| Share page |
|
Chap. VIII.] Water Supply. 101
failed to obtain it. This result is perhaps not to be wondered at on several grounds, however much it maybe regretted. The situation in 1897 was vastly different from that in 1874. The capital of the Company had perforce been enormously increased in the interval, and I believe, now amounts to more than -t a million ; and with the great increase of capital expenditure which had come about in the interval for necessary (or unnecessary) public works and " improvements," it was an arguable question whether the town could have conveniently borne the burden of taking upon its shoulders the water supply.
The opening of the Company's new works at Friston, took the shape of ceremonial turning on of the water into the Warren Hill reservoir by the Duke of Devonshire on August 6, 1897, and was celebrated by a luncheon given by the Mayor at the Queen's Hotel, at which I was present.
The following statement of the Water Company's Acts of Parliament now in force may be useful for reference:—1859, Chapter xcix. ; 1875, Chapter xxx. ; 1881, Chapter 1. ; 1889, Chapter lxxvii. ; 1896, Chapter clxxxvii. ; 1897, Chapter cxxiv. Hailsham had a Water Act of its own :—1885, Chapter xcvii.
" §o »ot for out n$uhtf fattQO tytgixtgost ®|rat go« xisolbta to .effect."—{King John). |
||