xlvi 



of conducting the great traffic between the East and the West, the 

 beneficial effects of which, I believe, it is difficult to realise. It is in 

 this sense that the undertaking must be regarded as a great one, and 

 its accomplishment is due mainly to the rare courage and indomitable 

 perseverance of M. Ferdinand de Lesseps, who well deserves the 

 respect he has created and the praises which have been bestowed. 

 . . . A channel of water communication has been opened between 

 the East and the West which will never again be closed so long as 

 mercantile property lasts or civilisation exists." 



The waterworks which Mr. Bateman had constructed for Manchester 

 and for Glasgow, although both of gigantic magnitude, did not 

 satisfy his ambition. He saw the treasures of water which were 

 annually wasted by floods in mountain districts, and he longed to 

 originate some great schemes for utilising them. He said: — 



" I could never see the wisdom of the view which would confine 

 the supply of water to the towns and places which lay within any 

 particular watershed. Where the water was most abundant it was 

 generally the least wanted ; and towns had grown up where it was 

 often difficult to obtain this essential contribution to life and 

 prosperity. To my mind, the idea of confining such places to 

 their own watersheds, and preventing their going for what they 

 wanted where there was enough and to spare, was absurd. As 

 well might it be urged that the coal produced in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Newcastle should all be consumed in the Valley of 

 the Tyne, and none of it conveyed to London or the Valley of the 

 Thames." 



About 1869 an opportunity offered for exemplifying this principle. 

 There had been a good deal of discussion as to the water supply o£ 

 London, and Mr. Bateman designed a project for supplying the 

 metropolis from a mountainous district in North Wales, where the 

 rainfall was very large. He proposed to collect the water in artificial 

 reservoirs, and to bring it to London by conduits above 180 miles 

 long, delivering it at such a level as w T ould give the supply 

 entirely by gravitation. The plan was submitted to a Royal Com- 

 mission, of which the Duke of Eichmond was Chairman, and who 

 reported in 1868. They expressed a high opinion of the plan, but 

 decided that, for the present, at least, the metropolis did not require 

 so expensive a measure. 



Some years later, however, Mr. Bateman's ambition was gratified 

 in another way. When, in 1877, he reported to the Corporation of 

 Manchester that the waterworks were finished, he did not conceal 

 from them that he had for some time been anxious about the future, 

 inasmuch as the enormous growth of the town was fast outrunning 

 the capacity, great as it was, of the Longdendale source of supply. 

 He reverted to his former principle of resorting to mountain districts, 



