their exact location may be known thereby. He is also, under the direction of the Committee, to advertise for, and make contracts, examine and certify bills for work, and generally to perform such duty as may be re- quired of him by the Croton Aqueduct Committee. He is also to make a quarterly report to the Common Council, of the detail of every expenditure in the department, with the number of the different sizes of water pipes and their connections, on hand and under contract. 3. Of a Water Purveyor, to be subject to the direction of the Committee and the Commissioner. Next month, viz : on the 24th September, the Common Council passed an ordi- nance, which summarily determined, so far as they had the power, the points at issue be- tween them and the Water Commissioners. The first section directs the Comptroller to charge to the Water Works, all the requisitions of the Water Commissioners, for or on account of the Cr"oton Water Works, north of, and including, the distributing reservoir, and the requisitions of the Croton Aqueduct Commissioners, for or on account of the procuring and laying down water pipes in the city of New York, south of the said distributing reservoir. The concluding sections are in these emphatic words : § 3. No contract that may hereafter be entered into by the Water Commissioners, shall be binding upon the Common Council until ratified by the Common Council. § 4. The powers of the Water Commissioners shall not extend to the making of any contracts for materials or labor, to be used or employed in the city of New York, or in procuring and laying down water pipes in said city, south of the distributing reservoir : and they are hereby instructed not to enter into any contract for the procuring or laying down mains and water pipes in said city south of said line — this duty having already been invested in the Croton Aqueduct Commissioner and Croton Aqueduct Committees of the Corporation. Approved by the Mayor, September 24, 1840. A long and somewhat angry controversy was the result of this ordinance. It will not be either useful or agreeable to renew the details of it in these pages. We content ourselves, therefore, with a single statement of the points on which it turned. 47 136 MEMOIR OF THE The Water Commissioners maintained that the laws of this State direct that all the moneys raised from the sale of the Water Stock, issued for supplying the inhabitants of this city with water, shall be expended " by and under the direction of the said Com- missioners." That the work thus entrusted to them embraces the full and entire completion of the original plan for supplying water to this city for the use of its inhabitants, and that " the plan" adopted by the Commissioners, ratified by the Common Council, and approved of by the people, comprehended as well the necessary work for bringing the water to the city, as the furnishing, laying down, and fitting for use, the distributing pipes throughout the city. The Water Commissioners also claimed, that since the passage of the Act of April 27, 1840, no item of expenditure made by the Common Council, can be charged to the debit of the Water Fund, without their approval. The Committee of the Common Council, the Comptroller, and the Counsel to the Corporation, contended that the original plan adopted, ratified, and approved of, for sup- plying the city of New York with water for the use of its inhabitants, terminated at Mur- ray's Hill, and that the Water Commissioners cannot therefore, legally, construct or superintend, any part of the work south of that point. And, consequently, the Common Council had the exclusive right and power to con- struct and complete all the necessary works south of Murray's Hill, including the procuring and laying the distributing pipes ; and for this purpose can use such portions of the Water Fund as may be requisite, and that the same can be paid for out of that fund, by the Comptroller, without the approval of the Water Commissioners. After reports and counter reports, opinions of counsel and various discussions, the Corporation made good their ground, and exercised the exclusive right of distributing the water from the reservoir at 40th street. A very serious loss, the first that deserves the name, occurred to the work on the night of the 7th January, 1841, by a great and sudden rise in the water of the Croton, and consequently of the Croton Lake, which carried away the dam for a distance of near 200 feet. It was the part described as an earthen embankment, with a base of 250 feet, and protected on the lower side by a dry stone