gallons per square foot of area per hour. Chelsea: Filter beds, 7; area, 6¾ acres; depth, 8ft.—viz., Thames sand, 3ft. 3in.: shells, &c., 3in.: gravel, 4ft. 6in.; rate of filtration, 2⅓ gallons per square foot per hour. It will be observed that notwithstanding the greater depth of the filter beds of the Chelsea Company, the water supplied by the Company in all times of difficulty arising from a flooded state of the river is unfit for drinking, although the rate of filtration is slower than that deemed sufficient by the water examiner. This is due to the total absence of impounding and storage reservoirs for unfiltered water, to the exceptionally bad quality of the water taken in by the Company, owing to the improper situation of the intake at Ditton, and to the impossibility of filter beds removing suspended matter when in any large quantity; that, moreover, being a principal object of the subsiding reservoirs. The disgusting condition in which the water of the Company was sent out during parts of the months of November and December formed the subject of many complaints, both in the public press and in communications addressed to myself, and was referred to in my reports, dated December 16th, 1874, and January 13th, 1875. I had, on former occasions, reported specially on the subject, and particularly in February, 1872. The dissatisfaction which the condition of the water at the latter date gave rise to induced the Company to take steps to improve their means of supply by enlarging their storage. The scheme submitted to Parliament in the Session of 1873 included the embanking of the Thames at Hampton Court, and was defeated by a strong public opposition, on what I described at the time as æsthetical grounds. No further attempt appears to have been made by the Company to put their supply on a proper footing until the great outcry referred to arose. On the 18th December, however, at a special meeting of the proprietors, a resolution to the following effect was passed:— “That the directors be authorised to take such steps as in their judgment may be necessary or expedient to obtain a fresh intake, with reservoirs and other works connected therewith, and lay the necessary main pipes from the site of such proposed intake to the works at Seething Wells, with the least possible delay.” The measures taken by the directors to secure the land—an area of 50 acres, near Molesey—for the construction of impounding reservoirs, were approved and adopted, and the directors were authorised to apply to Parliament in the now current Session for the necessary powers. This they have done, and there is every probability that their Bill will pass, and that with the completion of the contemplated additions to their works this Company will be able, at no distant time, to supply its customers with water as clear and transparent as any derived from the River Thames. GAS.