214 FORESTS, WOODS, AND TREES 
Higham Ferrers and Rushden Water Board obtain their 
water supply in part from an upland gathering ground of 
1747 acres at Sywell, between 260 and 400 feet elevation. 
The Board own only 65 acres immediately adjoining the 
Sywell storage reservoir. The gathering ground, of which 
I have not been able to obtain any definite particulars, 
appears to consist of arable land and _ pasture, with 
habitations and farmsteads upon it. Besides filtration, no 
special measures are taken to prevent contamination of the 
gathering ground. 
Kettering has two catchment areas: (1) Cransley, about 
1800 acres, and (2) Thorpe Malsor, 1330 acres. The 
Urban District Council have been able to purchase only 
the actual sites of the two reservoirs and a_ small 
margin round them, the land now owned at the Cransley 
waterworks being 73 acres, and at the Thorpe Malsor 
reservoir 60 acres. Mr. T. Reader Smith, the engineer 
in charge, in his interesting report in Journ. Sanitary 
Instit. xxii. 479 of 1901, explained that the catch- 
ment areas, being agricultural land with numerous farm- 
steadings and other buildings, were much too expensive 
to purchase. In order to keep the area in a_ proper 
sanitary condition, the Council obtained powers, in the 
Kettering Urban District Water Act, 1901, Section 30, 
to make bye-laws for this purpose. Under clause 4 of 
this section, the Council are liable to pay compensation 
to owners and other persons interested, who may be 
injuriously affected by any restrictions imposed by such 
bye-laws. The Council instituted enquiries and _ascer- 
tained that other water authorities, with similar powers 
in their water acts, had refrained from making bye-laws 
because of the expense to which they might be put on 
account of the various compensations that might be 
demanded. The Kettering Council is still in the position 
that while it has power to make bye-laws, none have as 
yet been made. Meanwhile, the Council merely keep an 
oversight over the catchment areas, making inspections from 
