Chapter XV: Appendix (5)

On a full examination of the evidence adduced and of the evidence indicated, it will, I trust, be found to be satisfactorily established; that the houses of towns may be constantly and rapidly cleansed of noxious refuse by adaptation of drains and public sewers; and that with such an adaptation, for one street or one district cleansed at the present expense three may be cleansed by the proposed mode; that the natural streams flowing near towns may be preserved from the pollution caused by the influx of the contents of the public sewers, by the conveyance of all refuse through covered pipes, and that the existing cost of conveyance, by which its use for production is restricted, may be reduced to less than one-fortieth or fiftieth of the present expense of removal by hand labour and cartage;[11] that these bounties on cleanliness and salubrity on the one hand, and beneficial production on the other, are dependent on skilful and appropriate administrative arrangements. But for the attainment of these objects, and the relief of the worst-conditioned districts, another provision appears to be requisite, namely, appropriate

_Supplies of Water._

Besides those reports from towns in which a large proportion of their salubrity is attributed to a natural drainage, from the porosity of the soil, or from the undulations of the surface being favourable to the discharge of moisture, as at Birmingham, other reports ascribe a large proportion of the comparative health of the population to advantageous circumstances, in respect to the supplies of water. From such information as that already cited, it will be manifest that for an efficient system of house cleansing and sewerage, it is indispensable that proper supplies of pure water should be provided, and be laid on in the houses in towns of every size, and, it might be added, in all considerable rural villages. No previous investigations had led me to conceive the great extent to which the labouring classes are subjected to privations, not only of water for the purpose of ablution, house cleansing, and sewerage, but of wholesome water for drinking, and culinary purposes.

_Mr. John Liddle_, one of the medical officers of the Whitechapel union, after describing the deplorable condition of the dwellings of the labouring population in that part of London, states, that—

“In connexion with this state of things is the deficiency of water
which is not laid on in any of their houses.

“How do they get such water as they use?—They get it for the most part
from a plug in the courts. I cannot say whether it is the actual
scarcity of water, or their reluctance to fetch it, but the effect is
a scarcity of water. When I have occasion to visit their rooms, I find
they have only a very scanty supply of water in their tubs. When they
are washing, the smell of the dirt mixed with the soap is the most
offensive of all the smells I have to encounter. They merely pass
dirty linen through very dirty water. The smell of the linen itself,
when so washed, is very offensive, and must have an injurious effect
on the health of the occupants. The filth of their dwellings is
excessive, so is their personal filth. When they attend my surgery, I
am always obliged to have the door open. When I am coming down stairs
from the parlour, I know at the distance of a flight of stairs whether
there are any poor patients in the surgery. Any one who attends on the
relief days of the out-door relief may satisfy himself as to the
personal condition of these parties.

“Are the courts in which the labouring classes reside, in your
district, paved or cleansed?—They are not flagged, they have a sort of
pebbles; they are always wet and dirty. The people, having no
convenience in their houses for getting rid of waste water, throw it
down at the doors. If I cast my eye over the whole district at this
moment, I do not think that one house for the working classes will be
found in which there is such a thing as a sink for getting rid of the
water.

“Then there is not such a thing as a house with the water laid on?—Not
one in the poorer places. There is also the want of cesspools; there
is only one or two places for a whole court, and soil lies about the
places which are in a most offensive condition.

“What is the number of cases which you visit for the administration of
medical relief during the year?—During the last year the number of
cases was 1560, all of them out-patients.

“Has not a large sewer been recently formed through your
district?—Yes, through Rosemary-lane.

“What has been its effect?—Very little as respects the inhabitants of
the courts; the landlords are not compelled, and do not go to the
expense of making any communication from the courts to the sewer; the
courts are in as wet and dirty and in as bad a condition as ever.

“What are the rents paid for these descriptions of tenements?—I am
informed, very high rents. I am informed that this description of
property pays a better per centage than any other description of
property.—My impression is that it pays as much as 20 per cent. in
many instances.”

This evidence exhibits the common condition of large masses of habitations, even in the metropolis, where there are so many competing companies.

_Mr. Mott_ states that, in Manchester,—

“There are numerous pumps and a plentiful supply of water within a few
feet of the surface, to say nothing of the various tanks and cisterns
in factories and private dwellings, which in this proverbially rainy
district are always abundantly supplied; but, from the nature of the
atmosphere, the rain-water is frequently like ink. The Irwell and
Medlock rivers run through the town of Manchester; but being
receptacles for all kinds of filth and refuse, the water is too impure
for general use. In the suburbs of Manchester the water is generally
procured through the medium of rain-water cisterns, or from very
shallow wells by pumps. In the better class of houses it is generally
filtered, but the poorer classes use it without any preparation. The
custom is for owners of small cottage property to erect a pump for the
use of a given number of houses; this pump is frequently rented by one
of the tenants, who keeps it locked, and each of the other tenants are
taxed a certain sum per month for the use of it. One poor woman told
me she paid 1_s._ per month. The water company give a plentiful supply
to small houses at 6_s._ per year, or about half what this woman paid
for a precarious supply from the subscription pump. The Stockport
Local Act empowers the commissioners of that town to _compel_ the
cottage owners to provide a good supply of water to their tenants.”

