The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-04 00:00:00

SUPPLY OF PURE WATER TO

THE METROPOLIS.

Ory Tuesday evening a special meeting of the Com-
mittee appointed by the M I.:,debane Vestry to watch
and give support to any 13',11 or Bills about to be
brought into Parliament for a better and cheaper sup-
ply of pure and wholesome Water for the Metropolis,
took place at the Court House, Merylebone.lane.
Mr. HUGH BIERS having been appointed to the
Chair, stated that it had been convened in order that
they might be set right with reference to certain
statements which had lately been put forward in the
newspapers, emanating from a meeting of millowners
and opponents of the proposed supply, held at Uxbridge
and Watford. At the former meeting it appeared
that only one side of the question had been argued,
every body of an opposite way of thinking being ex-
cluded, At this one-sided meeting, however, it had
been declared that the effect of the London and
Westminster Water Company taking their wa-
ter from the chalk below Bushey Hall Mea-
dows would be materially to injure and reduce,
not only the wells in the immediate neighbourhood, but
also the river Coke and its tributaries. He was con-
fi lent this was an alarm raised without the slightest
foundation. It was well known that there was an in-
exhaustible supply of wive: to be obtained in every part
of Hertfordshire. It would doubtless be remembered
by many members of that Vestry that London was sup-
plied with water from Hertfordshire long before the
introduction of the West Middlesex and Grand June
tion Company. That supply came from springs at
Ware, and those at Bushey Hall Meadows formed a
part of the same supply which fed the springs at Ware,
and therefore the projected supply would only be a se-
cond tapping for the use of the metropolis, the only
difference being that the supply would be obtained by a
much less circuitous route. There were gentlemen
present who had attended for the purpose of giving the
Committee some information and proper data upon the
subject ; and as assertions had gone forth to the public
that the supply proposed to be taken from Bushey Hall
Meadows would not be sufficient, in the first place, to
supply the metropolis, and that it would affect not only
the wells, but the rivers for miles round, under
such circumstances, he believed it was quite within the
province and the duty of that Committee to hear those
gentlemen in explanation or refutation of those asser-
tions.—( Hear, hear.)
Mr. GOMM was most anxious that every possible in-
formation should be obtained upon the subject, and that
any improper or incorrect statements which had gone
forth to the public should be corrected, and set right.
He regretted the course which had been adopted at the
opposition meeting at Uxbridge, in only allowing one
side of the question to be discussed ; but he was gratified
that the press were not excluded.
The CvlitramaN observed that although the press
was admitted it must be remembered that only one side of
of the question was discussed, and that (consequently
only one side of it could be reported.
Mr. KIRBY (Barrister) thought that the Committee
could not legitimately permit gentlemen to go into the
question geologically in order to disabuse the public
mind as to the assertions made at the meetings of mill-
owners residing near the Colne River. lie thought the
info►mation proposed to be afforded in opposition to
those statements was more the business of a Committee
of the House of Commons.

Mr. GOMM thought the Committee ought to be de-
lighted to receive all the information they could possibly
get upon so important a matter.
Mr. CLAPP had no doubt but the points which had
engaged the attention of the millowners, would be-
come the subject of a strict inquiry before the Com-
mittee of the House of Commons, but that was not to
preclude the Vestry from obtaining all the information
it could upon the subject. He had carefully read over
all the arguments adduced by the opponents to the
London and Westminster Water Company, but he
could find nothing which ought for one moment to
stand in the way of the great project for obtaining a
pure supply of water to the metropolis. This great
project was not to be set aside by a hole-and-corner
meeting of thirty-seven millowners, who refused to
hear more than one side of the question.—(Elear.)
He could only say, he trembled for a cause which was
compelled to resort to such means for its support.—
(llear, hear, hear.) A Mr. Dickenson had endea-
voured to show his profound knowledge in geolo-
gical matters, in opposition to Mr. Stephenson,
and to make the first engineer of the present
day appear almost a nonentity, but his arguments
turned out to be as inconclusive as they were ignorant.
—(Hear, hear.) A reverend parson, too, had drawn
his conclusions from a small well but seven feet deep,
and yet it was sought to attach weight to such an ex-
periment as this in opposition to the evidence of the
first scientific men of the age, and the interests of a
million and a half of inhabitants. What ground of
right, he would ask, had 37 millowners over water to be
taken from a source extending even to the German
Ocean ; and if their rights were affected was that too
great a sacrifice for the hundreds of thousands of per-
sons whose health was at present affected by impure
water
Mr. GLAZIER said he ha-witnessed the opration of
the works at Bushey, and he was convinced that there
was more than sufficient water to supply the whole of
London twice over.—( Hear, hear.)
Mr. KIRBY inquired who the gentlemen were, and
what their connections were with the Company, who
were to afford information.

