Page:The government of London.djvu/33

 From a return moved for by Lord Stafford, it appears that six hundred cities and towns in England and Wales depend for their supply of water wholly on the works of private companies or upon these and wells and rivers in each locality, or finally upon the latter only: while a comparatively small number, but chiefly commercial or manufacturing towns, with large populations, rely on their municipal government to furnish them at prime cost with this great necessary of life. The experiments which had been made at Manchester, Glasgow, and other great northern towns in the business of corporate water-finding and water-vending seemed to be successful in the judgment of the communities they exclusively concern; and it is probable that ere long other towns will seek to follow their example. The select committee on metropolitan supply declare as the result of their investigations that "it is expedient that the supply of water to the metropolis should be placed under the control of some public body which shall represent the interests and command the confidence of the water consumers; and that in the absence of any single municipal body to which these functions could be committed, a water authority of a representative character should be constituted, and that a bill having that object should be introduced at an early date by her Majesty's Government."

It is to be observed that these recommendations do not necessarily imply the buying out of the existing companies or any of them. The concluding passages of the report significantly intimate that Government would not disfavour the idea of taking over their stock and works if better terms could be made for the public than those which Mr. E. J. Smith sought to impose; and warning is distinctly given that when the new municipal authority shall be created. Parliament will be quite open to consider the expediency of giving it statutable power, as has been done elsewhere, to go further afield in search of new sources of supply. All such projects, however, were judiciously left to the judgment of the future; and the primary and pressing consideration for us all just now is the proper constitution of the municipal authority whose duty it would be to enforce adequate and punctual service at reasonable rates by the companies so long as they