In an article on the subject which we treat under
the head of "The Better Supply of Water for the Metropolis," the Daily News of this morn- ing expresses a belief, that the bill which Government will introduce on.
the 29th instant will propose "some such arrangement as the follow- ing
" The stocks or shares of all the existing Metropolitan Water Companiee are to be consolidated. The aggregate capital of this consolidated company is to be valued, and shareholders are to be allowed to divide five per cent of the profits in the first instance. The surplus rates are to be applied in liqui- dation of sums the company is to be authorized to borrow for carrying out an improved water supply, either by fetching water from new sources or by an additional or continuous supply. When all debts are paid, the company will be allowed to divide six per cent, and the rates are to be reduced to such an amount as will avail for this."
After pointing out the obvious and "insuperable objections," of a finan- cial nature, to such a plan, the Daily News gives reasons ior regarding "this precious scheme" as "neither more nor less than a cunning device for smuggling in a Government Board "— "If the Companies are consolidated, the first complaints against the new management will be made a pretext for the appointment of a Commissioner. After he has been appointed for a short time, it will be discovered that the shareholders are a mere incumbrance. It will be proposed not to purchase their stock, but to value it, and assume it as debt on the Metropolitan rate- payers, for which the ex-shareholders are to receive interest in lieu of divi- dends. The Commissioner, or Commissioners, will then be left free to resort to their beloved Farnham gathering-grounds, and contract debt and impose rates at their sovereign. will mad pleasure. This is the dodge that is in con- templation."
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