858 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION J. 



action altogether, for the occupiers thni selves are powerless, 

 and cottage-owners as a rule are not very liberally disposed 

 in the provision of" this necessary of life. There should he 

 some public supply to render villagers independent of their 

 landlords. Where there exist rivers, or streams of pure 

 water near at hand, or where there is a subterranean water 

 bed easily reached by sinking wells down to it it is needless 

 to think of storage ; but so long as there are numbers of small 

 communities, with rathig values so low as to negative the 

 power to charge any large outlay upon them, it behoves us 

 to consider (with the utmost care) any plan which will enable 

 us to secure a sufficient supply of pure water at a cheap 

 cost." 



Is not the health and strength or, in other words, the 

 sanitation of our rural labouring classes of as much import- 

 ance as that of the labouring classes in the cities, and is it 

 not a subject deserving more attention at the hands of the 

 Central Government than we find to be the case? It is not 

 until some dire disease has been making its ravages amongst 

 the bone and sinew of the country that the authorities insti- 

 tute any enquiry into the cause of the evil. Then, probably, 

 an official is despatched from a central board to inspect and 

 report on the source of mischief, when, after some perfunctory 

 suggestions are thrown out for future guidance, the subject 

 is allowed to sink into obscurity again. 



" Legislative powers are wanted which shall extend the 

 proper distribution of water to the whole country." Pre- 

 vention is better than cure, and something more than merely 

 giving advice should be expected from the central authorities. 



" It may flatter our local prejudices to leave the manage- 

 ment of such matters in the hands of rural boards, but it will 

 not be until some superior presiding authority takes the subject 

 into consideration from a national standpoint that it will be 

 effectually and economically treated. It seems, at first sight, 

 to be the object of our Legislature to encourage wrong to be 

 committed, then to point out the error, and finally to leave us 

 without any power of rectification. It cannot be expected, 

 while this course of action continues, any general scheme for 

 improved and economical rural water supplies will receive 

 attention." 



Much good would be obtained and no hardship entailed 

 by enforcing a law that landlords shall provide each dwelling 

 with sufficient tanks to tide over the difficulties of a drought ; 

 or that, when ieveral small dwellings are adjacent, a tank 



