Water-works. 263 



These water-works have other elements of value ia the saving of 

 labor which is now spent in the raising of the water from the well and, 

 in many cases, in the transportation of it, which considered in the sev- 

 eral individual instances are comparatively insignificant, but from their 

 incessant repetition aggregate in time and in expenditure of force to no 

 trifling amount. We will suppose that, for the one thousand families 

 or thereabout in town, it requires for this service, daily, on an average, 

 fifteen minutes to each family ; this would give two hundred and fifty 

 hours' work each day, or 91,250 hours for each year; and estimating the 

 value of this service at ten cents per hour, it amounts to $9,125, a sum 

 sufficient to pay the annual interest on the whole outlay for the pro- 

 posed works. 



Other elements of value will be seen when we come to consider these 

 proposed works in their use in the extinguishing of fires. In this respect 

 their value is too obvious to need ar^thing more than the statement. 

 More than once the more thickly settled portions of our town have 

 been in imminent peril from a spreading conflagration arising from a 

 scarcity of water. With engines and other apparatus more numerous 

 and costly than most towns of our population and wealth, and with a 

 department and companies well organized and competent, yet we fail to 

 derive the full value of this large expenditure and organization by our 

 constant neglect to make proper provision for a sufficient supply of water. 



These proposed works have a value in their relation to insurance, and 

 would tend to reduce the present rates or to prevent an increase in those 

 rates. Many other considerations could readily be presented to show 

 how these works could be made to subserve the material interests of the 

 town and its inhabitants in other directions; and outside of any direct 

 pecuniary gain, they would also add to the comfort and enjoyment of all 

 the people, beautifying and adorning our commons and squares with 

 fountains, and making our old town more attractive to those seeking 

 desirable homes. 



The committee employed Messrs. Walter L. Bouve*, of Hingham, 

 and Henry M. Wightman, of Boston, to make preliminary surveys 

 and furnish approximate estimates of the cost of building works 

 of sufficient capacity to supply the town. Mr. Bouve reported 

 that an analysis of the water of Accord Pond by Prof. William K. 

 Nichols, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, showed it 

 to be unusually free from animal contamination, and remark- 

 ably pure. Mr. Wightman also reported that in his opinion the 

 pond " could be safely relied upon as a source of supply for 

 Hingham." In concluding their report to the town the committee 

 say: — 



The capacity of the pond to afford an adequate supply both for the 

 present and the future probable wants of the town, is shown, so far as 

 the character of the examination would allow, to be ample. . . . The 

 estimated cost for suitable works is about $131,000. 



With this statement of the facts in the case, the question presents itself 

 to the consideration of the inhabitants of the town whether their neces- 

 sities or the advantages to be gained, or both, are of sufficient magnitude 

 to warrant so large an expenditure. 



