§ MR. RITCHIEasked the Chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works, Whether it is a fact that the Metropolitan Board have required the fixing of only 22 hydrants in a district in the East End of London, receiving a constant supply of water, and comprising an area of 2,090 acres, 8¾ miles of streets, 49,000 houses, and a population of 400,000 people; and, if so, whether, having regard to the recommendation of the Select Committee on the Metropolitan 1359 Fire Brigade 1877, that hydrants should be substituted for the obsolete wooden plugs, and to the powers given the Metropolitan Board by Statute, he has considered whether the requirements of the district in the case of fire are sufficiently met by the erection of 22 hydrants?
§ SIR JAMES M'GAREL-HOGGI have no doubt my hon. Friend's figures with regard to the area, houses, and population of the district he refers to are correct; and assuming that to be the case, and that the district is part of that supplied by the East London Company, I beg to inform him that it is true that only 22 hydrants have been required there, for the reason that the pressure of water afforded by that Company is too low for the purpose of extinguishing fire without the aid of a fire-engine. I may add that the number of hydrants to be required in any district is decided upon by the Board after careful consideration of Reports made by their engineer and the chief officer of the Fire Brigade; and where, as in the Kent Company's district, the pressure is good, far larger numbers of hydrants have been ordered, and the Board do not necessarily await formal notice of a constant supply.