3x6 Scheme of Water Supply. [July, 
outside, and within, the scope of the proposals I have ventured 
to offer. The appointment of Medical Officers of Health 
by the Sanitary Authorities, but who are responsible to the 
Central Authority in London, offers an effective agency. 
Under Clause 17 the Rural Sanitary Authority has power to 
provide a supply of water for “ Rural Sanitary Districts,” 
but such districts are, I fear, too extensive for such modes 
of water-supply as is here proposed, and it would be neces- 
sary to split them up into villages and hamlets, having inde- 
pendent powers, though the necessary expense might be 
spread over each district. 
I would therefore propose that when it is found, from the 
Reports obtained through the Rural Sanitary Officers, that 
the supply of water to any village or hamlet is insufficient 
or impure, the Sanitary Authority of the district in which 
the village or hamlet is situated should be required to pro- 
ceed forthwith to apply the remedy. It would be necessary 
then to have recourse to the Geological Survey maps to as- 
certain whether the locality could be supplied by a well, and 
if the local technical acquirements are insufficient to settle 
this question, the aid of such a Government officer as has 
been already referred to should be afforded ; while at the 
same time it should be competent for the Sanitary Authority 
to call in professional advice from any other quarter. 
A well having been determined upon when the geological 
conditions prove favourable, the site fixed with reference to 
local circumstances, and the cost having been ascertained, 
powers should be granted to raise money for carrying out 
the work and rendering the well available for the free use of 
the whole of the inhabitants. 
In sinking such a well, the top waters — to a depth of 
xo or 12 feet — should always be carefully stopped off by 
solid masonry ; and means be adopted for keeping it free 
from contamination, under stringent regulations and heavy 
penalties. Being for the use and benefit of all, it should be 
jealously guarded by all as a public benefactor. 
I have not considered it necessary to enter at length into 
the means by which my proposals should be carried out* 
These are matters of detail, capable of easy settlement by 
those who are conversant with such matters. I have con- 
tented myself with sketching out a plan of general appli- 
cation, which will probably be considered sufficient for the 
present occasion. 
By one or other of the above methods probably all the 
villages or hamlets of the Central and Eastern Counties 
which require it might be supplied with pure water* Till 
