carrying it in buckets or vessels do not answer the purpose of regular
supplies of water brought into the house without such labour, and kept
ready in cisterns for the various purposes of cleanliness. The
interposition of the labour of going out and bringing home water from a
distance acts as an obstacle to the formation of better habits; and I
deem it an important principle to be borne in mind, that in the actual
condition of the lower classes, conveniences of this description must
precede and form the habits. It is in vain to expect of the great
majority of them that the disposition, still less the habits, will
precede or anticipate and create the conveniences. Even with persons of
a higher condition, the habits are greatly dependent on the
conveniences, and it is observed, that when the supplies of water into
the houses of persons of the middle class are cut off by the pipes being
frozen, and when it is necessary to send for water to a distance, the
house-cleansings and washings are diminished by the inconvenience; and
every presumption is afforded that if it were at all times requisite for
them to send to a distance for water, and in all weathers, their habits
of household cleanliness would be deteriorated. In Paris and other towns
where the middle classes have not the advantage of supplies of water
brought into the houses, the general habits of household and personal
cleanliness are inferior to those of the inhabitants of towns who do
enjoy the advantage. The whole family of the labouring man in the
manufacturing towns rise early, before daylight in winter time, to go to
their work; they toil hard, and they return to their homes late at
night. It is a serious inconvenience, as well as discomfort to them to
have to fetch water at a distance out of doors from the pump or the
river on every occasion that it may be wanted, whether it may be in
cold, in rain, or in snow. The minor comforts of cleanliness are of
course forgone, to avoid the immediate and greater discomforts of having
to fetch the water. In general it has appeared in the course of the
present inquiry that the state of the conveniences gives, at the same
time, a very fair indication of the state of the habits of the
population, in respect to household, and even personal cleanliness. The
_Rev. Whitwell Elwin_, the chaplain of the Bath union, gives the
following illustration of the habits of many of the working population
even in that city, which is well supplied with water:—
“A man had to fetch water from one of the public pumps in Bath, the
distance from his house being about a quarter of a mile,—‘It is as
valuable,’ he said, ‘as strong beer. We can’t use it for cooking, or
anything of that sort, but only for drinking and tea.’ ‘Then where do
you get water for cooking and washing?’—‘Why, from the river. But it
is muddy, and often stinks bad, because all the filth is carried
there.’ ‘Do you then prefer to cook your victuals in water which is
muddy and stinks to walking a quarter of a mile to fetch it from the
pump?’—‘We can’t help ourselves, you know. We could not go all that
way for it.’ There are many gentlemen’s houses in the same district in
which the water is not fit for cooking; and I know that much privation
and inconvenience is undergone to avoid the expense of water-carriage.
I have often wondered to see the shifts which have been endured rather
than be at the cost of an extra pail of water, of which the price was
three halfpence. With the poor, far less obstacles are an absolute
barrier, because no privation is felt by them so little as that of
cleanliness. The propensity to dirt is so strong, the steps so few and
easy, that nothing but the utmost facilities for water can act as a
counterpoise; and such is the love of uncleanliness, when once
contracted, that no habit, not even drunkenness, is so difficult to
eradicate.”
In most towns, and certainly in the larger manufacturing towns, those
members of a family who are of strength to fetch water are usually of
strength to be employed in profitable industry, and the mere value of
their time expended in the labour of fetching water, is almost always
much higher than the cost of regular supplies of water even at the
charge made by the water companies. In Glasgow the charge for supplying
a labourer’s tenement is 5_s._ per annum; in Manchester 6s. In London
the usual charge is 10_s._ for a tenement containing two families, for
which sum two tons and a half of water per week may be obtained if
needed. For 5_s._ per annum, then, as a water-rate (on which from 10 to
20 per cent. is paid to the owner for collection), each labourer’s
family may be supplied in the metropolis with one ton and a quarter of
water weekly, if they find it necessary to use so much. The ton is 216
gallons, equal to 108 pails full, at two gallons the pail. Thus for less
than one penny farthing, 135 pails full of water are taken into the
house without the labour of fetching, without spilling or disturbance,
and placed in constant readiness for use. Under any circumstances, if
the labourer or his wife or child would otherwise be employed, even in
the lowest-paid labour or in knitting stockings, the cost of fetching
water by hand is extravagantly high as compared with the highest cost of
water lifted by steam and conducted through iron pipes at a large
expenditure of capital (the lowest in London is about 200,000_l._) and
by an expensive management. In illustration of the difference in economy
of the two modes of conveyance, I may mention that the usual cost of
filtered water carried into the houses at Paris by the water-carriers,
is two sous the pailful, being at the rate of 9_s._ per ton; whilst the
highest charge of any of the companies in London for sending the same
quantity of water to any place within the range of their pipes, and
delivering it at an average level of 100 feet, at the highest charge, is
6_d._ per ton.
