The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-26 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1866.

The management of our Metropolitan Gas and
Water Companies is certainly not altogether in a
satisfactory condition, and we are not surprised
that the whole question should have been brought
under the consideration of the Upper House the
other evening. Lerd REDESDALE'S motion, indeed,
had reference only to the West Middlesex Water
Bill, and his anxiety for a committee of the whole
House originated in his fear that the quantity of
water taken from the Thames might become exces-
sive. The bill proposes to extend the works of the
company to Hampstead, Middlesex, and other
places, which would greatly extend the area of
supply, and since the company atpresent only draw
8,000,000 gallons daily of the 20,000,000 gallons to
which they are entitled, yet the quantity taken
during the summer time by the various companies
materially affected the power of the stream. Lord
REDESDALE considers that the House should con-
sider whether it is not desirable that new districts
should be supplied from new sources rather than
depend upon the old ones. On a further discussion
the bill in question was allowed to pass ; and in-
deed it is difficult to see bow it could have
been delayed, since the company do not ask for
permission to take more water, but only, to
extend their works, and they are already
entitled by Act of Parliament to more than twice
as much as they use. The question of how much
should be drawn from the river may, however, very
well be discussed at another time, since it will be a
very great evil to diminish, unnecessarily, the flow
of the river.

Meanwhile the general discussion on the matter
showed how much dissatisfaction is felt in the me-
tropolis regarding the management of gas and
water. Earl GREY remarked that the whole ques-
tion was of great importance, and ought to be dealt
with comprehensively. " London," he said " was
greatly increasing in size, and the whole system of
municipal affairs for the government of the metro-
polis appeared to him to be utterlybreaking down."
Did the Government mean, he asked, that the
Legislature were to drift on passing a suc-
cession of private bills, or were they prepared to
introduce some comprehensive measure of muni-
cipal reform? From Lord GRANVILLE'S reply
there does not appear to be any such movement in
prospect ; but we can hardly suppose that the
country will long be satisfied with the present
condition of affairs. The Gas and Water Bills are,
in fact, as Lord GREY observed, transferred from the
proper municipal authority to joint stock com-
panies, which are very apt to abuse their powers
and consult the interests of their shareholders
rather than those of the gas companies, and more
especially there is a system of monopoly which is
supposed to be the particular aversion of
Englishmen. The metropolis is mapped out into
so many districts, and each district is supplied by
its particular company, which, consequently, exer-
cises an absolute dictatorship over the consumers.
Any complaint, remonstrance, or refusal to pay an
extortionate demand is met by the threat of dis-
continuing the supply, and the consumer, if he has
large premises, shops, or offices is forced to capitu-
late. There have long been complaints on this
point, and Lord OVERSTONE only expressed the ge.
neral opinion when he said that the grievances under
which this great metropolis was suffering, owing to
the want of control over water, gas, and other compa-
nies, bad reached a great height. Lord TAUNTON
went still further, and declared that the manner in
which the affairs of the metropolis were managed
was a scandal to the country, and that from want
'of unity of action enormous sums of money
were thrown away, and while the safety
and convenience of the public and proper
sanitary arrangements were neglected. The
fact of the matter is that the whole system of
municipal government needs a thorough reorganisa-
tion. It was intended originally as a protection
against centralisation, but from the manner in which
the gas and water companies are conducted it
brings about the very evil which it was intended to
avoid. The management is as despotic as under
the most paternal Government, and the public have
in fact less chance of making themselves heard by
a Board of Directors than a Minister of the Interior.

After our usual English fashion, we have
been grumbling for a long while without
making any very great effort to get rid of
the incumbrance ; but there is a prospect of matters
righting themselves by coming to a standstill. The
Metropolitan Board, partly from choice, partly from
necessity, has had to undertake so many costly
worki of late years, that the whole question of the
metropolitan rating will probably soon be brought
under consideration. At present tge rates are bur-
densome enough, but so extremely unequal that
while the struggling householder in the East-end,
who can scarcely get a living, has to pay five or
six shillings, his happier fellow-citizen at the
West-end has only to pay half-a-crown, though
very possibly a hundred guineas to the one would
be of less consequence than twenty shillings to the
other. Surely this is a very false and mischievous
system, and its evil effects on the treatment of the
poor have long been painfully evident. Public
opinion is tending more and more in favour of a
general rate; and Mr. VILLIERS himself recom-
mended such a rate for the maintenance of the
sick poor the other day. Why not carry the 'prin-
ciple still further, and put the whole of our rating
system on a fair and equitable basis. Till we do
this we shall never have the affairs of our metro-
polis or our poor well and economically adminis-
tered.

More despatches have come to hand from Aus-
tria and Prussia, which repeat the same old story
we have listened to so long without throwing any
new light on the subject. Count MENSDORFF has
sent a despatch to Count KARoLvi at Berlin, in
which he makes mention of a Note handed to him
by M. DE WEATHER from his Government. The
Count declares that the Prussian Government. seem
to recognise the fact that there is no reason to dis-
cuss the question of the priority of armament, and
that the two Sovereigns have disclaimed any
idea of aggressive intentions. But M.. DE
BISMARCK, it is added, persists in pursuing
the argument. Thereupon Count MENSDORFF
statesude s that "His Majesty the EMPEROR does not
believe that this is the right way to arrive at the
precisely whichwayis
to foment angry feeling,
and
increase the A
disputes that are constantly occurring,
to be for ever harping
so provocative of angry
on the same theme, which is
to cause jealousy. feelings, and so likely
The EMPEROR proposes
that he should draw
bi
back
thet
B Austrianer.
a
of
troops that have been tta
.
to the north-western
frontier, which step the C
IA