§ MR. JOHN KELLY (Camberwell, N.)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his 522 attention has been called to the statement recently made by a member of the Sutton Local Board, to the effect that 18 wells in the immediate proximity of the wells of the Sutton Water Company, one at the distance of only a few yards, had been converted into cesspools; whether he is aware that Dr. Dupré has reported the water supplied by the Sutton Water Company to be inferior to that taken from a well in the vicinity, at the top of Banstead Downs; whether, in view of the fact that the records in the Local Government Board office prove that disastrous outbreaks of enteric fever have been caused through the specific contamination by excremental matter of public water supplies, he proposes to take any and, if so, what steps for the protection of the public health in the district supplied by the Sutton Water Company from the great dangers threatened by the cesspools in question; and, whether he has any intention of introducing any legislation with a view of assisting local sanitary authorities to put an end to the monopolies enjoyed by such Water Companies as may show themselves indifferent to the health interests of the districts supplied by them?
§ * THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. RITCHIE,) Tower Hamlets, St. George'sI have communicated with the Sutton Local Board, who inform me that there are wells, some on the sand and others on the chalk, which have been converted into cesspools. In one or two cases, on notice from the Local Board, the owners have cleaned out and filled up the cesspools; and the Local Board state that they are endeavouring to reduce the number so as to preserve the purity of the water supply. Analyses of the water were made between January and March of last year; but none have been made since. The Local Government Board have for a long time been urging the Local Board to provide sewers, and as the Local Board show no disposition to perform this duty they have, after local inquiry, been declared in default by the Local Government Board. As its order was not complied with application was made to the High Court for a mandjmus. This came before the Court in May, when the Local Board made excuses for delay and obtained an extension of time. If it is necessary 523 the Local Government Board will apply to the Court for a peremptory order. I have no evidence that the Sutton Water Company are indifferent to the health of the district, and do not contemplate proposing any legislation on the subject.