CITY OF BOSTON.

IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, April 16, 1874.

The Joint Standing Committee on Water beg leave to report, that, in accordance with the petition of His Honor the Mayor, as requested by an order of the City Council, the following act, authorizing the establishment of the Boston Water Board, has been passed by the Legislature:

SECTION 1. The City Council of the city of Boston may establish by ordinance a Water Board, to be known as the Boston Water Board, consisting of three able and discreet persons, to be appointed by the Mayor, with the advice and consent of the City Council, and to receive such compensation as the City Council may from time to time determine. The said Board may be empowered by said City Council to exercise all or any of the powers conferred by the statutes of the Commonwealth upon the city of Boston, with reference to supplying said city with water, or of the Cochituate and Mystic Water Boards; and is also empowered to act as the agent of the city of Boston in doing any or all things which the city is now authorized to do in relation to the taking of lands, water rights, and other property, and the establishment and maintenance of works and appliances for supplying the city of Boston or other cities and towns with pure water. Said Board may also establish and regulate the price or rents for the use of said water, subject to the provisions of sections twelve and thirteen, of chapter one hundred and sixty-seven of the acts of eighteen hundred and forty-six;

an' the words "Boston Water Scrip," in said sections shall be construed to include the whole amount of outstanding loans representing the cost of the water works.

SECT. 2. The Cochituate Water Board and the Mystic Water Board shall, upon the appointment of the Boston Water Board, as provided in the first section of this act, be thereby abolished; and the said Boston Water Board shall, so far as the City Council of said city may by ordinance prescribe, succeed to all the powers and duties formerly vested in said Cochituate Water Board and Mystic Water Board.

SECT. 3. The salaries of the members of the Boston Water Board shall not be diminished during the terms for which they are respectively appointed.

SECT. 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

In view of the large expenditures which the city will be obliged to make during the next few years in procuring an additional supply of water, it seems hardly necessary to urge the importance of acting without delay upon the authority granted in this act.

At a hearing given by the Committee on the question of reorganizing the Cochituate and Mystic Water Boards, the past and present Presidents of those Boards were unanimous in the opinion that a reorganization was absolutely necessary.

Mr. John A. Haven, the President of the Cochituate Water Board, being unable, on account of illness, to attend the meeting, sent the following communication, which may be taken as expressing substantially the views entertained by Hon. Otis Norcross, President of the board in 1865 and 1866, Nathaniel J. Bradlee, Esq., President in 1868, 1869 and 1870, and Charles H. Allen, Esq., President in 1871 and 1872.

BOSTON, March 7, 1874.

ALD. S. B. STEBBINS, Chairman Committee on Water, City Council:

DEAR SIR,Last evening I received notice of a meeting of the Committee on Water to consider the recent order of inquiry concerning the establishment of a permanent Water Board. Fearing, from continued indisposition, that I shall not be able to meet your committee, I have thought it proper to state to you briefly my views of the proposed change.

I am decidedly of the opinion that a permanent, compact and working board of management would far better subserve the interests of the city than the present organization, and this opinion I know is concurred in by many of the past active members of the Board, including particularly its past Presidents, Messrs. N. J. Bradlee and C. H. Allen, as well as by many prominent city officers, past and present, who have given much attention to the subject. The real work, constituted as is the present Water Board, must of necessity fall upon some two or three of its members, and, if these are actively engaged in business of their own, they cannot easily give that amount of time and attention really required to systematize in detail the large amount of business in the different departments so as to produce the best results. If this difficulty is found while the duty is confined to the present finished or Cochituate system, it is likely to become still greater when the duties of management are so much enlarged by extended territory, by extension of the high service, and by the labors connected with the proposed new supply.

The result of some four years pretty active experience has led me to the very decided conclusions:

First. That the Board should consist of three members only.

Second. Their entire time should be given to the work, for which they should be paid a fair compensation.

Third. That their term of office should at least embrace the full time required to construct the new work, and the settlement of the great number of complicated and delicate questions that must arise from the magnitude of this new work. The numerous contracts for construction, the settlement of land and other damages, and the many other incidental matters require, for successful results, awell settled and continuous business policy.

While the Board is being continually changed in membership as under the present arrangement-it is impossible to secure that desired system and consequent accountability which business men of largely extended operations would desire to make sure of in their own transactions. The business operations of the Water Board for the next five years will, of necessity, be large and complicated, and its supervision should be regular, continuous, and intelligent, to produce the desired results of business success. More particularly is it desirable that the Board should be permanent, and guided by a well defined business policy, where questions arise between the engineer and the contractors, and where the engineer should, for the best interests of the city, be certain of receiving that support, which results from a permanent and continuous policy, in all controverted questions.

It is very apparent that the present organization of the Board is not fitted for the present emergency arising from so large an increase in the business, and I have but little doubt that the Water Committee are fully satisfied that if one reason existed for the appointment of a permanent Fire Commission, many more reasons exist for the appointment of a compact and permanent Board to take charge of the rapidly increasing water department, in the completion of which many millions of dollars must be expended within the next few years.

I have been compelled to give this matter more than ordinary attention, and have briefly, but, I fear, very inade