_Mr. John Moyle_, medical officer of the Truro union, states—

“But few houses are properly supplied with water. In very dry seasons,
they have to fetch water from a distance varying from a quarter to 1½
mile.”

This is at present the condition of a large proportion of the houses in Hampstead, Highgate, and Hendon, where water is purchased by the pailful.

_Mr. Daniel Antrobus_, medical officer of the Audley district, Newcastle union, Staffordshire, says—

“They have seldom a good supply of water, are without _pumps_, and the
occupants are obliged to obtain it from stagnant reservoirs or impure
springs, situate often at a considerable distance.”

_Mr. Henry Cribb_, the medical officer of the Dunmow union reports, as a circumstance which is highly injurious to the health,—

“The want of good and wholesome spring-water: there being scarcely any
pumps for the use of the poor, they are compelled to use water
collected from ditches; and I have known it frequently to be not only
very impure, but almost in a putrid state.”

The medical officer of the Bishop’s Stortford union, states—

“I am of opinion that, in this and most of the rural parishes,
complaints often arise from the want of good and wholesome
spring-water, there being very few pumps, or even wells, and the poor
being compelled to use water collected from ditches and other impure
sources; this circumstance, connected with the very imperfect
drainage, I think requires strict investigation.”

_Mr. Whilpels_, the medical officer of the Lexden and Winstree union, states—

“There is a point I deem most worthy of notice, I allude to the
deficiency of spring-water. The inhabitants of Salcot Virley and Great
Wigborough are compelled to drink pond-water, which is impure,
brackish, and most injurious to the constitution. The few who have the
means, send for water a distance of four miles; to obviate this evil
would be a blessing conferred upon the great mass of the population
residing in these parishes.”

_Mr. William Blower_, surgeon of Bedford, states,—

“At Wootton (near Bedford) the labourers are very numerous, and before
the passing the Poor Law Amendment Act the greater part of them were
dependent for support upon the poor-rates. The land was enclosed and
undrained, employment was scanty, and wages were very low; the water
was very bad, the inhabitants being principally supplied from pits dug
near their houses, and filled by rain in the winter, which in the
summer, and particularly in dry seasons, were almost emptied by use
and evaporation, leaving only a muddy fluid covered with a green scum,
and loaded with aquatic animals and plants. Sporadic typhus prevailed
extensively in the summer and autumn, and ague in the winter and
spring.

“Since the introduction of the New Poor Law and the enclosure of the
land, considerable draining has been effected, employment has been
more plentiful, and the wages higher, and many of the labourers have
allotments of ground. Typhus has been rapidly diminishing, and this
year (1839) there was no case until November, and then only two. This
must principally be attributed to the improved state of the parish,
and partly, perhaps, this year, to the wetness of the season, by which
the water-pits have been kept nearly full, so that the conditions
favourable to the generation of malaria have not existed.

“A few wells have been dug lately, and good water has been obtained,
and there is every probability if the water-pits were filled up, and
more wells dug, and the draining completed, that sporadic typhus and
ague, which have so long infested this village, and occasioned so much
distress and expense, might be entirely eradicated. A respectable
farmer informed me that, in the neighbouring parish of Houghton, a few
years ago, his was the only family that used well-water, and almost
the only one that escaped ague.”

The state of the supplies of water to the labouring classes in Scotland appears to be similar to that prevalent in the towns and the rural districts of England.

_Mr. William Tait_, surgeon, of Edinburgh, states, in regard to the houses in the High-street, Cowgate, and Canongate:—

“The dwellings of the poor are remarkable for their generally
uncomfortable appearance, and I attribute this in most instances to a
deficient supply of water, necessaries, and such like conveniences.
There are no receptacles for filth of any description, and it is
either accumulated in the stairs or dwellings themselves, and the
stairs are scarcely ever washed. And how can it be otherwise, seeing
that the poor have to travel for a considerable distance for water,
and afterwards carry it up five, six, or seven stories?”

The Return from Glasgow states that the—

“Sewers or drains are left uncovered, and with no diluting water
except the refuse of families and rain-water.”

That—

“There is no scarcity of water if carried into the poorer houses.”

_Dr. Alexander Cuddie_, of Aberdeen, states that the—

“Water is plentiful; but it would be proper to bring it into the
houses of the poor as well as the rich.”

_Mr. Forrest_, in his report on the sanitary condition of the population of Stirling, states that in that town—

“The supply of water is often very deficient. There is no
water-company, and the water is not conveyed into the houses even of
the wealthy inhabitants. In times of scarcity it is no uncommon
occurrence to see from 80 to 100 persons waiting at each public well
for water; and the scarcity of it is often made an excuse by servants
for the neglect of domestic duties. I may therefore with propriety
say, that the poor of Stirling are often not properly supplied with
water for the purposes stated in the query.”

The _Rev. George Lewis_, the minister of St. David’s parish, Dundee, in speaking of drainage, says that—

“Everything in this way is done very imperfectly; drains and sewers
are insufficient, and run into the mill-pond.”

