DISTRICT SUPPLIED BY THE WEST MIDDLESEX WATER WORKS COMPANY.

FOR WATER SUPPLIED FOR ROAD WATERING DURING THE

The total cost of water for the season was £1314 19s. The rent of meters was £126, or nearly 10 per cent. additional upon the cost of the water.

The three Hydrants on West Hill, Highgate, have been placed because the gradient of the hill is too steep for the use in safety of loaded water-vans or carts. To each a meter has to be fixed, the rent thereof bearing an excessive ratio to the cost of water-in the most extreme case two guineas being the rent of the meter, 27s. 9d. the cost of the water consumed.

Where water is used in other cases by the local authorities (not being for domestic purposes), the charge is also by

meter.

For example, urinals erected for the public convenience have to be frequently washed out to ensure cleanliness, and a meter is supplied for each, the annual cost of meter being IOS. In many such cases the rent of the meter exceeds the cost of the water, as is shown in the table below; but where the supply of water is constant, as in urinals of more recent and improved construction, the proportionate cost of the meter is considerably reduced because of the increased quantity of water consumed.

The first 18 Urinals on this list are supplied by the New River Company, who charge on the list are supplied by the West Middlesex Water Works Company-the meters are

459

105. each per annum for the water meter fixed in each Urinal. the Vestry's, and are kept in repair at the cost of the Vestry.

The four Urinals last

DISTRIBUTION OF WATER.

The watering of public thoroughfares in large cities in the dry months of the year is a matter of detail requiring organization, but which usually fails to obtain general approval.

The practical difficulties are considerable, as the number of water-carts or vans required to meet the public requirements would have to be greatly increased if the wishes of the residents were always complied with. Each householder naturally wishes the carriageway in front of his own house watered at a time most convenient and agreeable to himself, and that in all probability would range from 9 o'clock in the morning till 7 o'clock in the evening.

But in thoroughfares of considerable traffic it is necessary to distribute water several times during the day. First it must be done early in the morning before the carriage-way is swept, and after the sweeping a second watering is necessary; this would be about the time the traffic would commence, but shortly after all trace of watering would be effaced, unless the operation was again repeated.

In streets of lesser traffic the carts are sent round earlier in the day, in the middle of the day, and later in the evening, so as to work in with the exigencies of the heavier traffic.

But all these arrangements fail to command approval unless the residents themselves are practically familiar with, and give consideration to the difficulties of the operation moral as well as physical. Gentlemen engaged in trade appreciate the value of plenty of water, and in many instances, secure profuse watering by illicit means of beer or other enticement. In one case a licensed victualler himself complained that the macadamized carriage-ways of a square in his immediate neighbourhood suffered from too much water, at the very time that some of the inhabitants of the square were complaining of dust, several calling attention to the profuse watering of the paved carriage-way in front of the particular complainant's premises, with the generous