Social Science Congress. 189 
That our railway system admits of, and will be subject to 
great reforms, therecan be no doubt. But there is another 
class of public works which have been also, to a great ex- 
tent, subject to private enterprise,—viz., works in connec- 
tion with the public supplies of water and gas. Mr. Arnold ~ 
has very strong objections to the possession of such works 
by private companies or individuals. In Lancashire, and 
particularly in Manchester, the possession and administra- 
tion of these supplies are,asa rule, in the hands of the local 
authorities. The resultsare very superior to those obtained 
elsewhere, both economically and as affecting public health 
and convenience. The gas and water supplies in Manchester 
are in very superior condition to those of any other city 
in England. But, for the system of permitting the provi- 
sion of elementary necessaries of life to fall into the hands 
of private companies, the water supply of London could 
never have been in its present unsatisfactory condition. 
The fluid supplied daily to the metropolis is estimated to 
contain not less than 100 tons of carbonate of lime. This 
constitutes the hardness of London water. The water 
supplied to Manchester, or that which it is said might be 
obtained for London from Wales, compared with that 
drawn from the chalk formation in the neighbourhood of 
the metropolis, is estimated to require one-half less soap, 
and one-third less tea, to effect the same results in the 
washing-tub or the teapot. Thus a saving might be ren- 
dered possible in the use of these two articles within the 
metropolitan area equal to £525,000 a year, or, capitalised 
at four per cent., to 413,125,000; andthe saving would ex- 
tend to other operations, both manufacturing and domestic, 
in which water is a constituent. The summary and unpre- 
cedented authority which public opinion has recently 
granted to the Home Office in respect to drainage, is the 
best evidence of the public sense of the importance and 
efficacy of sewers and drains in regard to public health. 
There isa great deal yet to be accomplished in the economy 
of refuse of towns. Mr. Arnold referred particularly to his 
own share of official labour in connexion with the cotton 
famine. In such a state of things, the working class gene- 
rally evidence a feeling that they have a right to employ- 
ment. The mere make-work system was a certain failure. 
The Public Works Act, which was one of many useful 
statutes that signalled the administration of Mr. Villiers, 
had a two-fold economic value. It afforded employment 
and promoted the execution of necessary sanitary works. So 
NEW SERIES.—VOL. I. R 