That there is—

“No water, except what is purchased or taken out of the filthy
mill-pond.”

Another informant states—

“The west and south-west suburbs are destitute of water, and have no
sewers; the north and east suburbs are also badly supplied with water,
and have no drains. Indeed there are only two drains in the town that
I know of, and I should think them rather hurtful than otherwise, as
there is not water enough to scour them out.”

In answer to the question, whether the residences of the population amidst which contagious febrile diseases arise are properly supplied with water for the purposes of cleanliness of the houses, person, and clothing? _Dr. John Macintyre_, of Greenock, states that—

“Their proprietors or landlords, with a few exceptions, have not
properly supplied them with water, although an ample supply of that
necessary aid to cleanliness can be cheaply obtained by means of pipes
from the Shaws’ Water Company.”

_Dr. James Sym_ states that—

“There are few wells of good water in Ayr. The water in general is
strongly impregnated with lime, and the supply is defective. Strangers
find it unpleasant, and I believe horses which have not been used with
it are apt to suffer when it is given them to drink.”

_Mr. A. Cochrane_ and _Mr. W. J. Thomson_, surgeons, of Arbroath, state—

“That the town is well supplied with _hard_ water, but that an
abundant supply of soft water might be brought into the town with very
little expense from a spring in the neighbourhood.”

The Return from Renfrew states that—

“A plentiful supply of water may be had from the street wells, and
also from a burn which runs close to the town.”

_Dr. Henry Douglas_, of Dunfermline, says—

“They are _very inadequately_ supplied with water for these purposes.”

The return from Kirkwall, states—

“That water is supplied at public wells: there is no scarcity of
water, but it is somewhat hard.”

_Dr. W. B. Ross_, of Tain, in reply to the question whether the town is properly supplied with water? says—

“By no means; the water is very hard, and unfit for most domestic
purposes.”

_Dr. S. Scott Alison_, in his Report on the sanatory condition of the town of Tranent, furnishes an exemplification of the condition of many of the smaller towns:—

“I do not believe there is a house in Tranent into which water is
conducted by pipes. There existed great difficulty on many occasions
in getting water at all. During the seven years I lived there, the
village was, on the whole, extremely ill supplied with water: it was
usual for it to be occasionally absent from Tranent altogether. Last
summer the supply of water was stopped for several months. The
inhabitants suffered the greatest inconvenience from this cause; they
could not get sufficient water to maintain cleanliness of person and
clothes; it was even difficult for labouring people to get enough to
cook their victuals; and I know that many of the poor were, in
consequence, reduced to the practice of using impure and unwholesome
water. On these occasions water was carried from a considerable
distance from the village. Some went the distance of a mile; some used
barrels drawn on carriages; some employed children to bring it in
small vessels; and, I doubt not, many went without it, when it was
highly necessary, from inability or infirmity to go themselves, and
from want of funds to employ another for the purpose. Since the above
was written I have learned from a lady, previously resident in
Tranent, that, when cholera prevailed in that district, some of the
patients suffered very much indeed from want of water, and that so
great was the privation, that on that calamitous occasion people went
into the ploughed fields and gathered the rain water which collected
in depressions in the ground, and actually in the prints made by
horses’ feet. Tranent was formerly well supplied with water of
excellent quality by a spring above the village, which flows through a
sand-bed. The water flows into Tranent at its head, or highest
quarter, and is received into about 10 wells, distributed throughout
the village. The people supply themselves at these wells when they
contain water. When the supply is small, the water pours in a very
small stream only; and it happens, in consequence, that on these
occasions of scarcity great crowds of women and children assemble at
these places, waiting their ‘turn,’ as it is termed. I have seen women
fighting for water. The wells are sometimes frequented throughout the
whole night. It was generally believed by the population that this
stoppage of the water was owing to its stream being diverted into a
coal-pit which was sunk in the sand-bed above Tranent. That pit has
been lined with sheets of iron, and the water has lately returned to
Tranent in great abundance.”

The observations made by _Mr. Burton_, in his Report, appear to be deserving of attentive consideration. He states—

“I have reason to believe that in many parts of Scotland the want of a
good supply of water is one of the most material impediments to the
furtherance of cleanly habits among the working people. Besides the
immediate evils of a narrow supply, much time is wasted, and many bad
habits are acquired by those who have to wait their turn at the wells
in a time of drought. Dundee, Stirling, Dunfermline, Lanark, and
Arbroath, are all, I believe, imperfectly supplied. The community of
Dundee have spent about 30,000_l._ in a contest between the supporters
of two contending water-bills; and I understand that an Act which was
passed about three years ago has been found incapable of being put in
operation. The evil is rendered more serious by the demand for cooling
water for the numerous steam-engines, and the article is so precious
that it is for these purposes repeatedly re-cooled by exposure and
evaporation after it has been heated. I believe that in many of the
colliery and manufacturing districts there is inconvenience, amounting
to suffering, from want of water. Where there is a positive deficiency
of the element on the spot, the means of procuring a supply from
another place are so various and so dependent on local circumstances,
that nothing but some arbitrary authority, possessed of sufficient
funds, could ensure its being obtained in every instance.”

