Ordered, further, That the Aldermen and Assistants, be requested to set on foot, in their respective Wards, representations to this Board, in writing, and subscribed by the citizens, in order, more fully, to ascertain their sense, whether the Corporation ought to grant to individuals, the privilege of supplying the City with water, or whether the same ought to be undertaken by the Corporation, and that the monies necessary for the purpose, should be raised by tax on the citizens.

CROTONAaUEDUCT. gg

These proceedings were ordered to be published, but, owing t<T the imperfection of the records of that day, the result of the application to the people does not appear, neither is there any trace of what the plans proposed by Messrs. Ogden, Livingston, and Lawrence, were, for the supply of water. In January, 1788, the matter was again agitated, upon the petition of a great many of the inhabitants of the city, who complained of the want of a sufficient supply of water, and asked that the plan of Mr. Colles, for distributing it by pipes, be adopted, or any other that the Board might deem more expedient. Nothing came of this application. In January, 1789, a Committee of the Rumseian Society, in Philadelphia, addressed the Board, informing them, that the founder of their society, Mr. Rumsey, had invented an engine superior to any other for supplying towns with water that he was then apply- ;

ing for a patent for his discovery, and that when completed, they would make proposals to the Board, for a contract for furnishing the city of New York with water. The Board adopted a resolution expressive of their desire to encourage Mr. Rumsey's invention, and to enter into a contract for the supply of the city with water, and inviting proposals, to the end, that if approved, the necessary preparations might be made for providing the means.