The Mourne Water Scheme. 33 



The Commissioners in making up that compensation water are 

 entitled to take credit for the flow of water off the lower district. 

 That is the only loss of water, if you can call it so. The idea 

 that the scheme has failed is an erroneous one, and I am very 

 glad to have the opportunity of stating so here. Lough Neagh 

 has also been brought into the discussion. It was suggested — 

 in fact, stated — that some certificates had been obtained with 

 respect to the quality of the Lough Neagh water (I presume 

 this meant by the Water Commissioners), and that these had 

 been suppressed. As I am fully conversant with everything 

 that took place I am able to give a direct and emphatic contra- 

 diction to that statement. The Water Commissioners never 

 suppressed any document which came into their possession. 

 They took the opinion of the most eminent authority on water 

 questions (Professor Dewar), and he advised them not to get 

 the Lough Neagh water. Mr. Robert Corry is quite right in 

 his criticisms of my observations with regard to the construc- 

 tion of the pipe part of the conduit. I did omit to state that 

 in the construction of the tunnel part, or of the " cut and 

 cover" part, it would be a serious matter if in 25 or 30 years 

 we had to make a new conduit, that is, on the assumption that 

 we made the first one merely sufficient for the ten million 

 gallons. It would therefore be better to make the work fully 

 satisfactory at once. I come to the question of quality, and I 

 feel myself in a very considerable diflSculty, but I think the 

 audience will be inclined to say that the weight of the evidence 

 is rather in favour of the view that the Mourne water is of 

 good quality. Professor James Dewar, F.R.S., is a man of 

 immense experience, who has gone over the ground, not alone 

 in fine weather, but in a heavy snowstorm. He says, on look- 

 ing at the district, " You will get a good quality of water there, 

 suitable for domestic purposes," and he further says, that the 

 catchment is one of the best he has ever known. I ask the 

 audience, then, to weigh the evidence. We have Mr. Gray, 

 who knows a good deal about this district, plus Professor 

 Letts, and we have Professor Dewar, one of the highest 

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