130 Transactions. 



poses, and one-fifth more for manufacturing and other purposes. 

 The loch was a store already made, and by constructing a dis- 

 tributing- tank on Corbelly Hill of a capacity for two days' supply, 

 a 9 -inch diameter pipe between them, and a 13-inch diameter distri- 

 buting pipe, would be sufficient to convey the quantity required. 

 This, he thought, would be much cheaper than raising the water 

 from the Nith. He preferred the gravitation principle, observing 

 that the mechanical power of man soon comes to rest and requires 

 frequent repairs, while the power of gravity, with which the 

 Almighty endowed water, is immutable, and slumbers not nor 

 sleeps. 



A meeting of the inhabitants was held on 6th November, 

 when the action of the Committee and Mr Jardine's scheme were 

 approved of unanimously, and the whole documents were referred 

 back to the Town Councils of Dumfries and Maxwelltown to 

 obtain an Act of Parliament the first session, Mr Gale to be 

 engineer, and Mr Newall local engineer, in the preparation of the 

 Parliamentary plans. 



Every one was not satisfied. It will not be seriously main- 

 tained, writes one, that our beautiful limpid river, oft rushing in 

 majesty and great power, and giving notes of varied and sweet 

 soimds, possesses any deleterious qualities whatever. " What 

 must our enterprising youth now in distant lands think," says 

 another, " when they hear a sound wafted to them from Nith's 

 flowery banks — surely not from genuine Dumfriesians — that the 

 ample supply of water from our pure flowing streams and St. 

 Allan's and other wells, which could be made to give any quantity 

 of water, are now ungratefully despised, and that an Act of 

 Parliament is intended to be applied for to take water from Loch- 

 rutton Loch. . . . Up Dumfi-iesians ! Now's the time ! Don't 

 let the foe advance a step further." 



Ultimately opposition was organised and promoted at great 

 expense, and much feeling was imported into the dispute. As 

 the lapse of time may not have been sufficient to remove all trace 

 of the feud, it is my desire not to enter on debatable ground. 

 Suffice it to say, that the Bill applied for was passed, and the 

 works, as designed by Mr Gale, were successfully carried through 

 under his direction by the Water Commissioners appointed under 

 the Act. 



