Failure of the Yan Yean Reservoir. 163 
mittent supply, with its cumbrous machinery of dirty and 
ill-conditioned cisterns. ge % 
The constant-service principle, therefore, is not at all 
adapted for a limited supply of water, and this important fact 
has been clearly demonstrated by the experience of other 
cities. Croydon, which is supplied on this principle, con- 
sumes 500 gallons per house per day, which, making the usual 
allowance of five individuals to each house, is equal to 100 gal- 
lons per head instead of forty. Hitchin consumes 235 gallons 
per house, or forty-seven gallons per head. Whitehaven 250 
gallons, or fifty gallons per head; and New York, which is 
nearly in the same latitude as Melbourne, and is therefore our 
best guide in regard to the amount that may probably be 
required, on some days consumes ninety gallons per head 
instead of forty. 
At Rugby, Sandgate, and Barnard Castle, the supplies 
have been found inadequate from waste; and the Bristol 
company have been forced to abandon the constant-service 
principle altogsther. 
With such important facts before us, can we look with any 
confidence to a source which, under the most favourable 
circumstances, is only fitted to supply the present population 
of Melbourne, with its suburban towns and villages. And 
what is there so very repulsive in the Yarra that we should 
not at once resort to it for our water supply? 
After giving my best attention to the whole subject, I 
would in the strongest manner recommend that we should 
abandon all hopes of supplying the City from any other source 
than the Yarra, where, at all times, and under all circumstances, 
we shall obtain an unlimited supply of the purest water. 
I am aware that there is a very strong feeling on the part 
of the public that the works ought to be completed now, as 
the money is nearly all expended. But more mature con- 
sideration will show that if any confidence is to be placed in 
the estimates of Mr. Hodgkinson, Dr. Davy, and myself, the 
available amount of water, after deducting the evaporation, 
will not suffice even for the present wants of the City; and 
with so limited a supply, the water would be unfit for use, 
were it possible to run it into the pipes, i 
Where is the object, then, in laying twenty miles of pipes, 
even under existing contracts ? 
If the pipes had been laid, it might have been argued that 
it would be cheaper to carry them five miles further to the 
eastern arm, at an additional cost of 70,000J., than to remove 