On these and various reports from the medical officers and others in England, as well as from Scotland, in which it is stated in terms similar to the return from Renfrew, “that a plentiful supply of water _may_ be had from the street wells, and also from a burn which runs close to the town,” it is to be observed, that the economy of a town, or of any considerable collection of habitations, appears to be essentially defective, insofar as it leaves a large proportion of the inhabitants dependent on such a mode of supply.

Supplies of water obtained from wells by the labour of fetching and carrying it in buckets or vessels do not answer the purpose of regular supplies of water brought into the house without such labour, and kept ready in cisterns for the various purposes of cleanliness. The interposition of the labour of going out and bringing home water from a distance acts as an obstacle to the formation of better habits; and I deem it an important principle to be borne in mind, that in the actual condition of the lower classes, conveniences of this description must precede and form the habits. It is in vain to expect of the great majority of them that the disposition, still less the habits, will precede or anticipate and create the conveniences. Even with persons of a higher condition, the habits are greatly dependent on the conveniences, and it is observed, that when the supplies of water into the houses of persons of the middle class are cut off by the pipes being frozen, and when it is necessary to send for water to a distance, the house-cleansings and washings are diminished by the inconvenience; and every presumption is afforded that if it were at all times requisite for them to send to a distance for water, and in all weathers, their habits of household cleanliness would be deteriorated. In Paris and other towns where the middle classes have not the advantage of supplies of water brought into the houses, the general habits of household and personal cleanliness are inferior to those of the inhabitants of towns who do enjoy the advantage. The whole family of the labouring man in the manufacturing towns rise early, before daylight in winter time, to go to their work; they toil hard, and they return to their homes late at night. It is a serious inconvenience, as well as discomfort to them to have to fetch water at a distance out of doors from the pump or the river on every occasion that it may be wanted, whether it may be in cold, in rain, or in snow. The minor comforts of cleanliness are of course forgone, to avoid the immediate and greater discomforts of having to fetch the water. In general it has appeared in the course of the present inquiry that the state of the conveniences gives, at the same time, a very fair indication of the state of the habits of the population, in respect to household, and even personal cleanliness. The _Rev. Whitwell Elwin_, the chaplain of the Bath union, gives the following illustration of the habits of many of the working population even in that city, which is well supplied with water:—

“A man had to fetch water from one of the public pumps in Bath, the
distance from his house being about a quarter of a mile,—‘It is as
valuable,’ he said, ‘as strong beer. We can’t use it for cooking, or
anything of that sort, but only for drinking and tea.’ ‘Then where do
you get water for cooking and washing?’—‘Why, from the river. But it
is muddy, and often stinks bad, because all the filth is carried
there.’ ‘Do you then prefer to cook your victuals in water which is
muddy and stinks to walking a quarter of a mile to fetch it from the
pump?’—‘We can’t help ourselves, you know. We could not go all that
way for it.’ There are many gentlemen’s houses in the same district in
which the water is not fit for cooking; and I know that much privation
and inconvenience is undergone to avoid the expense of water-carriage.
I have often wondered to see the shifts which have been endured rather
than be at the cost of an extra pail of water, of which the price was
three halfpence. With the poor, far less obstacles are an absolute
barrier, because no privation is felt by them so little as that of
cleanliness. The propensity to dirt is so strong, the steps so few and
easy, that nothing but the utmost facilities for water can act as a
counterpoise; and such is the love of uncleanliness, when once
contracted, that no habit, not even drunkenness, is so difficult to
eradicate.”

In most towns, and certainly in the larger manufacturing towns, those members of a family who are of strength to fetch water are usually of strength to be employed in profitable industry, and the mere value of their time expended in the labour of fetching water, is almost always much higher than the cost of regular supplies of water even at the charge made by the water companies. In Glasgow the charge for supplying a labourer’s tenement is 5_s._ per annum; in Manchester 6s. In London the usual charge is 10_s._ for a tenement containing two families, for which sum two tons and a half of water per week may be obtained if needed. For 5_s._ per annum, then, as a water-rate (on which from 10 to 20 per cent. is paid to the owner for collection), each labourer’s family may be supplied in the metropolis with one ton and a quarter of water weekly, if they find it necessary to use so much. The ton is 216 gallons, equal to 108 pails full, at two gallons the pail. Thus for less than one penny farthing, 135 pails full of water are taken into the house without the labour of fetching, without spilling or disturbance, and placed in constant readiness for use. Under any circumstances, if the labourer or his wife or child would otherwise be employed, even in the lowest-paid labour or in knitting stockings, the cost of fetching water by hand is extravagantly high as compared with the highest cost of water lifted by steam and conducted through iron pipes at a large expenditure of capital (the lowest in London is about 200,000_l._) and by an expensive management. In illustration of the difference in economy of the two modes of conveyance, I may mention that the usual cost of filtered water carried into the houses at Paris by the water-carriers, is two sous the pailful, being at the rate of 9_s._ per ton; whilst the highest charge of any of the companies in London for sending the same quantity of water to any place within the range of their pipes, and delivering it at an average level of 100 feet, at the highest charge, is 6_d._ per ton.

