The new Water Bill for the Metropolis recommended by the
Select Committee will not do much good. Its intention is to compel the Companies to give a constant supply, instead of an intermittent one, and it does compel them, but on conditions which will never be fulfilled. In the first place, the Municipal authority must ask for it, which it may or may not do ; and in the second place, the Company can refuse whenever they can prove that one-fifth of the population of the 'district are not supplied with the requisite fittings, which is the case everywhere. The apathy of the wealthier classes of Londoners on such subjects as these is extraordinary. Con- etant water supply would abolish cisterns, prevent pipes burst- ing, and save them annually more than their rates by abolishing those rascally plumbers' bills.
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