At the highest of the water companies’ charges it would be good economy
for the health of the labourer’s family to pay for water being laid on
in the house, to reduce the expense of medicines and loss of work in the
family, as indicated by any of the tables of sickness. The cost of
laying on the water in a labourer’s tenement, and providing a butt or
receptacle to hold it, may be stated to be on an average 40_s._, which
will last twenty years.
The experience of the water companies tends to show that the
distribution of water directly into the houses where it is wanted, would
be good economy of the water. When the supply of water into the houses
is stopped by frost, and cocks are, on that occasion, opened in the
streets, the supply of water required is one-third greater than usual;
as great, indeed, as it is in the heat of summer, when there is a large
additional consumption for watering gardens and roads. I would here
suggest that it is essential that the water should be charged on the
owners of all the smaller weekly tenements, because, where the owner
finds it necessary to collect the rent weekly, the smaller collection of
rates for longer periods would often be impracticable, and the expense
of the collection alone of such small rates weekly (1¼_d._ per week)
would be more than the amount collected.
The mode of supplying water by private companies for the sake of a
profit is not however available for the supply of a population, where
the numbers are too small to defray the expense of obtaining a private
Act of parliament, or the expense of management by a board of directors,
or to produce profits to shareholders; it is, therefore, a mode not
available to the population of the country who do not reside in the
chief towns. The Poor Law Commissioners have been urgently requested to
allow the expense for procuring supplies for villages to be defrayed out
of the poor’s rates in England, but they could only express their regret
that the law gave them no power to allow such a mode of obtaining the
benefit sought. The mode of supply by private companies is, however, the
subject of complaint in the populous towns, where it is the only mode.
Although there is little probability that regular supplies of water
would ever have been obtained without the inducement of salaries to the
managers and of returns of interest to the capitalists; although the
cost of most of the supplies at the highest is much lower than the
labour of fetching water from a pump close to the house, and no valid
objection appears against compulsory provisions for water being laid on
(_i. e._ for existing charges of labour being reduced) in the tenements
of the labouring classes in towns, at the common charge of the water
companies: still the appearance of a profit and of dividends on the
supply of a natural commodity does, in the new districts at least,
furnish pretexts for the objection of the poorer owners and ignorant
occupiers to the supposed expense of the improvement which consists in
an immediate outlay. Apart from such objections, however, it is a mode
of obtaining supplies attended with great inconveniences, which it is
desirable to have considered with respect to new improvements. The
payment of a dividend for an improved supply of such a commodity will be
found as imperfect a measure, even of its pecuniary value, as it would
be of the pecuniary value of a good and abundant supply of air and of
the light of day. There are numerous indirect effects of the use of such
a commodity, of which a pecuniary estimate cannot conveniently be made,
as against an immediate outlay. For example, there is little ground left
for doubt that the effect of street and house cleansing by means of the
supplies of water needed in the worst districts, would occasion
considerable reductions in the pecuniary charge of sickness on the
poor’s rates, but it would be extremely difficult to obtain these
results in money to make up, with any pretence to accuracy, a profit and
loss account as an undertaking for the outlay. The evidence afforded by
the creation and success of a private company proves only that a certain
class of persons so far appreciate the advantages of the supply as to be
willing to incur such an immediate expense as will cover the cost, and
yield a profit to the undertakers; it proves nothing as to the intrinsic
value of the service or the commodity, which may be immense to the bulk
of the community, and yet not one be found ready to volunteer to defray
a portion of the expense. But the expense of the machinery of water
companies, as already stated, is disproportioned to the means of the
smaller towns and to a large part of the country; and generations may
pass away amidst filth and pestilence before the scientific means and
the economy of prevention can be appreciated by them. And there are
further objections made in towns to the mode of supply itself. One is,
that it creates strong interest against all improvements in the quality
or the supplies of water; for every considerable improvement creates
expense, which is felt, in diminution of the dividends of the private
shareholders; and so long as a majority of the ratepayers are content
with bad water, or deem it hopeless to seek to obtain water of a
superior quality, so long as any public clamour will not endanger the
dividends, it appears that no amendment entailing considerable expense
can be expected. Even where there are convenient unappropriated streams,
and a wide field is afforded for competition by a very populous
district, the competition of different companies does not necessarily
furnish to the individual consumer any choice or amendment of the
supplies.
