The cholera, we are rejoiced to observe, is rapidly decreasing.
In the week ending August 18 the deaths have fallen from 781 to 455, and the decrease is still going on. The disease remains almost entirely within its original area, namely, the district sup- - plied with water from the Old Ford reservoirs. In the only other district, St. Botolph, which has suffered severely, this water has crept in by overflow, and it is probable that close inquiry would prove the deaths in the West to be those of persons who had drunk water on a visit to the infected locality. Nevertheless the companies which grow rich by supplying this water will not be punished, nor will the water be purified, nor will any person be allowed to interfere with their monopoly. They would not, even if the mortality were ten times as great, as all directors in the House would vote in a body against " confiscation." What are human lives compared with dividends?
