7 g The London Water-Supply. [February, 
Water Company, they asked for and obtained permission to 
borrow a sum sufficient to cover the damages, and to raise 
their charges for water, so as to pay the interest ot the 
loan and gradually to refund the principal. < Thus the 
people of Sheffield were taxed for the destruftion ot their 
own property ! This is in principle the same as if the well- 
known Glasgow Bank had received power to borrow asum 
sufficient to cover all its liabilities and to recoup itseli out 
of the pockets of its clients ! 
It must be remembered that the very fundamental purpose 
of water-works differs according as they are vested in a 
municipality or in a company. In the former case the object 
is to supply the town with the best and most abundant 
water at the lowest price, utilising the profits of the under- 
taking for the reduction of local taxation or for carrying out 
needed improvement. The aim of a water-company, on t e 
contrary, is to make the largest possible profit out of the 
iob of supplying water, its wholesomeness, quantity, &c., 
being of course very secondary considerations. Anything 
more iniquitous than the present method of charging tor 
water, as pursued in London, can scarcely be imagined. 
Your landlord raises your rent, or a parish surveyor, pro- 
ceeding upon principles fundamentally false,* values your 
house at a higher figure, and straightway the water-com- 
pany — without giving you either more or better water— 
exacts a higher figure for the supply. Nay, we know in- 
stances where an increase of 20 per cent has been required 
without any pretext whatever. Surely such an event is of 
itself amply sufficient to ensure the condemnation ot the 
water-companies. But these monopolist bodies make them- 
selves further notorious by their opposition to every improve- 
ment. They are not willing to introduce the constant 
svstem • they dislike water-meters ; they shrink, in too many 
instances, from a thorough filtration of their water or from 
softening it by the Clark process. Or if they make any ot 
these concessions to modern public opinion it is used as a 
basis for further extortion. 
On the contrary, if we wish to see a satisfactory water- 
supply, we must look to those cities and towns where it is 
administered by municipalities. 
If we next use our four conditions as a standard tor 
testing the water-arrangements of London, we shall find 
* That shops, e.g., in the suburbs of London should be valued more highly 
in proportion as the neighbourhood grows more populous is intelligible. But 
whv a dwelling-house should be rated at a heavier sum when dirt, noise, and 
traffic increase, and the wealthier inhabitants move away, is an enigma. 