The competition frequently absorbs the profit on the funds that might be
available to the competing parties (supposing them disposed to carry out
any plans other than those which have for their object the cheapest
supply that can be procured), and does not reduce the charge of the
supply of water to the public. At one time there were three sets of
water-pipes belonging to three different companies passing through the
same streets of a large proportion of the metropolis. This wasteful
competition of three immense capitals sunk in the supply of one
district, for which the expenditure of one capital and one establishment
would have sufficed, ended in an agreement between the competing
companies to confine themselves to particular districts. The dividends
at present obtained by the shareholders of the chief companies in the
metropolis on the capital now employed, appears, however, to be only 4,
5, or 6 per cent., but this is on several expensive establishments and
sets of officers, which appear to admit of consolidation. The committee
of the House of Commons which investigated the subject of the supplies
of water in 1821, concluded by recommending a consolidation of the
several trusts, but excepting that the competition between them has
abated, the expense and waste of separate establishments is still
continued, and beyond this the expense of the fixed capital and
establishment, charged upon perhaps one-third the proper supply of
water.
The private companies are also complained of as being practically
irresponsible and arbitrary, and unaccommodating towards individuals. It
is a further subject of complaint, as respects supplies by such
companies, that they are directed almost exclusively to the supplies of
such private houses as can pay water-rates; that they are not arranged
for the important objects of cleansing of the streets or drains, or of
supplying of water in case of fire. I have not been able to observe the
extent of foundation for these complaints. Whilst no strong motive for
aggressive proceedings by the companies against individuals appears, the
existing force of the following statement made by the Committee referred
to, which sat in 1821, will be admitted:—
“The public is at present without any protection, even against a
further indefinite extension of demand. In cases of dispute, there is
no tribunal but the boards of the companies themselves to which
individuals can appeal; there are no regulations but such as the
companies may have voluntarily imposed upon themselves, and may
therefore revoke at any time, for the continuance of the supply in its
present state, or for defining the cases in which it may be withdrawn
from the householder. All these points, and others of the same nature,
indispensably require legislative regulation, where the subject matter
is an article of the first necessity, and the supply has, from
peculiar circumstances, got into such a course that it is not under
the operation of those principles which govern supply and demand in
other cases.”
Since the period of that report, there has been no legislation on the
subject other than that in new Acts, or on the renewal of old ones,
clauses have been introduced empowering any individual rate-payer to
demand a supply of water.
In some instances legislative permissions have been given to the local
authorities to obtain supplies for the use of towns, but the permissions
have not been accompanied with the requisite powers to make them
available.
Bath, however, is supplied with water under the authority of the local
Act of the 6 Geo. III. (c. 70), for paving, &c. which, after reciting
that there was a scarcity of water within the city and precincts, and
that there were in the neighbourhood of the said city several springs of
water belonging to the corporation, enacts that the corporation shall
have full power to cause water to be conveyed to the said city from such
springs, and gives them authority to enter upon and break up the soil of
any public highway, or common, or waste ground, and the soil of any
private grounds within two miles of the city, and the soil or pavement
of any street within the city, in order to drain and collect the water
of the springs, and to make reservoirs sufficient for keeping such
water, and to erect conduits, water-houses, and engines necessary for
distributing it, and to lay under ground aqueducts and pipes most
convenient for the same purpose. The Act vests the right and property of
all water-courses leading from the said springs to the city, and also of
all reservoirs, conduits, water-houses, and engines, erected or used for
the purpose, in the mayor, aldermen, and citizens of Bath. The following
extract from a communication from the _Rev. Whitwell Elwin_, who has
closely investigated the economy of the poorest classes in that city,
thus describes the present state of the supply:—
“Bath is surrounded by hills which pour down a vast quantity of water
into reservoirs. Pipes are laid from these reservoirs to every part of
Bath, and as the springs from which the water originally rises are as
high up on the hills as the roofs of the houses, water can be carried
into the attics without the application of a forcing pump: thus no
machinery is employed. The only water-works are the pipes which convey
the water.
“These reservoirs are the property of different persons, and there are
five distinct parties by which particular districts in Bath are
supplied. They are the Bath Corporation, the Freemen’s Company, the
Circus Company, the Duke of Cleveland, and Captain Gunning. There can
scarcely be said to be any competition, because the possession of a
spring in a particular locality gives a monopoly of the surrounding
neighbourhood. But wherever there is room for selection, the supply of
the corporation is always preferred. It is often resorted to even
where the distance is much greater than to other springs; the supply
being more regular, more abundant, and cheaper than the rest, with the
exception of that of the Duke of Cleveland, who only provides his own
tenants. The corporation supplies more than three parts of the town.