At the highest of the water companies’ charges it would be good economy for the health of the labourer’s family to pay for water being laid on in the house, to reduce the expense of medicines and loss of work in the family, as indicated by any of the tables of sickness. The cost of laying on the water in a labourer’s tenement, and providing a butt or receptacle to hold it, may be stated to be on an average 40_s._, which will last twenty years.

The experience of the water companies tends to show that the distribution of water directly into the houses where it is wanted, would be good economy of the water. When the supply of water into the houses is stopped by frost, and cocks are, on that occasion, opened in the streets, the supply of water required is one-third greater than usual; as great, indeed, as it is in the heat of summer, when there is a large additional consumption for watering gardens and roads. I would here suggest that it is essential that the water should be charged on the owners of all the smaller weekly tenements, because, where the owner finds it necessary to collect the rent weekly, the smaller collection of rates for longer periods would often be impracticable, and the expense of the collection alone of such small rates weekly (1¼_d._ per week) would be more than the amount collected.

The mode of supplying water by private companies for the sake of a profit is not however available for the supply of a population, where the numbers are too small to defray the expense of obtaining a private Act of parliament, or the expense of management by a board of directors, or to produce profits to shareholders; it is, therefore, a mode not available to the population of the country who do not reside in the chief towns. The Poor Law Commissioners have been urgently requested to allow the expense for procuring supplies for villages to be defrayed out of the poor’s rates in England, but they could only express their regret that the law gave them no power to allow such a mode of obtaining the benefit sought. The mode of supply by private companies is, however, the subject of complaint in the populous towns, where it is the only mode.

Although there is little probability that regular supplies of water would ever have been obtained without the inducement of salaries to the managers and of returns of interest to the capitalists; although the cost of most of the supplies at the highest is much lower than the labour of fetching water from a pump close to the house, and no valid objection appears against compulsory provisions for water being laid on (_i. e._ for existing charges of labour being reduced) in the tenements of the labouring classes in towns, at the common charge of the water companies: still the appearance of a profit and of dividends on the supply of a natural commodity does, in the new districts at least, furnish pretexts for the objection of the poorer owners and ignorant occupiers to the supposed expense of the improvement which consists in an immediate outlay. Apart from such objections, however, it is a mode of obtaining supplies attended with great inconveniences, which it is desirable to have considered with respect to new improvements. The payment of a dividend for an improved supply of such a commodity will be found as imperfect a measure, even of its pecuniary value, as it would be of the pecuniary value of a good and abundant supply of air and of the light of day. There are numerous indirect effects of the use of such a commodity, of which a pecuniary estimate cannot conveniently be made, as against an immediate outlay. For example, there is little ground left for doubt that the effect of street and house cleansing by means of the supplies of water needed in the worst districts, would occasion considerable reductions in the pecuniary charge of sickness on the poor’s rates, but it would be extremely difficult to obtain these results in money to make up, with any pretence to accuracy, a profit and loss account as an undertaking for the outlay. The evidence afforded by the creation and success of a private company proves only that a certain class of persons so far appreciate the advantages of the supply as to be willing to incur such an immediate expense as will cover the cost, and yield a profit to the undertakers; it proves nothing as to the intrinsic value of the service or the commodity, which may be immense to the bulk of the community, and yet not one be found ready to volunteer to defray a portion of the expense. But the expense of the machinery of water companies, as already stated, is disproportioned to the means of the smaller towns and to a large part of the country; and generations may pass away amidst filth and pestilence before the scientific means and the economy of prevention can be appreciated by them. And there are further objections made in towns to the mode of supply itself. One is, that it creates strong interest against all improvements in the quality or the supplies of water; for every considerable improvement creates expense, which is felt, in diminution of the dividends of the private shareholders; and so long as a majority of the ratepayers are content with bad water, or deem it hopeless to seek to obtain water of a superior quality, so long as any public clamour will not endanger the dividends, it appears that no amendment entailing considerable expense can be expected. Even where there are convenient unappropriated streams, and a wide field is afforded for competition by a very populous district, the competition of different companies does not necessarily furnish to the individual consumer any choice or amendment of the supplies.

The competition frequently absorbs the profit on the funds that might be available to the competing parties (supposing them disposed to carry out any plans other than those which have for their object the cheapest supply that can be procured), and does not reduce the charge of the supply of water to the public. At one time there were three sets of water-pipes belonging to three different companies passing through the same streets of a large proportion of the metropolis. This wasteful competition of three immense capitals sunk in the supply of one district, for which the expenditure of one capital and one establishment would have sufficed, ended in an agreement between the competing companies to confine themselves to particular districts. The dividends at present obtained by the shareholders of the chief companies in the metropolis on the capital now employed, appears, however, to be only 4, 5, or 6 per cent., but this is on several expensive establishments and sets of officers, which appear to admit of consolidation. The committee of the House of Commons which investigated the subject of the supplies of water in 1821, concluded by recommending a consolidation of the several trusts, but excepting that the competition between them has abated, the expense and waste of separate establishments is still continued, and beyond this the expense of the fixed capital and establishment, charged upon perhaps one-third the proper supply of water.

