1^)11] on Water Supply. 113 



the trade of the Rhine, the Elbe, and the Weser, which with their 

 iuiportant canal connections still form the important highways for the 

 commerce of Germany. That falling off was accounted for mainly 

 by the fact that the various Continental canals had been too scantily 

 supplied with water, and people were surprised to find that that want 

 of water was coincident with, and was in fact caused paradoxically, by 

 the wetness of the summer. The explanation of the paradox is easy 

 enough. These great waterways, some of which bear barges of 600 tons 

 burden, are dependent for their water supplies not upon local rainfalls, 

 but upon the great bank of Europe — the snows of the Alps where, as 

 in a reservoir, the winter's moisture is kept in a safe of ice until the 

 summer with its heat melts the lock. But in the wet, cold, inclement 

 summer the ordinary amount of melting had not taken place. The 

 rivers ran low notwithstanding the rainfall, and commerce was impeded 

 for want of water in these great ducts of trade. That fact should 

 teach us the importance of larger views of the question than petti- 

 foggers have been entertaining. Here is the commerce of Grimsby 

 and Hull and Goole dependent upon the storing of the snows of the 

 Jungfrau, and the height of the thermometer in Switzerland. We 

 in England do not possess such a natural reservoir as the snows of 

 the Alps, and must have recourse to other expedients if we are to do 

 the best for this matter of water supply. 



There is, at the present time, a good deal of sporadic information 

 as to the water supplies and resources in various localities, and mining 

 engineers have, from their experience, some knowledge of the sub- 

 soil or underground waters, for these, of course, are the enemy with 

 which they have to contend in their operations, but there is no 

 general survey to determine what are the suppHes and what are the 

 water resources of this country ; there is no general knowledge as to 

 the underground water supplies. We know that in many districts 

 these are being pumped for supply ; in many where mining is going 

 on they are, with reckless economy, being pumped to waste. But 

 what is required is a comprehensive knowledge both of the over- 

 ground and underground reserve forces for water supply, and until 

 that is prepared any legislation with regard to water supply must be 

 merely hand to mouth, unscientific, and futile ; and this seems to 

 have been the wise opinion of Mr. Lithiby, of the Board of Trade, 

 who gave evidence before the Joint Select Committee on the Water 

 Supplies Protection Bill, whicli sat and reported during the last 

 session of Parliament. 



The necessity for the acquisition of such knowledge is emphasised 

 by the proceedings and Report of the Royal Commission which has 

 been inquiring and reporting upon canals and waterways since the 

 year 1906. No one can say that the investigations of that Com- 

 mission have not been exhaustive, although many may think that the 

 Reservations of Lord Farrer and three other Commissioners seem to 

 show that their labours will prove absolutelv futile. But the Com- 



YoL. XX. (No. 105) " I 



