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ERNEST W. GUKNEY MASTERMAN, ON 



would lead me to characterize the suggestion that a Turkish 

 Governor could not protect such an aqueduct from injury when it 

 was either his interest or desire to do so, as simple nonsense. 

 What I said with regard to damage to the old aqueduct on previous 

 occasions has been misunderstood. 



Instead of utilizing the old conduit, the engineer entrusted with 

 the improvement of the water supply, laid down iron pipes up hill 

 and down dale at great cost, and delivered water at the same place 

 with a considerable loss of volume and pressure. Surely in no other 

 part of the world could such a fantastic scheme have been sanctioned, 

 or have met, when carried out, with the approval not only of the 

 municipal authorities, but of a gentleman who is unconnected with 

 the local government. It is no excuse to say that the squandered 

 money was taken from a charitable bequest and not from the 

 pockets of the residents ; and the fact that the Turkish Governor 

 and the British Consul have been able to fill their cisterns, by having 

 water carried up to them on donkeys, from the Birket es-Sultan, is 

 no proof that the new system is a good one. 



It is said that with the new works the water cannot be con- 

 taminsited en route ; but the aqueduct between " Solomon's Pools" 

 and Bethlehem is open, and through the whole of that important 

 section the water is exposed to contamination before it enters the 

 iron pipes. The expression "feeble streams" in my paper is, as 

 most readers would see, used in contrast to the strong stream that 

 would have been obtained by the repair of the old aqueduct. I am 

 glad to hear that one of the old fountains has been restored, but it 

 would appear that many have still to purchase water from the 

 Haram esh-Sherif. Mr. Masterman, apparently, sees no objection to 

 the delivery of warm water ; but, in the name of common sense, 

 why should Jerusalem be supplied with warm water when it could 

 much more easily, and at far less cost, have been supplied with cold ? 

 What would be said in this country of an engineer who, at an 

 exorbitant cost, supplied water to a town by means of iron pipes 

 laid on the surface of the ground with the least possible regard to 

 its inequalities 1 Why Mr. Masterman should attempt to defend an 

 engineering blunder, which will long delay the construction of 

 properly designed works, is a mystery. It almost makes one 

 despair of any effort to improve the condition of Jerusalem. 



c. w. w. 



