A letter to the Right Hon. Robert Peel ... on the supply of water to the metropolis; containing a justification of the the complaints of the housekeepers, served ... from the works of the Grand-Junction Company; and a refutation of ... an anonymous writer, under the designation of 'an Old Housekeeper' / [Robert Masters Kerrison].

  • Kerrison, Robert Masters, 1776?-1847.
Date:
1828
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to the Right Hon. Robert Peel ... on the supply of water to the metropolis; containing a justification of the the complaints of the housekeepers, served ... from the works of the Grand-Junction Company; and a refutation of ... an anonymous writer, under the designation of 'an Old Housekeeper' / [Robert Masters Kerrison]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    4> quired, upon housekeepers, as to their capability of ful- filling their obligations in the payment of assessed and parochial taxes ? and how does an excessive water-rate influence the value of house property ? 6. Is the public health affected by the quality of water used for domestic purposes? or does it make no difference in that particular, whether the supply be from a part of the Thames, where it is usually clear and only turbid for a short time after heavy rains, or from other parts of the same river, where it has received the contents of a hundred and forty common sewers, and the various im- purities from the decomposing refuse of this great city ? A Select Committee of the House of Commons inves- tigated the causes of dispute between housekeepers and the directors of Water Companies in the session of 1821, and printed their Report, together with the Minutes of Evidence. These are voluminous, but admit of being referred to. It will be found that two principal causes of dissatisfaction had arisen, excited by the new companies in the western and in the eastern part of the metropolis, where the assessments had been augmented in various de- grees, bearing an undue proportion to the increased ac- commodation afforded by the respective companies. The loudest complaints were from the tenants of the Grand Junction Water Company, who, in addition to higher rates, had just reason to complain, not only of a diminished supply, but of an increased impurity of the water. I have presented an outline of the origin of the two new companies whose proceedings were most ob- jectionable, reference being at hand to the Minutes of Evidence in illustration of particular points. It may be proper to remark, that the Select Committee expressed some very strong opinions upon the injurious tendency of the acts of the new Water Companies, and of the necessity of watching their proceedings; for which