separate meters was part of the main object of the Government's policy, and giving notice that the landlords' meters would accordingly be disconnected and that tenants would be required, at their own expense, to arrange with the Water Authorities for the installation of separate meters. This was entirely contrary to Government's intention, which was that
a separate meter should only be installed as a result of previous arrangements with the Water Authorities, and at the landlord's expense; but the landlords were proposing to take advantage of the power which they had always possessed of requiring the Water Authority to disconnect the suply, so leaving the tenants to make their own arrangements for continued supply. (See in this connection Regulation 7 (o) of the Regulations under the new Ordinance.) The fact seems to be that this power had never been utilised previously because in view of the excess of housing accommodation tenants were in a comparatively strong position, but the recent large increase in population and the consequent intense shortage of accommodation have placed the landlords in the stronger bargaining
position.
4.
If the apparent intentions of the landlords who were responsible for the issuing of the circular referred to above had been carried out, the result would have been the disconnection of the water supply to thousands of tenant properties and a demand from the tenants of those properties for a very large number of additional meters. The Water Authority has neither the necessary meters in stock, nor the facilities for
installing such meters in large quantities at short
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