I cannot claim to speak as an agriculturist, but I can claim to say something as a member of the Metropolitan Water Board. The Water Board does not wish in any way to belittle the work which is being done on these two farms. We appreciate what is being done, but we are in the position in which we cannot help ourselves. The petitioner asks that the whole question shall be put to the strongest possible proof. We welcome that, and, as the hon. and gallant Member for Uxbridge (Lieut.-Colonel Llewellin) has just said, we ask that the Bill shall be sent to a Committee of Members of this House and for the hearing of the evidence of experts of all kinds. The hon. Member for Platting (Mr. Chorlton) wants to know why we want the reservoir where we propose to put it. The board bring this site to Parliament because they must. It has to be remembered that the board are not a private but a public corporation spending public money and bound to bring the cheapest and best proposition to Parliament, otherwise we would be failing in our duty. Therefore we bring this demand along. The hon. Member for Platting suggested that it would take four or five years to get a new start with this farm, but I would remind him that Holly Lodge and Crown Farm were set down in two years and some months, so that it will not be such a long job to get restarted if the proposition in the Bill is carried by this House.

Another reason for coming forward with this suggestion is that the Water Board already, as successors of the old Chelsea Water Company, have part of the site on a very long lease and are therefore already in possession of it. There are other factors. Proximity to the existing intake has been mentioned and proximity to existing mains. These things are of importance because the water which London has is river water, and storage is part of the purification process. That is one of the factors which determined Parliament in deciding that the Metropolitan Water Board should not go to Wales. That proposition has been put to Parliament and rejected. If I am informed correctly, the London County Council have tried again and again to get powers for a scheme to draw water from Wales. I know that it is wrong to discuss that matter, but I should like to say, speaking with information that was not available then, that a water supply from Wales would be a very dangerous thing in certain eventualities. A pipe line from Wales could be blown up.