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4
water, one of the elementary necessities of life.
For weeks many persons were without water, except
what they were able to carry in buckets from long
distances.
The cause of this stoppage in the supply was
due to two causes, the non-continuous supply and
the shallow method of laying the mains. In
Cambridge Road I measured the depth as 8 inches,
and in no place where I saw the ground opened
were the pipes at a greater depth than 18 inches.
Authorities mention 3 feet as a proper depth for
mains, and not less than 2 feet for house connections.
That this artificial drought in times of frost is due
merely to the supineness and utter disregard for the
comfort of those persons compelled to draw their
necessity at the will of a monopoly is shewn, and
cannot be denied by the Water Company. It is
only necessary to enquire how often Continental
towns are placed in this pitiable condition. I have
lived in places with the thermometer standing at
12º and 15º Fah. and have not experienced any
failure in the water supply, simply because the
mains and connections were laid at a proper depth
below the ground. One death from Typhoid Fever
was recorded during this failure of water supply,
which, as far as I can ascertain, was due to the foul
condition of the house drains owing to insufficient
flushing.
Considerable progress has been made in improving
the drainage of houses of the better class,
to which I referred in a former report. Some
twenty houses that had long stood empty, owing to
the defective drainage and imperfect sanitary arrangements,
have been put into good repair, and their
sanitation greatly improved and modernized. They
are all now occupied, apparently by new comers, as
I do not find that other houses in the town have
been vacated.