The private companies are also complained of as being practically irresponsible and arbitrary, and unaccommodating towards individuals. It is a further subject of complaint, as respects supplies by such companies, that they are directed almost exclusively to the supplies of such private houses as can pay water-rates; that they are not arranged for the important objects of cleansing of the streets or drains, or of supplying of water in case of fire. I have not been able to observe the extent of foundation for these complaints. Whilst no strong motive for aggressive proceedings by the companies against individuals appears, the existing force of the following statement made by the Committee referred to, which sat in 1821, will be admitted:—

“The public is at present without any protection, even against a
further indefinite extension of demand. In cases of dispute, there is
no tribunal but the boards of the companies themselves to which
individuals can appeal; there are no regulations but such as the
companies may have voluntarily imposed upon themselves, and may
therefore revoke at any time, for the continuance of the supply in its
present state, or for defining the cases in which it may be withdrawn
from the householder. All these points, and others of the same nature,
indispensably require legislative regulation, where the subject matter
is an article of the first necessity, and the supply has, from
peculiar circumstances, got into such a course that it is not under
the operation of those principles which govern supply and demand in
other cases.”

Since the period of that report, there has been no legislation on the subject other than that in new Acts, or on the renewal of old ones, clauses have been introduced empowering any individual rate-payer to demand a supply of water.

In some instances legislative permissions have been given to the local authorities to obtain supplies for the use of towns, but the permissions have not been accompanied with the requisite powers to make them available.

Bath, however, is supplied with water under the authority of the local Act of the 6 Geo. III. (c. 70), for paving, &c. which, after reciting that there was a scarcity of water within the city and precincts, and that there were in the neighbourhood of the said city several springs of water belonging to the corporation, enacts that the corporation shall have full power to cause water to be conveyed to the said city from such springs, and gives them authority to enter upon and break up the soil of any public highway, or common, or waste ground, and the soil of any private grounds within two miles of the city, and the soil or pavement of any street within the city, in order to drain and collect the water of the springs, and to make reservoirs sufficient for keeping such water, and to erect conduits, water-houses, and engines necessary for distributing it, and to lay under ground aqueducts and pipes most convenient for the same purpose. The Act vests the right and property of all water-courses leading from the said springs to the city, and also of all reservoirs, conduits, water-houses, and engines, erected or used for the purpose, in the mayor, aldermen, and citizens of Bath. The following extract from a communication from the _Rev. Whitwell Elwin_, who has closely investigated the economy of the poorest classes in that city, thus describes the present state of the supply:—

“Bath is surrounded by hills which pour down a vast quantity of water
into reservoirs. Pipes are laid from these reservoirs to every part of
Bath, and as the springs from which the water originally rises are as
high up on the hills as the roofs of the houses, water can be carried
into the attics without the application of a forcing pump: thus no
machinery is employed. The only water-works are the pipes which convey
the water.

“These reservoirs are the property of different persons, and there are
five distinct parties by which particular districts in Bath are
supplied. They are the Bath Corporation, the Freemen’s Company, the
Circus Company, the Duke of Cleveland, and Captain Gunning. There can
scarcely be said to be any competition, because the possession of a
spring in a particular locality gives a monopoly of the surrounding
neighbourhood. But wherever there is room for selection, the supply of
the corporation is always preferred. It is often resorted to even
where the distance is much greater than to other springs; the supply
being more regular, more abundant, and cheaper than the rest, with the
exception of that of the Duke of Cleveland, who only provides his own
tenants. The corporation supplies more than three parts of the town.
There are at present 2184 persons paying water-rates, but the number
of houses furnished with water is considerably greater, because courts
and rows of cottages have frequently a common cistern. Where this is
the case each cottage making use of the cistern pays a rent of 10_s._
a-year, and where the house has a cistern of its own, 20_s._ a-year.
The charge for the water is in proportion to the rent of the house.
The quantity of water supplied is about a hogshead a-day. In summer,
when the springs are low, the quantity is not so great. The laying
down and repair of the feather, that is the pipe which branches from
the main pipe, is at the cost of the tenant.

“In addition to these private supplies the corporation provides five
public pumps, which are open to all the inhabitants free of expense.

“The greater part of the cottages in the town itself, but not in the
suburbs, make use of the water-works. There is generally a pump in
addition, which yields water too hard and bad for domestic purposes.

“The water rents of the corporation for the last year were 3,233_l._
2_s._, the expenses (including salaries, rent for springs, repairs of
pipes) 449_l._ 3_s._ 3_d._, thus leaving a profit of 2,783_l._ 18_s._
9_d._ This sum is applied to the reduction of the borough rate.

