The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-29 00:00:00

CONTItACT FOR FRESH OX BEEF AND VEGE-
TABLES AT FOYNES.
CONTRACT DEPARTMENT, ADMIRALTY.
Somerset House, 27th December,
,1866.
THE COMMISSIONERS for EXECUTING
the OFFICE of LORD HIGH ADMIRAL of the
UNITED KINGDOM of GREAT BRITAIN and IRE-
LAND do hereby Give Notice, that on Tuesday, the 15th
January next, at Twelve o'clock at Noon, they will be
ready to treat with such persons as may be willing to con-
tract supplyingforFßESH
all such quantities of
OX BEEF and VEGETABLES,
for the use of her Majesty's ships and vessels at Foynes as
may be demanded froth the 15th January to the 30th June,
1867, both days included.
The Contractor is to supply good fat well-fed Ox Beef,
es no Heifer meat will be admitted.
The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty reserve to
themselves an unlimited power of selection in accepting
the Tenders.
Tenders must be made at rates per 100 lb., and no atten-
tion will be paid to any offers not so made.
The Contractor, in claiming payment for the supplies, is
to make out his invoices in pounds at per 100 lb.
The Contractor to reside on the spot, or to have an
agent resident there. If non-resident, the name and ad-
dress of the agent must be inserted in the Tender.
No Tender will be received unless made on the printed
form provided for the purpose, and which may be obtained
on application in the Lobby of the Department of the Con-
troller of Victualling, Admiralty, Somerset House, or to
the Postmaster at Foynes, where also the conditions of
the contract may be seen.
No Tender will be received after Noon on the day of
treaty, and it will not be required that the party tendering,
tr an agent on his behalf, should attend at the Office on
the day of Contract, as the result of the offer received from
each person will be communicated to him and his proposed
sureties in writing.
Every Tender must be addressed to the Secretary of the
Admiralty, and must also be delivered at the department
of the Comptroller of Victualling, Admiralty, Somerset
House, signed by two responsible persons, engaging to
become bound with the person tendering in the sum of
£3OO for the due performance of the Contract for Fresh Ox
Beef, and £lOO for the Contract for Vegetables.
The Contractor to pay half the amount of the stamps on
the Contracts and Bonds.
By order, ANTONIO BRADY,
Registrar of Contracts and Public Securities.

Now Ready, in One Volume of 760 pages. imperial Svo,
(with three Illustrative Plates and a Glossarial Index,
price 365.,
THE ANNOTATED BOOK of COMMON
PRAYER; being an Historical, Ritual, and Theolo-
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of England. Edited by the Rev. JOHN HENRY BLUNT,
M.A., F.S.A., Author of " Household Theology," &c., 3cc,
The Publishers venture to place this Work before the
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History, and Meaning; and it is believed that as much
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torical and ritual works.

Besides the contents of an ordinary Prayer-book, this
volume contains as much Illustrative matter as would fill
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A few copies have been printed in royal 4to, with large
margin for MS. note; price £3 35., half-bound in morocco.
Purchasers of Part I. are recommended to complete the
work without delay.
Rivingtons : London, Oxford, and Cambridge.

HIGIi WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
ring DAY.—Morning, 7h. 30m.—Afternoon, Bh. Om
Po-31ohRow.-Morning, Bh. 28m.—Afternoon, 9h. Om

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LONDON, SATURDAI, DEC. 29, 1866

We are very glad to find that the very important
question of our Metropolitan Water Supply is likely
to be dealt with in a comprehensive manner. A
royal commission has been appointed, consisting of
the Duke of RICHMOND, Sir JOHN THWAITES,
Colonel HARNESS, R.C., Alderman PHILLIPS, and
Messrs. HARRISON and PRESTWICK, for the pur-
pose of ascertaining what supply of unpolluted
and wholesome water can be obtained by collecting
and storing water in the high grounds of England
and Wales either by the aid of natural lochs or by arti-
ficial reservoirs at a sufficient elevation for the supply
of the large towns. They are further to report
which of such sources are best suited for the
supply of London and its suburbs, and also
how the supply from the remaining sources may
be most beneficially distributed among the principal
towns. This is a step in the right direction, for it
has long become evident that we must seek some
purer and more distant source of:supply than any
we at present possess, if we wish to preserve the
public health, and ward off the attacks of dangerous
epidemics. England has no lack of water, but what
withour manufactures and our sewers we are doing
our best to poison it. It will be some time before
a more rational system of drainage is applied
in extenso, and even when that very desirable re-
form is carried out, there will remain all the manu-
factures which require water, and which are not cal-
culated to improve the salubrity, or the attractions
of a stream. Not very long ago an adventurous
experimenter extracted a bottle of pure paraffine
from the waters of one of our English rivers,
and countless are the details brought forward con-
firming the unpleasant impressions which are
generally entertained on this subject. The inti-
mate connection between epidemic disease and
impurity of water has been abundantly proved,
more particularly with regard to that terrible
visitor whom we have much reason to dread,
though there is no doubt that typhus fever and
many other fatal maladies owe their dangerous
prevalence more or less directly to this cause. The
remarkable coincidence of the limited area of the
cholera's ravages, with the supply derived from
any particular company this year, has pointed the
moral most forcibly, so as to impress the most
sceptical and least observant, and we are glad to
find it has not been lost on the authorities. Since
the quality of the water supplied to a district is
a matter entirely beyond the control of the inhabit-
LaegPisalrattienurie:odistatkreicte'are that the water sup-.
it is plainly the duty
bsuefaenciseenrit:
oafntBthoef
quantity, and
shortcomings.
plied to them shall be
On both
populous districts especially
free, at least, from organic impuriti
these heads there have
The poorer and more
suffer severely from the insufficient and in-
termittent supply, and while this subject
is under discussion it would be well to con-
sider whether it is not desirable to make it compul-
sory on landlords to construct in every house a
proper place for storing water, sufficient at least for
one day's consumption, by the ordinary number of
inhabitants. In small, over-crowded houses, where
the different families have but twenty minutes or
half an hour daily in which to catch their day's
supply for washing, cooking, and drinking, in tubs,
buckets, or other open vessels, there is not much
likelihood that enough will be secured for health,
comfort, and decency ; or that, if tolerably
pure when it leaves the reservoir, it will
keep fresh for the twenty-four hours ensuing.
The tendency of stagnant water to attract bad
smells, &c., is so well known that it is a common
plan to put a pail or tub of water in a newly-
painted room to take off the smell, yet no one
seems to apply this principle to the contrivances of
the lodgers in our crowded and dirty courts.
Dr. LETHEBY has just published some interesting
tables respecting our metropolitan water supply.
The facts which he gives are both valuable in them-
selves and interesting from a scientific point of view,
but we are not bound to accept the conclusions
which he draws from them. He seems doubtful
whether any more improvements can be made,
and evidently thinks that the condition of the
water supply has very little to do with
the cholera. The health officers of the eastern dis-
tricts where the epidemic was most severe do not,
he says, accord in their opinions with the popular
hypothesis, but he does not disclaim the necessity of
calm and deliberate investigation. At any rate
there has been a marked improvement in the quan-
tity and quality of the water supplied :o the metro-
polis in the years 1851 and 1866, and this has pro-
bably a great deal to do with the diminished action
of the cholera. The most marked improvement,