completion of the contracts, and after the water had been flowing through for a considerable time-attention was called to an outbreak of water near to a workman's cottage in the Morda valley, fully half a mile from any part of the aqueduct. No one would have suspected any connection between this outflow and the existence of the Llanforda tunnel, but the occupant of the cottage discovered that when there was no water flowing through the tunnel there was no water flowing into his kitchen, and that as soon as the Vyrnwy water was again turned on the flooding recommenced. This led to an inspection of the tunnels, and to the discovery that a considerable quantity of rock had fallen from the roof in the unlined parts, and had caused the water to back up in such a manner as to permit it to escape through fissures, which were above the normal water line. The examinations disclosed a number of such falls, and also disclosed the unexpected fact that the water was acting upon some of the rock in a very serious manner. It was ascertained by chemical analysis that the slaty rock, which was chiefly affected, contained about six per cent. of carbonate of lime and fine particles of iron pyrites. The water dissolved the carbonate of lime, and destroyed the coherence of the rock, leaving the slaty particles in a loose state of mud. This was the chief cause of disintegration, but Prof. Brown thought it was also, to some extent, due to the presence of the iron pyrites, which were oxidised by exposure to air and water, sulphate formed, and the limestone decomposed by some of the sulphuric acid, which partly disintegrated the rock.

Under these circumstances it became necessary to arrange at once for more lining, and this was a difficult as well as disagreeable business, involving the temporary stoppage of the supply from Lake Vyrnwy, and the putting

down of extensive plant and rails for bringing the rock out and carrying bricks and mortar into the tunnels. However the task had to be faced, and the Water Committee were resolved that the work should be thoroughly done so that there might be no interruptions in the delivery of water in future years, when interruptions would be even more serious than now. A contract was entered into in 1892, under which the contractors were to have possession of the tunnels for three weeks out of every four, the fourth week being reserved for sending water through for storage at Oswestry and Prescot to supplement the Rivington and well-water in Liverpool. The lining of one of the tunnels (Llanforda) has been completed, and the second will be completed, so far as the invert is concerned, in about a fortnight. There will then only remain the arching in the second tunnel, and the Corporation will, it is hoped, be in a position to make full use of the first instalment of the new supply.

You will expect me to say something about the quality of the Vyrnwy water. This is a subject that suggests and includes many important scientific considerations—as to the effect on the composition of water of the physical characteristics of a watershed; as to the effects of storage in reservoirs of various depths; as to the influence of the bed of a reservoir on the quality of the water stored under varying temperatures, in summer and winter; as to the effect of sand filtration and exposure to light. On these and analogous questions a great deal of light has been thrown by recent investigations, chemical and biological. The Vyrnwy works have contributed to the solution of these problems to an extent which I cannot even indicate to-night.

It was always expected that, following experience elsewhere, the water would improve by storage, and this

expectation has been realized. The quality is much better to-day than it was two years ago, and it now takes a very high rank among gravitation supplies from uninhabited mountain districts. At the same time the value of sand filtration has been demonstrated very clearly and decisively, especially in regard to action upon lead. While the unfiltered water does, undoubtedly, act upon new lead, the action of filtered water on lead, even upon new lead, is so very slight as to be quite unimportant from a sanitary point of view.

Let me endeavour to state briefly what the citizens of Liverpool have acquired in bringing to a successful issue this Vyrnwy water undertaking. In the first place, they have acquired the absolute and undisputed right to collect and use all the water that can be obtained from an area of 23,500 acres of magnificent watershed, subject to the delivery of compensation water to the river below in the manner provided by the Act of Parliament. Most of this watershed has been purchased by the Corporation, and is their own property, and over the portion not purchased they have acquired rights by which the water courses are protected against pollution and diversion.

Secondly, they have the full and sole possession of the lake itself, capable of supplying Liverpool with forty million gallons of water per day, and capable of giving that large volume for two hundred and fifty days, as well as compensation water to the river, if not a drop of rain were to fall during that period. Before, however, this quantity can be delivered two tunnels, having a total length of 23 miles, will have to be constructed, so as to bring into the lake two streams which now flow into the river below the dam.

Thirdly, they have a line of pipes from the Hirnant tunnel to Liverpool capable of delivering from thirteen to

fifteen million gallons of water per day, being equal to one-third of the quantity which the lake can supply. If more water is wanted than this single line is capable of delivering, a new line of pipes, about 70 miles in length, must be laid from the lake to Liverpool, but the tunnels are large enough to carry the full quantity of forty millions per day.

I sometimes hear people talk about an unlimited supply of water being now available from Lake Vyrnwy. To prevent misunderstanding and disappointment, I will explain exactly what the position is. On the completion of the tunnel linings at Oswestry, and after the construction of additional filtering beds at Llanforda, the Corporation will be in a position to bring fourteen million gallons per day from Lake Vyrnwy. The total quantity then available, including the supply from Rivington and the wells, will be about thirty millions per day, and, without the wells, about twenty-five million gallons per day. The present consumption, during the summer months, is fully twenty-five million gallons per day.

If there are any of my hearers who are mere matter-offact ratepayers, and who are not too scientific, or literary, or philosophical, to care about financial considerations, they may desire to know what has been the cost of the works which I have been describing. The total expenditure at the end of the last year was £2,150,590.

(Mr. Parry here exhibited and explained about forty slides representing the works during construction, and the lake as completed.)

231

THE LIGHTER SIDE OF ENGLISH VERSE,

BY JOHN LEE, B.A.

THERE is no greater fallacy than that which assigns wisdom to seriousness; that which gives to the sober, blinking owl, the characteristic of deep thought. Everyone who chooses to make merry is, in this age of introspection, liable to be regarded as a fool. If we do not array Sir Folly in a cap and bells, it is because, in our condition of inevitable pessimism, such appendages are wholly unnecessary. His speech bewrayeth him; he is happy; he smiles; he is a fool.

Hence this venturesome paper, which is not concerned with the secret of Hegel, nor with the theory of molecules, is read to you on the first of April. If the paper itself be not on the side of folly, at least the date of its delivery is. It is an April child, born as the hymns say, in due season. They were wiser in the middle ages when they set apart one day in the year as a day of prayer for All Fools. In an era of Catholic Renaissance, we still pray for All Souls on the first of November, but the Oxford movement did not stoop to folly, and it failed to revive the prayers of the church for All Fools. Consequently England, instead of reserving the day for particular ecclesiastical exercises, reserves it for particular laughter.

The grass of Parnassus, which grows, as Mr. Andrew Lang has told us, around the base of Mount Helicon, seems to have gained in growth a sombre brown shade. It has lost its bright and cheering green. In other words, minor poetry of to-day is inevitably sad. It has caught