Edinburgh and District Water Bill : statement by the trustees.

  • Edinburgh and District Water Trust.
Date:
[1871?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Edinburgh and District Water Bill : statement by the trustees. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    It la respecttliily foqueBted that aU Batepayers, whether in favour of the Bill or opposed to it, will carefully read and consider this Statement. EDINBUEGH AND DISTEICT WATEE BILL. STATEMENT BY THE TRUSTEES. The Select Committee of the House of Commons having, after a patient hearing of the whole evidence, tmanimously held the preamble of the Bill to be proven, and the Bill as amended in Committee having passed the Commons, the Trustees hoped that all parties would have accepted the decision as a full and complete justification of the course which they have felt it to be their duty to pursue. So far from that being the case, however, the parties who, in the name of the ratepayers, have fostered the opposition, continue their policy of misrepresentation and advocate a continued opposition in the House of Lords. Had they, in pursuing this object, been content to misrepresent the promoters of the Bill, the Trustees would not have felt themselves called upon at this stage to make any public statement; but when the decision of the Select Committee is assailed as contrary to evidence, and reflections are cast upon the members of that tribunal—whose competency, independence, and freedom from all bias or party feeling are beyond suspicion—the Trustees feel it to be right to review the facts as shortly as possible, and to invite the calm and deliberate consideration of this statement by the citizens of Edinburgh, Leith, and Portobello. I.—As regards the fairness and deliberation with which the question of the Water Supjdy has been considered. ■ The sufferings, especially of the poorer classes of the community, having, for many years previous to 1868, been made the subject of loud and frequent complaints, the corporation of Edinburgh, in June of that year, appointed a special Committee to co-operate with tlie corporations of Leith and Portobello, in investigating the whole subject. After a full inquiry, the joint Committee of the three Corporations employed Mr J. W. Stewart, C.E., to re- port on the supply, its distribution, and the source from which a more abundant supply could be obtained. This he did on 13th