394 REPORTS ON’ THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 
Health Acts to acquire water rights and abstract water. The powers are 
thus stated in the 1914 Memorandum previously referred to :— 
‘Common Law. . In England and Wales under the common law every. 
landowner has the right to use water flowing in known or defined channels, 
i.e., the water naturally flowing through, past or under his land, both for his 
domestic use and for his cattle, without regard to the effect of such use 
upon the! landowners lower down the stream. Further, he has the right to 
use the water for any purpose, provided there is no interference with the 
rights of other landowners either above or below. He cannot however 
lawfully abstract from any stream water for sale or for the supply of the 
inhabitants of any neighbouring area... As regards underground water not 
flowing in defined channels, every landowner has the exclusive right to all 
water obtainable from his land.’ 
Consequently, local authorities who desire to use surface water as a 
source of public supply must in general, with few exceptions, obtain 
authority by special Act:of Parliament. Any alteration of the general law 
which would simplify the procedure, e.g. by enabling the necessary powers 
to be given by Order instead of by Act (as recommended by the Select 
Committee in 1910 and proposed in a Bill introduced by the Government 
in 1911-12, which, however, did not proceed), would doubtless lead to some 
considerable increase in the use of such sources, and the necessity for 
gauging streams and the run-off from gathering grounds would become of 
the first importance in this connection. 
As regards the assessment of compensation water, the Report (d) 
mentioned above recommends certain alterations in the present method, 
including— 
‘ Stream gaugings should be used for the determination of the losses due 
to evaporation and absorption. 
‘ Stream gaugings should also be used to measure and allow for the 
variability of flow.’ 
The Report (p.'11) mentions only ten different eatchmierit areas for which 
continuous stream gaugings were available, and of these four cases were 
selected for detail analyses on which the conclusions were based. Ina paper 
on this subject read before the British Water-Works Association in 1929, 
Mr. Fawcett (then Chief Engineering Inspector, Ministry of Health) pointed 
out that ‘ with some exceptions very little reliable data exists of the flow of 
rivers as ascertained by actual gaugings, and the Sub-Committee have felt 
acutely during their investigations the necessity for more records of river 
flows. 
Mr. Fawcett continues : ‘ As regards the various purposes for which river 
gaugings are desirable, it is only necessary to mention (1) water supply, 
(2) industry and power, (3) flooding, etc., (4) dilution, (5) navigation. There 
cannot be any doubt but that water supplies take the first place as regards 
importance of river gaugings.’ 
RESERVOIRS (SAFETY PROVISIONS) ACT, 1930. 
The passing of this Act, which follows the recommendation ofa Select 
Committee as far back as 1865, has brought into prominence the necessity 
for reliable and continuous record of the flow from upland gathering grounds, 
in order to furnish actual figures of the intensities of floods which require 
to be discharged by overflow weirs and channels, in preference to placing 
reliance on formulz and estimations based upon rainfall for this purpose. 
This subject is now under the consideration of a Committee of the 
Institution:of Civil Engineers, whose preliminary report, it is understood, 
