THE EARL OF CARNARVON, in presenting a petition from the Metropolitan Sanitary Association for inquiring into the meaning and intention of the Metropolis Water Act, took occasion to call the attention of their Lordships to the subject to which the petition referred. The noble Earl, who was very indistinctly heard, was understood to commence by alluding to the differences of opinion which prevailed among authorities on this question as to the best mode of carrying out a proper system of drainage and of water supply for the Metropolis. The rival theories extant on this important subject had been long debated, and, while the protracted controversy continued, the most serious inconvenience and injury resulted to the public from the unsettled state of the question. In fact, this was another example of the truth of the old adage, "Delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi." Large sums were expended in remedying partial evils, which would be sufficient, if judiciously applied, to provide a perfect system of drainage and an adequate supply of water. The Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers proposed to expend 3,000,000l. in the construction of a main line of drainage for the whole metropolis, while a rival plan for accomplishing the same object was stated as likely to cost only 1,000,000l. Again, the great Victoria Sewer, which had been intended as the commencement of a vast trunk drainage for that portion of the metropolis which lies south of the Thames, the cost of which had been estimated at about 14,000l., but which in reality had exceeded 33,000l., was at this moment in ruins, and the estimated repairs amounted to 15,000l. It was clearly worth while to ascertain whether this 15,000l. was to be expended upon a system good or faulty in its principles. 18 There was considerable difficulty in finding a competent tribunal to decide this question. Two modes of doing so were, first, either by appointing a commission of scientific and professional men, or, secondly by a select committee of their Lordships' House. If the first of these courses were adopted, it might be difficult to obtain the services of gentlemen whose opinions would carry sufficient weight with them, and who at the same time were not already pledged to any particular view of the subject. On the other hand, a Committee of their Lordships' House, if appointed, should give up all à priori or abstract reasonings on the matter, and content themselves with inquiring into the comparative failure, or success of the respective systems which had been tried. The question was one affecting the well-being of all classes alike, whether rich or poor; and it derived additional urgency from the circumstance that the epidemic which visited the metropolis last year allowed a shorter interval between the premonitory symptoms and the crisis of the disorder than was the case at former periods of its occurrence, and it was most desirable that adequate precautions should be taken beforehand in order to mitigate the severity of cholera, should it unfortunately reappear among us. At present the sanitary condition of some of the largest squares of the metropolis was very defective, and even the walls of the building in which their Lordships were then assembled were sapped by rotten sewers and festering heaps of abomination. He felt satisfied that no effective reform could be hoped for unless the whole management of the drainage of the metropolis was confided to some central controlling body.
§ Petition to lie on the table.