“The advantages of this system over private companies appear to me
great and incontestable. Here are no expenses for solicitors, or
litigation between rival concerns; no collusion between coalescing
companies to raise the charges to the utmost amount that the
inhabitants will bear; no exorbitant salaries to the variety of
officers, which every separate establishment demands. A few watermen,
whose united salaries are only 114_l._ 8_s._ per annum, is the sole
addition to the ordinary corporation machinery. When to this we add
that all the profits are for the benefit of the town and not for
individuals—that the sum paid in water-rate is thus pretty nearly
deducted from the borough rate—we can hardly hesitate to strike the
balance. The corporation management, here at least, gives unlimited
satisfaction. They are under the direct control of the ratepayers,
properly desirous to conciliate their opinion, and are sure to hear of
any incivility, which, as they have no interest in protecting it, they
are always ready to redress.”

In this instance, however, it is to be observed that the real cost of the water to the corporation is not more than one-seventh their charge to the consumer; consequently, the charge for a supply out of the house may be said to be less than 1_s._ 6_d._ per annum; and it will admit of little doubt that if the water were lifted by steam power and carried into every tenement, as it might be, the actual expense need not be doubled; six-sevenths then of the charge, which is about the same as the ordinary charges of water companies, is to be considered as a borough rate, levied in the shape of a water rate, applied doubtless to some other proper public services.

An example is presented in Manchester of the practicability of obtaining supplies for the common benefit of a town without the agency of private companies. In that town gas has for some years past been supplied from works erected and conducted not by the municipality but by a body appointed under a local Act by an elected committee of the ratepayers. This mode of supplying the town was, it appears, violently opposed by private interests; but I am informed that the supplies of gas are of as good or even of a better quality, and cheaper than those obtained from private companies in adjacent towns; that improvements in the manufacture of the gas are more speedily adopted than in private associations, and the profits are reserved as a public fund for the improvement of the town. Out of this fund a fine Town Hall has been erected, whole streets have been widened, and various large improvements have been made; and the income now available for the further improvement of the town exceeds 10,000_l._ per annum, after providing for the expense of management and the interest of the sinking fund on the money borrowed. There are now in the same districts in the metropolis no less than three immense capitals sunk in competition,—three sets of gas-pipes passing through the same streets, three expensive sets of principal and subordinate officers where one would suffice, comparatively high charges for gas to the consumers, and low dividends to the shareholders of the companies in competition. Where a scientific and trustworthy agency can be obtained for the public, manifest opportunities present themselves for considerable economy on such modes of obtaining supplies. A proposal was made in Manchester to obtain supplies of water for the town in the same manner as the supplies of gas, but the owners of the private pumps, who, it is stated, have the monopoly of the convenient springs, and exact double the charge for which even private companies are ready to convey supplies into the houses, made a compact and effectual opposition to the proposal, contending that the supplies of rain-water (which are sometimes absolutely black with the soot held in suspension), together with that from the springs was sufficient, and the proposal was defeated. These petty interests could not, however, avail against the more powerful interest of a joint-stock company, which was established to procure supplies for the middle and wealthier classes of the town.

There appears to be no reason to doubt that the mode of supplying water to Bath and gas to the town of Manchester might be generally adopted in supplying water to the population. Powers would be required to enter into the lands adjacent to the towns on a reasonable compensation to the owners to obtain supplies of water; and, as the management of water-works requires appropriate skill, it would be necessary to appoint an officer with special qualifications for their superintendence. Ordinary service may be obtained for the public, if recourse be had to the ordinary motives by which such service is engaged in private companies. It is not mentioned invidiously, but as a matter of fact, that the majority, not to say the whole, of such undertakings by joint stock companies, are, in the first instance, moved by a solicitor, or engineer, or other person, for the sake of the office of manager of the works, and that the directors and shareholders, and the inducement of profit to them, through the benefit undoubtedly to the public, are only the machinery to the attainment of the object for which the undertaking is primarily moved. If competent officers be appointed and adequately remunerated for the service, there can be little doubt that the public may, as at Bath and Manchester, be saved the expense of the management by the occasional attendance of unskilled directors, and that they may save the expense of dividends, or apply the profits to public improvements, as at Manchester, and moreover avoid the inconveniences and obstructions undoubtedly belonging to the supply of a commodity so essential to the public health, comfort, and economy, by a private monopoly. Bad supplies of water would, I apprehend, generally be less tolerated by the influential inhabitants of all parties from a public municipal agency than from a private company.

Another ground for the recommendation that supplies of water for the labouring classes should be brought under some public authority, is that some care may be taken to prevent the use of unwholesome supplies.

The queries transmitted to the medical officers were directed to ascertain the sufficiency of the supplies for the purpose of cleansing, but the returns frequently advert to the bad effect of inferior supplies upon the health of the population; and it is scarcely conceivable to what filthy water custom reconciles the people. Yet water containing animal matter, which is the most feared, appears to be less frequently injurious than that which is the clearest, namely, spring-water, from the latter being oftener impregnated with mineral substances; but there are instances of ill health produced by both descriptions of water. The beneficial effects derived from care as to the qualities of the water is now proved in the navy, where fatal dysentery formerly prevailed to an immense extent, in consequence of the impure and putrid state of the supplies; and care is now generally exercised on the subject by the medical officers of the army. In the Dublin Hospital Reports, for example, we have the following statement, which is still more important, as showing the extent to which the nature of the water influences health:—