There are at present 2184 persons paying water-rates, but the number
of houses furnished with water is considerably greater, because courts
and rows of cottages have frequently a common cistern. Where this is
the case each cottage making use of the cistern pays a rent of 10_s._
a-year, and where the house has a cistern of its own, 20_s._ a-year.
The charge for the water is in proportion to the rent of the house.
The quantity of water supplied is about a hogshead a-day. In summer,
when the springs are low, the quantity is not so great. The laying
down and repair of the feather, that is the pipe which branches from
the main pipe, is at the cost of the tenant.
“In addition to these private supplies the corporation provides five
public pumps, which are open to all the inhabitants free of expense.
“The greater part of the cottages in the town itself, but not in the
suburbs, make use of the water-works. There is generally a pump in
addition, which yields water too hard and bad for domestic purposes.
“The water rents of the corporation for the last year were 3,233_l._
2_s._, the expenses (including salaries, rent for springs, repairs of
pipes) 449_l._ 3_s._ 3_d._, thus leaving a profit of 2,783_l._ 18_s._
9_d._ This sum is applied to the reduction of the borough rate.
“The advantages of this system over private companies appear to me
great and incontestable. Here are no expenses for solicitors, or
litigation between rival concerns; no collusion between coalescing
companies to raise the charges to the utmost amount that the
inhabitants will bear; no exorbitant salaries to the variety of
officers, which every separate establishment demands. A few watermen,
whose united salaries are only 114_l._ 8_s._ per annum, is the sole
addition to the ordinary corporation machinery. When to this we add
that all the profits are for the benefit of the town and not for
individuals—that the sum paid in water-rate is thus pretty nearly
deducted from the borough rate—we can hardly hesitate to strike the
balance. The corporation management, here at least, gives unlimited
satisfaction. They are under the direct control of the ratepayers,
properly desirous to conciliate their opinion, and are sure to hear of
any incivility, which, as they have no interest in protecting it, they
are always ready to redress.”
In this instance, however, it is to be observed that the real cost of
the water to the corporation is not more than one-seventh their charge
to the consumer; consequently, the charge for a supply out of the house
may be said to be less than 1_s._ 6_d._ per annum; and it will admit of
little doubt that if the water were lifted by steam power and carried
into every tenement, as it might be, the actual expense need not be
doubled; six-sevenths then of the charge, which is about the same as the
ordinary charges of water companies, is to be considered as a borough
rate, levied in the shape of a water rate, applied doubtless to some
other proper public services.
An example is presented in Manchester of the practicability of obtaining
supplies for the common benefit of a town without the agency of private
companies. In that town gas has for some years past been supplied from
works erected and conducted not by the municipality but by a body
appointed under a local Act by an elected committee of the ratepayers.
This mode of supplying the town was, it appears, violently opposed by
private interests; but I am informed that the supplies of gas are of as
good or even of a better quality, and cheaper than those obtained from
private companies in adjacent towns; that improvements in the
manufacture of the gas are more speedily adopted than in private
associations, and the profits are reserved as a public fund for the
improvement of the town. Out of this fund a fine Town Hall has been
erected, whole streets have been widened, and various large improvements
have been made; and the income now available for the further improvement
of the town exceeds 10,000_l._ per annum, after providing for the
expense of management and the interest of the sinking fund on the money
borrowed. There are now in the same districts in the metropolis no less
than three immense capitals sunk in competition,—three sets of gas-pipes
passing through the same streets, three expensive sets of principal and
subordinate officers where one would suffice, comparatively high charges
for gas to the consumers, and low dividends to the shareholders of the
companies in competition. Where a scientific and trustworthy agency can
be obtained for the public, manifest opportunities present themselves
for considerable economy on such modes of obtaining supplies. A proposal
was made in Manchester to obtain supplies of water for the town in the
same manner as the supplies of gas, but the owners of the private pumps,
who, it is stated, have the monopoly of the convenient springs, and
exact double the charge for which even private companies are ready to
convey supplies into the houses, made a compact and effectual opposition
to the proposal, contending that the supplies of rain-water (which are
sometimes absolutely black with the soot held in suspension), together
with that from the springs was sufficient, and the proposal was
defeated. These petty interests could not, however, avail against the
more powerful interest of a joint-stock company, which was established
to procure supplies for the middle and wealthier classes of the town.