History of the parliamentary contest between the Edinburgh and district water trustees and the ratepayers / by Robert Johnston.

  • Johnston, Robert
Date:
1872
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: History of the parliamentary contest between the Edinburgh and district water trustees and the ratepayers / by Robert Johnston. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    publication, as next day (16th February), the substance of them was given in the daily papers, with numerous quotations. A special meeting of the Town Council was held on 18th February 1869, for the purpose of considering the documents thus reported to them by the Special Committee. Councillor David Lewis made a long speech, full of the wildest in- vectives against the Water Company and their Moorfoot scheme, and of the strongest recommendations of his St Mary's Loch scheme, all on the same grounds as the one already mentioned as advanced by Dean of Guild Law, and shown to be ridiculous, viz.—that the supply was inexhaustible. While he stated that this was a struggle between the Council and a moneyed monopoly, and that the Water Company were fighting for money, and the Council were fighting for water and the interest of the community, he, with characteristic inconsistency, totally forgot that those in whose interest he professed to be fighting, had some right to be consulted in a matter involving a large expendi- ture of money, and a necessary increase of burdens to be met by addi- tional taxation ; and he concluded with the following motion, in which, in disregard of all the promises of the Town Council and its members, the rights of the ratepayers to be consulted were altogether ignored, viz. — The Magistrates and Council having considered the reports of the Special Committee, with the relative reports of the Sub-committee, and of Messrs Stewart and Bateman, and the financial vidimus ap- pended thereto, approve thereof, and resolve to prosecute the Bill now before Parliament, to the effect of taking over the Company's under- taking by agreement or arbitration, and of obtaining an additional supply of water from St Mary's Loch, under the scheme recommended by Messrs Stewart and Bateman, as the best for the Corporations of Edinburgh, Leith and Portobello : Bemit to the Special Committee to carry out this resolution; to take such steps as they may consider expedient to inform the community of the respective schemes; and if they [who f] approve of the St Mary's Loch scheme, remit farther to the Committee to adjust the clauses of the Bill, and to confer with all parties interested and to report. Two amendments were moved, one by Bailie Miller to the effect that, as an abundant supply of water could be got at a less expenditure of money than would be required for bringing in an additional supply from St Mary's Loch, the Council should resolve to delay farther con- sideration of that scheme, and recommend the Corporations to acquire the entire undertaking of the Company; and another by Councillor Tawse, which is so important as showing the true meaning of the motion, that though negatived, it is now given, viz.— That the re- ports and relative documents lie on the table till the opinions of the ratepayers be obtained on the scheme recommended by the Commit- tee ; that it be remitted to the representatives of the various wards to ascertain the opinion of their constituents ; and that in the meantime all proceedings for promoting the Bill lodged with Parliament by the Sub-committee be stayed. On a division between the motion and