As early as the Tuesday morning following the storm of Monday night, Mr. Bellamy, the Plymouth Borough Surveyor, notified to the inhabitants of that town the imminent danger of a cessation of the water supply, in consequence of the blocking by snow of the leat through which the water is brought into the town. That these warnings were needed was evident from the fact that since the Monday night the only water obtainable had been from the Hartley reservoir, which, when full, contains only two million gallons, or two days' supply. On Wednesday the whole of the available staff of the Corporation, including the men whose usual task is the repairing of the leat, were set to work, under the personal supervision of Mr. Bellamy, to clear away the frozen snow which completely filled the leat at the Head Weir, and prevented the passage through it of any water from the river. The whole leat from the Head Weir to Roborough was found to be one mass of frozen snow. On the same day, the Mayor of Plymouth, Mr. J. T. Bond, accompanied by Mr. R. Monk and Mr. G. R. Barrett, set out to walk up to Roborough, to ascertain if possible how the work was progressing. The Mayor and his companions arrived safely at Roborough, and were enabled to have communication by telephone with the borough surveyor who was at the weir head. They ascertained from him the condition of the leat, and received an urgent appeal for at least two hundred more workmen to be sent up immediately. The party then set out on their return journey, and again on foot. [Illustration: WATER STEPS, MILEHOUSE ROAD, DEVONPORT.] Arrived in Plymouth, a meeting of the Water Committee was hastily convened, and it was ascertained that four Plymouth contractors would be able to supply about one hundred men to proceed to Roborough. This force was inadequate, and consequently the Mayor proceeded to Devonport, and having stated the case to General Sir Richard Harrison, K.C.B., commanding the district, at once received a promise of the services of a military force of two hundred--one hundred of the Welsh Regiment from the North Raglan Barracks, and another hundred of the Royal Marines, the latter by permission of Colonel Colwell, second colonel commandant.