Page:The Manchester and Thirlmere Scheme - Somervell (1878).djvu/17

 allege really exists,—but that it is absolutely and unconditionally impossible to meet it in any other way.

This, no one can seriously maintain. Situated as Manchester is, there is no lack of alternatives; and to make wise and deliberate choice among them, will be the duty of her citizens, numbers of whom would, no doubt, warmly resent being supposed favourable to the desecration of Thirlmere.

It is evident enough, from official statements, as well as from some gushing utterances which accompanied the announcement of the scheme, that Thirlmere has been chosen because it is expected to yield a large daily supply of water, at a cost considerably below the price of that which is obtained from Longdendale; and because the surplus profit will form a large annual revenue for the benefit of the city. It is equally certain that, from a public point of view, the choice is a most unfortunate one. There is hardly another lake which would be so utterly ruined by its conversion to this use; and, lying, as it does, not in an out-of-the-way valley where it may be avoided, but on the great highway of the district, the deformity will be thrust upon every traveller, and cannot be escaped from.

It is for Parliament to decide whether a municipal body should be allowed to embark in a vast commercial undertaking of the kind; but the country at large has an undoubted right to insist that its interest in the beauty of the valley shall not be quietly sacrificed to the reduction of the Manchester rates.

The grounds of our opposition to this scheme are already, I trust, made sufficiently intelligible. It remains now for all who share our views to bestir themselves