The CHAIRMAN said one of the gentlemen was Mr.
Paten, the projector of the plan, and the other was
named Lowe, a geologist, ar.d a Member of the Royal
Society of Engineers. The latter gentleman he under-
stood was altogether unconnected with the Company.
Mr. GOMM, suggested that Mr. Paten he first heard
in justice to him, as it was his statements in particular
the millowncrs impugned.
Mr. GLAZIER said it was for that purpose Mr.
Paten bad been requested to attend.
The CHAIRMAN said the two points in particular
were the quantity of water to be supplied, and the
effect of its being taken away upon the locality from
which it was to be taken.

Mr. PATEN said he was much obliged to the Vestry
for the opportunity afforded him of refuting the state-
ments put forth by the cpponents to the supply
of pure water to the people of London. He attended
their meeting at Uxliridge, conceiving it to be a public
one, for the purpose of endeavouring to convince the
millowners that London could be supplied with good
water from the valley of the Chalk Hills, near Bushey,
without the infliction of any injury to them or any other
parties. He should have imagined that the feeling by
which he (Mr. Paten) was actuated would have been
sufficient to have ensured for him at that meeting a fa-
vourable reception ; however, the contrary was the case.
He was not aware of the cause, for the works at present
in existence at Bushey had been carried on with candour
and justice to all parties. They were not carried for-
ward in secret, for all parties whose property might,
from their own fears and misapprehensions, be
affected, were invited, and had full liberty to witness
the experiments from the first to the last. What, he
would ask, had been the conduct pursued towards
him by the Rev. Mr. Clutterbuck, who had become so
great an opponent to the measure ? Why, he used to
attend the works continually, and he (Mr. Paten)
afforded him all the information he desired.—( Hear.)
He defied Mr. Clutterbuek to contradict this state-
ment. The Rev. Gentleman had not, however, proved
himself quite so honourable in return, for he had sunk a
well in a chalk dell near his (Mr. Paten's), having all
the, appearance of an Artesian boring to the lower
springs, whereas, in fact, it was hardly seven feet deep,
and therefore could only receive the soakage of the
land and surface water, and of course ebbed and flowed,
rose and fell from every trifling rain that occurred, and
strange to say, that for upwards of three months the
engines were at work, only cloven (lays out of that
period did the Reverend Gentleman tabulate it. He
would ask was this conduct honourable ?—(Cries
of " No, no.") This Reverend Gentleman had also
publicly asserted that one spring in the neigh-
bourhood, used by a water-erase grower, was
abated by the working of his (Mr. Paten's) engines,
but he forgot to let out the secret (perhaps Mr.
Clutt rbuck might not be aware of it) that
this man used to dam the water back when the
engines were not at work, and when they were, to
let it drain off, and thus he effected a difference in
the supply to the extent of three inches.—( Hear,
hear.) lie (Mr. Pr) was prepared to prove this
c
.
the
o t il;
Company's neighbourhood n
fact. He would now call their attention to a Nlr.
Dickenson, a millowner, who had set before the world
through the press "that
working n'ells !n t
of Watford were certainly lowered, and the springs
t he
nearly
:l);ndsrti lacind up, by
He
(Mr. Paten) dared him to prove one so-
litaryce of any such effect having been produced,
and he held at that moment in his hand no less than
98 testimonials contradicting it.—( Hear, hear.)
gn'e inch. They were minutely ex-
amined Mr. CLAN' expresi:(nl
jancdte,s.ierie
eight
see the declarations
g cases, the wells had
members of the c •
by the e,ommitte, who ex-
t
pressed their satisfaction.
anlol ddeidnitien,i
diminished
on
Mr. PATEN proceeded. Mr. Dickenson had further ,
aen
asserted, that to take water for the supply of London
from Bushey Hall meadows would dry up the rivers
Verulam, Colne, (lade, Wilbourne, Chep, and all the
other great rivers
~
a ML
ki ies: cant attest,
&c and would have the effect of depriving the in-
habitants of St. b
Albans,y Clieshm, Anuirrseh,
A
ited
tm
Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamstcad, Two Waters,
Kings LengleY, Chesham, Chenies, and Watford, and
all other parts within 113- square miles, of water.
This statement was preposterous ; let them look at the
supply of water required for London. From the evidence
of Mr. Knights in 1834, before a Committee of the
House of Commons, it appeared that the three Companies
north of the Thames, namely, the Grand Junction, West
Middlesex, and Chelsea, supplied 6,800,000 gallons to
41,000 houses. At the same ratio 9,287,000 gallons
would be sufficient to supply the 56,000 houses proposed
to be supplied by the London and Westminster Corn-
pally. The orals rising in theupper part of the valley,