§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading, read.
THE EARL OF MORLEY, in moving that the Bill be now read the second time, said, that by the Act passed in 1852 the Metropolis Water Companies were required to provide a constant supply of water to the Metropolis; but they were only required to do so on the written application of four-fifths of the ratepayers of a district—a condition which had rendered its provisions inoperative. Under the present Bill an application for a constant supply might be made by the metropolitan authority—namely, the Corporation of London for the City, and the Metropolitan Board of Works for the rest of the Metropolis—but such supply would not be compulsory if the companies could show that one-fourth of the houses were not provided with appliances for preventing waste, and an appeal might be made to the Board of Trade. The Bill had been accepted by the companies, and was now only opposed by the Metropolitan Board of Works. It was important that it should be passed this Session, for apprehensions were entertained of an outbreak of cholera, and it was well known that an impure or insufficient supply of water was the most effective way of spreading that and other diseases.
§ LORD REDESDALEthought the opposition of the Board of Works was not very creditable to a body charged with the health of the Metropolis. He hoped that the objections of the Board might be privately met on one or two points, it being desirable that the Bill should pass this Session.
§ Motion agreed to; Bill read 2a accordingly, and committed: The Committee to be proposed by the Committee of Selection.