§ MR. J. CUMMING MACDONA (Southwark, Rotherhithe)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board, whether he is aware that the mains of the Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company, serving Barnes and other populous districts, are frozen up through their not having been placed deep enough in the ground, and other precautions being taken to prevent their being frozen; that on this account a very large population is most seriously inconvenienced, having to buy water supplied from local wells, &c., at 3d. per bucket; and that great apprehension exists as to the greater risk the inhabitants incur from loss of life and property from fire; whether the Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company can charge the inhabitants for water which they fail to supply; and will he cause inquiry to be made into the matter, and rectify this condition of things?
§ MR. SHAW - LEFEVREI have communicated with the Company, and am informed that, owing to the recent severe frost, some of the mains of the Company in the parish of Barnes are frozen, although they are laid at a greater depth than that generally accepted as sufficient. The Company state that they are employing upwards of 50 water vans. from which a supply is being delivered without charge, and that they have also fixed stand-pipes at all points where the main supply is available, It is added that more than 2,000 stand-pipes are now in use.