The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-07-07
TO FIGHT THE LITTLE METER.
WATER COMMISSION WILL HEAR
ARGUMENT THIS AFTERNOON.

Mr.. w. II. stiIlweII VIII Present Pc
tition For the Discontinuancc OF
the Meter system and the Aband-
onment of the Idea Altogether On
Sanitary and other GrOunds-ArRn-
euments VIII he Submitted In Sup
port of the PetitiOn-The Petition
said TO BE n Strong One.
The water commission will meet this
afternoon to continue the public discussion
begun before It last Wednesday, on the
subject of water meters. At the meeting
last week the pro-meterslde Of the ques-
ton was presented by Henry McAipin'
Esq, and a partial reply from the other
side of the question was made by Mr.. w.
b. SulIWeu.
At the meeting this afternoon the anti
meter side OF the question will be present.
ed at length by Mr.. sullwell, assisted by
other opponents OF the meter and backed
up by a lengthy petition in opposition to
meters and requesting their discontinue
ance BY the comm ission The signers to
this petition includes nOn-users as well as
users of meters, while the petition pre-
scented by Mr. MeAlpin a week ago had
been presented only TO meter users.
The commission will meet at 4 o'clock.
MI stlwen requests that those, who
are opposed 20 the use of meters Will meet
him in the long room of the city exchange
q quarter Of an hour before the time OF
the meeting. The petition which Mr..
Stillweil will present TO the commission
will request that body not only to dlscon.
tinue the use of meters now In use. but
90 abandon the idea of generally introduce
m INT q n
the ad valorem basis of collecting water
rates.
The petition will oppose the meters on
the ground that they are unsaniary by
causing a dangerous economy in the use
of water by many persons that they are
inaccurate and hence unjust, in this way
making a few meter users pay for water
used by others, and that to require few
citizens to pay for water by meter while
the great majority OF users pay by the
ad valorem rate is a discrimination which
cannot be justified in reason or common
sense.
IT am so firmly convinced" said Mr..
Stillwell yesterday that, If the meters
should be generally introduced In the city
that we would in time suffer from some
pestllence as a result that II possible to
do so. l would move out of the city for
fear Of such thing, although have lived
here for thirty-one years"
Mr.. Stillwell has been gathering tur-
ther evidence since last Wednesday Of the
peculiaritles and idiosyncrasies of the wa
ter meters and will have some interest
ing facts on this line to lay before council.
Mr. Stlilwell will present a strong in
dorsement of his position by Health on
Ger LeHardy, who opposes the meters on
sanitary grounds. Mr.. W. L. Gignilliau
will represent the petitioners.
The city council has under consideration
the request of the water commission for
an appropriation to carry out the recon-
mendation Of Engineer 7. T. Johnston Of
Chicago for increasing the water supply.
1t is expected that at its next meeting
council will make an appropriation OF $4,000
to 5000 for the purpose of equipping the
works with a flushing apparatus with
which to clear out the wells and keep them
clear. If this does not succeed in increas-
ing the supply sufficiently, it will be neces-
eary to either bore more wells or put in
an air lift plant at a cost of about $4,000
both Of which plans are recommended by
Mr.. Johnston in certain contingencies.