Duties of the Trust.—The purposes of the Act are defined (clause
4) as being to vest in the Water Trust the sole and exclusive power of supplying
water within the metropolitan water area for domestic, manufacturing,
and general purposes; for maintaining in the mains a supply of
water under pressure for high service and the extinguishment of fires;
and for equalising the charges for water supply throughout the metropolitan
water area. The Act is to be carried into effect by the
acqaisition of the undertakings of the eight Metropolitan Companies
and of the undertakings of the Rickmansworth Waterworks
Company, and the Leatherhead and District Waterworks
Company (clause 8 and schedule I.). The undertakings may be
acquired by agreement or arbitration (clauses 8 and 12), and the
provisions of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Acts are incorporated
with the Bill, subject to modifications (clause 13). Until the transfer of
the undertakings to the Water Trust, the Companies are to exercise
their powers as Trustees for the Trust, and subject to a continuous
audit (clause 9), so that the Act will take immediate effect for the
benefit of the water consumers. Certain powers are conferred upon the
Trust, including (clause 11) power to promote Bills in Parliament far
any purposes connected with the water supply, or the extension or
improvement of the same.
Board, of Arbitration.—It is exceedingly unlikely that the Trust
and all the Companies will agree to terms of transfer without arbitration,
although it is highly probable that arbitration in the case of the
:first of the Companies dealt with will result in the laying down of
principles, rendering agreement with the other Companies a comparatively
easy matter. Each undertaking will, failing agreement, necessarily
be the subject of a separate arbitration. It is important that the same
lines should be followed in each. Instead of arbitrators being
appointed for each arbitration, it is therefore proposed by the Bill
(clause 13) to constitute a Board of Arbitration to settle all claims for
compensation. This Board will consist of four members, one appointed
by the President of the Local Government Board, one by the Chairman
of the Institute of Bankers, one by the Chairman of the Institution of
Civil Engineers, and one by the Surveyors' Institution. Failing
appointment by any of these, the Home Secretary is to appoint an
arbitrator or arbitrators. The nominee of the President of the Local
Government Board is to be Chairman of the Board of Arbitration, with
a casting vote in case of an equality of votes. Provision is made for
the filling up of vacancies on this Board. In estimating the amount of
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