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38
The New River Company, without any formal order
from the Local Government Board, agreed to give the
constant supply, and when this was announced to the
Sanitary Committee it was distinctly stated on the. part of
the Company that cisterns were to be retained as a precautionary
measure in the large houses only, and all water butts
were to be done away with. Against the retention of
cisterns in the large houses the Sanitary Authorities raised
no objection ; but the New River Company have departed
from the agreement, they have led directly or indirectly
owners to retain their water butts; in some cases the
Company have ordered the retention of the butts, and in a
very large number of dwellings they have allowed the
cisterns to be retained even when they are situated over
closets or placed otherwise prejudically. I am constrained
to refer to these facts because the Company's action has
encouraged owners to retain the water butts and cisterns
in small dwellings, many of which contain several families,
and because there are no means of keeping the receptacles
clean and covered. In doing this the Company has deprived
the inhabitants of many of thesmall dwellings, of the benefit
of the constant service, and it is in such dwellings that
it is specially called for.
The Company I trust may be induced to direct owners,
within a reasonably short time, to discontinue the use of
butts, also of cisterns in small dwellings. Should the
Company not do this, months and probably years must
elapse before the Sanitary authorities can secure their
removal by the slow proceedings of the Nuisance Removal
and Diseases Prevention Acts.
The introduction of the constant supply has showed
that the pipes, in a large number of premises, were
dangerously defective, and revealed that with the intermittent
supply, the premises must have been kept damp
and unwholesome, and that the holes in the pipes must have