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should they really organize an opposition, of the kind they 

 threaten, to any Bill which may be brought before the 

 Legislature, with the object of affording to the inhabitants 

 of Liverpool an abundant supply of pure water at a moderate 

 cost, then I think their conduct will be deserving of the 

 highest censure ; because such opposition could only proceed 

 from motives to which I do not wish to give a name. 



The geological, physical, and artificial conditions of the 

 neighbourhood, which I shall bring under your notice in 

 this paper, will, I imagine, fully prove, that it is not 

 in the power of the Public Companies to give to the 

 rapidly increasing community of Liverpool an ample 

 supply of water from the strata, by Artesian borings or 

 other subterranean operations. 



Before entering into the subject of my paper, I think 

 it proper here to state, why I have altered the opinion I 

 entertained upon this inquiry three years ago. Since then, 

 my attention has been particularly drawn to the circum- 

 stance of the great failure of water in private wells in the 

 neighbourhoods of the Public Companies' workings. These 

 facts, which have only recently been prominently brought 

 forward by the parties aggrieved, have thrown an entirely 

 new light upon the question, and have induced me to re- 

 investigate the subject with that attention and care which 

 so important a matter demands. To begin then, I propose 

 to divide the subject into the following heads : — 



Firstly. — The division of the Poikilitic group, as the 

 new red sand-stone formation is termed by Conybeare and 

 Buckland, upon which the town of Liverpool is situated, and 

 of the surrounding neighbourhood ; the causes that produced 

 the general present conformation of the strata within the 

 same ; the configuration of the surface resulting therefrom, 

 and the physical constitution of the strata, and their 

 mechanical structure as regards their capacity for collect- 

 ing and retaining water. 



