The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-08-17

$SVU ION the second nye years ana nol to
exceedS$600 for the last ten years The
communication was referred to the Water
Committee of the Board OF works, and
no action had been taken on II prior 10
the meeting of the Board yesterday.
Mayor Seymour, who spent all Of last
week quietly Investigating the conditions
OF the watershed, has returned, ana was
at the City Hall yesterday morning
said, ito hear the Board OF Works Off
Gals say they did not know the Char
that II escaped observation through be-
ing in an out-of-the-way place Is ridicn-
lous. l made a visit there yesterday in
company with Mr.. Ball, who did NOT
first thing / saw or entering the road
leading through the city property was a
MONS saloon, and stating in fiaring let
tiers that he bottled beer. Further in on
the road, and not out of view, we found
the houses sao occupies pied by Ins ienan abe houses
Ball. who interviewed them, found no
diiticIfl ay I in a Sos5sas We th had t 70 gd pa 10
Echo Lake to find Hennion, and when
we got there he did not deny that ne
rented the houses. He did SO, he said,.
Mr.. Sherrerd, by which he was to keep
fences in repair. Now, 1t appears to me
that Mr.. Hennion had a very nice tning
without attempting to rent any OF the
houses. Along with being permitted 10
operate a saloon and a bottling. estan-
lishment on the city property. ne nag
Just to prevent What his action In per-
hitting people to live on the tract mignt
cause.-the pollution of the wafer supply.
The Mayor said that the old Dullalngs
SHOULD be destroyed and that 1t would
be better for the city to have a resident
supervisor live in the house occupied by
Hennion. with rent free n a small sal
airy, than to ave the work of supervision
in charge of a high salaried official who
seldom visited the place.
The alleged pollution of the PequannocR
water came up for consideration at the
meeting of the Water Committee OF the
Board of Works held yesterday afternoon.
Mr.. Van Duyne, in introducing the SUD-
ject, said
Il suppose all the members of the com
mittee have noticed some articles IN the
newspapers about possible contamlnalioa
newspapers or citizens show sucn an IN
terest in our water supply. II they, get
Information ahead Of US ne you'd pc
most of one article was taken up by q
statement concerning the houses on the
tract at Charlotteburg don't tnink q
single member of this Board believes that
there is any danger of contamination from
these houses.
Regarding the purchase of that prop
erty it was not so much the object to pre-
vent the habitation of those houses as r
was to guard against the possible location
on that tract of manufacturing interests.
nevertheless do Slll 4404 : hhS y 49,
Committee, | would like to have power to
have destroyed all the buildings on h
property except the two large farmhouses
and the barn. These might be USED 1of
other purposes in time.
Mr.. Van Duyne went on to say that
trouble had been experienced in getting
he added that a law had been passed last
year giving the Board of Health more
power to abate nuisances in the water
supply than it ever had before. At the
same time, Mr.. Van Duyne declared that
the water was in better condition than 1t
ever had been.
Van Duyne presented a report from DR..
r. w. Connolly, the bacteriologist of the
Board of Health. The report was to the
effect that an examination of the water
July &c showed much better results than
any previous examination had shown.
Mr.. Stainsby took up the discussion by
houses at Charlotteburg by fire was not
sufficient to meet the allegations in the
newspaper articles. b president said
hat there were some things said in the
article which demanded that a careful in
yestigation should be made and a detailed
statement made by the chairman of the
committee in answer.
over with a mere motion to burn the
houses" Mr.. Stainsby went on to say,
and he added that the care OF a city's
management of its finances. The presi-
dent also stated that the Board had not
been in the habit of going to the water
shed very often, as minated, but he said
the Board had a man, Mr.. Ball, whose
duty it was to inspect the watersheds
carefully. If the statements published
were correct, added Mr.. Stainsby. the as
sistant engineer was not doing his duty.
but he added that he believed that Mr..
Ball had been doing his full duty.
Duyne and Engineer sherrerd make an
investigation With a, view to answering
the newspaper statements.
Commissioner Hewson declared that he.
read the articles about pollution with a
great deal of surprise, and he felt inn
PEELED to believe. he said, that there was
great sareles s nafa or great negligence
. Mr.. Hewson said the houses should have
been ordered vacated as soon as the true
condition of affairs became Known. The
o%uthouses should have been cleaned out
and purified at once, without Waiting for
official action by the board.
Mr.. Hewson went on to say that the
printed statements showed that there
could have been no investigation or In
spection worth the name, of the condition
of the property owned by the city at Char
Of the watershed inspection had been
neglecting his duty.
Mr.. Hewson went on to say that the
the entire Water Committee, and he
amended Mr.. Stainsby's motion to that
effect. The Commissioner added with en-
phasis that If the condition at the water
shed should be found as alleged in the
papers the committee should acknowledge
the truth and remedy the evils at once.
but on the other hand, if the allegations
should be unfounded the committee should
not for one moment rest under the impu-
tations of carelessness or neglect of duty.
Mr.. Herr also stated that the conditions
indicated to him that the Assistant En-
gineer has not visited the city property
in four months. or if he had he failed ito
report that the houses there were being
occupied. He, too, favored an investiga-
ton at once.
Mr.. Van Duyne admitted that he had
not known that the Houses in question
were occupied and Mr.. Sherrerd explained
that while he had been Informed about
people occupying the houses. he was UNI
aware that Mr.. Hennion had been re-
ceiving rent.
1t was decided by the committee to. go
and City Council Price and DR.. H. c.. H.
Herold will be invited to go along.
DR.. Connolly's report to DR.. Herold
reads as follows
archaeological examination of the city
water supply made on July ~ 1897, gave
en- from a faucet after permitting the wa
ter to run for ten minutes
" Number of bacteria per C. c., 49,
Evidence of the presence of the bacil-'
lus coli communis was found, but not
to nearly the same degree as in the for
mer months of May and June
Several tubes were in~noculated with
varying amounts of water and only in
tubes which contained five c. C. or more
of the water was any evidence of the
examinations this bacillus was found in
tubes in which two drops had been placed.
Regarding the presence of the bacillus
coli communis in the water, permit me
to respectfully say that its influence on
the character of drinking water is of lit
flo fonnorf ccnaoial1n Dhan a oot,r