Rapid progress was made during the week with the Water
Bill, the report stage being reached on Wednesday. Mr. Long has given way on the question of the representation of the London County Council, which now stands at fourteen mem- bers, an addition of four, the representatives of the outside areas being reduced by the same number. The total member- ship is now fixed at sixty-six, or sixty-eight if the Chairman and -Vice-Chairman are elected from without; and certain conces- sions have also been made insisting on the approval of the Court of Arbitration for purchases by agreement between the Board and the companies, and excluding directors of the water corn-
panies from service on the first Board. Final protests having been registered against the Bill by Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. Sydney Busiton, and others on the score' of the unwieldy size of the Board, increased expenditure, and inadequate represen- tation, the third reading was carried by 104 votes to 28, and read a first time in the House of Lords the same night.
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