140 Timehri, 
Another method of purification often suggested, is that by precipitation by 
chemical methods One method acts by precipitating the suspended matters it 
contains, and another aims at the destruction of the organic matter and bacteria — 
in the water. But as Professor Simpson points out, “no precipitation method — 
sterilises the water so far as pathogenic micro-organisms are concerned, and to — 
that extent every such method is unsatisfactory, but while it does not dll the — 
bacteria of disease it certainly lessens the chances of contracting disease in — 
drinking water infected by such bacteria. *’ And as our sources of contamination — 
with regard to our open trenches, etc., are continually exposed to various kinds 
of pollution a correspondingly continuous application of precipitation methods 
would have to be kept up. 
WATER SUPPLY IN THE VILLAGES. 
If the drinking water supply on estates is unsatisfactory, that of the villages — 
is very much worse. At the present day there is not a village in the colony which 
possesses a decent supply of water for drinking purposes. I have referred to this 
serious state of affairs at other times and in other places ; but I hold that when 
there is a danger in our midst, there can be no possible harm in continually 
drawing attention to it, so I offer no excuse for repeating oft-told tales. 
The usual state of affairs with regard to this matter in the village’ takes the 
form of an open trench some little distance from the village, and of course liable 
to all kinds of pollution, not only from the fouling by various kinds of animals, 
but perhaps just as frequently and possibly in an even more disgusting fashion 
by the villagers themselves who drink the water they themselves have just been 
fouling ! 
Or the somewhat better class of villagers will have those objectionable recepta- 
cles in the form of barrels or jars, objectionable chiefly on account of their danger- 
ous liability of affording breeding places for mosquitos ; but being usually very 
filthy inside they must soon contaminate the rain-water they contain. The still 
more prosperous Class will have something in the form of a vat or old boiler, either — 
totally unscreened or only partially so, and which are never cleaned out from the 
day they were first erected. 
I maintain that it is not an impossible task to remedy this state of affairs. 
By raising the village rates, and with the help of a grant-in-aid from the Govern- 
ment, or by loans from the Government, one or more large vats or tanks could be 
erected and obtain their catchment area from the lar gest buildings in the 
village. Or concrete tanks might be built. 
The raising of the rates, Government loans, or grants-in-aid, have to be resorted 
to by those villages which are unfortunate enough to suffer from troubles of 
defective drainage. Why should not the same methods be adopted to improve 
the conditions of the water supply, and so at least lessen one of the many causes 
of the heavy mortality-rate of the colony. 
However hard up we may be as a colony, I maintain that we are not so badly 
off but that we can do a great deal along the lines I have indicated to improve 