“Dr. M. Barry affirms that the troops were frequently liable to
dysentery, while they occupied the old barracks at Cork; but he has
heard that it has been of rare occurrence in the new barracks. Several
years ago, when the disease raged violently in the old barracks, (now
the depôt for convicts,) the care of the sick was, in the absence of
the regimental surgeon, entrusted to the late Mr. Bell, surgeon, in
Cork. At the period in question the troops were supplied with water
from the river Lee, which, in passing through the city, is rendered
unfit for drinking by the influx of the contents of the sewers from
the houses, and likewise is brackish from the tide, which ascends into
their channels. Mr. Bell, suspecting that the water might have caused
the dysentery, upon assuming the care of the sick, had a number of
water-carts engaged to bring water for the troops from a spring called
the Lady’s Well, at the same time that they were no longer permitted
to drink the water from the river. From this simple, but judicious
arrangement, the dysentery very shortly disappeared among the
troops.”—_Dublin Hospital Reports_, vol. iii. 11. Paper by Dr. Cheyne
“On Dysentery.”

_Parent du Chatelet_, the most industrious and able of modern investigators into questions of public health, gives the following instance, which in like manner demonstrates the amount of disease generated solely by the use of bad water, as well as the difficulty of detecting the specific effects produced by it:—

“When I visited last year the prisons of Paris with my friend
Villermé, who was interested in prisons generally, I was extremely
surprised at the proportion of sick in the hospital of St. Lazarus,
relatively to the whole population of the prisons. The prison, uniting
all the conditions necessary to health as regards its position,
construction, the dress and food of the prisoners, who were constantly
kept at work, how explain the much greater proportion of sick to what
we remark in other prisons of a bad condition, and in which are found
united all the apparent causes of unhealthiness?—This, I must confess,
has baffled all calculation, and has driven every one to say that
there must be a cause for the peculiarity, but that it could not he
discovered. I do not despair to have hit upon that cause, and I
believe it is to be recognised in the nature of the water drunk by the
prisoners. Having tasted it in the wooden reservoir behind the house,
which was in bad order, and full of plants of the genus confervæ, I
found it had a detestable and truly repulsive taste, a circumstance
which does not appear to have been hitherto remarked. Might not the
cause, then, he detected in the chemical nature of the water of
Belleville and of the neighbourhood of St. Gervais, of which the
prisoners drink exclusively? What proves it is the striking
resemblance which exists in this respect between the water of
Belleville and that in the wells of the entrance-court of the hospital
of the Salpêtriere, which both contain a very great proportion of
sulphate of lime, and other purgative salts. Now the venerable
Professor Pinel and his pupil Schwilgué have remarked for more than 20
years the influence that the water of the wells of which I speak has
upon the portion of the population of the hospital who make use of it,
and they believe that certain affections connected evidently with
locality cannot be attributed to any other cause, and particularly the
disposition to chronic diarrhœa which is so often observed in this
hospital. It turns out upon examination _that the greater part of the
sick who fill the infirmary of the prison of St. Lazarus are brought
there for illnesses of the same identical nature_. In the prison they
are obliged to have recourse to the water of the Seine to cook the
vegetables and other food, an evident proof of the truth, or at least
the probability, of all I have just advanced.”

In the metropolis the public owes the analysis of the supplies of water and some improvement of supplies not in their nature essentially bad, chiefly to the stirring of speculators in rival companies. But the population of the rural districts, and of the smaller towns, afford no means for the payment of companies, still less any field for pecuniary competition. As in the cases cited, it is to be feared that the knowledge gained for the safety of the health of the soldiers and the prisoners was not proclaimed for the protection of the bulk of the poorest population, who, under existing arrangements, only receive care in the shape of alleviations, when the suffering from disease is attended by the destitution which establishes the claim to relief. The middle classes are exposed to the like inconveniences, and put up with very inferior water, whilst supplies of a salubrious quality might be obtained by extended public arrangements for the common benefit.

It will not be deemed necessary to attempt to develope all the considerations applicable to the subject; and I confine myself to the representation of the fact,—That there is wide foundation for the complaint that proper supplies of water to large portions of the community are extensively wanting—that those obtained are frequently of inferior quality—that they are commonly obtained at the greatest expense when obtained by hand labour—that the supplies by private companies, though cheaper and better, are defective, and chiefly restricted to the use of the higher and middle classes, unless in such inconvenient modes (_i. e._ by cocks in courts), as seriously to impede the growth of habits of cleanliness amongst the working classes. To which I venture to add, as the expression of an opinion founded on communications from all parts of the kingdom, that as a highly important sanitary measure connected with any general building regulations, whether for villages or for any class of towns, arrangements should be made for all houses to be supplied with good water, and should be prescribed as being as essential to cleanliness and health as the possession of a roof or of due space; that for this purpose, and in places where the supplies are not at present satisfactory, power should be vested in the most eligible local administrative body, which will generally be found to be that having charge of cleansing and structural arrangements, to procure proper supplies for the cleansing of the streets, for sewerage, for protection against fires, as well as for domestic use.

_Sanitary Effect of Land Drainage._