monster evil was to be swept away-for which the Ministers required energy and courage, they were generally found wanting. A comprehensive measure, to include London as well as all the other large towns, was loudly called for; but vested interests stepped in, and the Minister flinched from his duty. The churchyards were crying evils. But if the Minister attempted to interfere with the churchyards, the Church was at him, and he was compelled to give way. Was it not preposterous to talk of giving improved drainage and ventilation --to insure to the public plenty of airand then to tax their windows? Did they imagine that the common sense of the people would be deceived by such humbug? Depend upon it, a proper construction would be put upon the measure out of doors. To talk of affording more light and air, and to omit the repeal of the window-tax, was ridiculous. The public were to have an addition to their taxes, and the most obnoxious of all taxes was to remain. The measure before the House was a great measure; the present Somerset House Commissioners had a great deal to do with it. The Commissioners had a great desire that the people should have a full supply of pure air; he was quite as anxious that they should have plenty to eat. of a large metropolitan constituency, he had a right to complain that they had not come forward in a more manly way. It was monstrous for them to introduce a sanitary measure, and to allow the windowtax to remain, What would the large towns say to the measure? They would say, You dare not meddle with the metropolis; you allow the window-tax to remain, and put additional taxes upon us. He felt grateful to the noble Lord for the exertions he had made in the cause of sanitary reform; but what the country wanted, and what he had hoped for, was, that the noble Lord should stand erect and bid defiance to all interested opposition. He must frankly confess that the noble Lord had not, in his opinion, given them such a measure as the country had a right to expect. He hoped the noble Lord would reconsider the measure - that he would make it more comprehensive; and the noble Lord might rest assured that he would have the people with him. It had long been the character of the Whigs, that when they had succeeded in doing a certain amount of good, and when they had the opportunity and should have done more good, they had uniformly brought discredit on what they had done, by refusing to go forward. The noble Lord had lately had representations made to him by gentlemen of the medical profession, and had signified his full accordance in their views; but yet he had not given them the measure they had a right to expect. The medical profession would not receive with gratitude the measure now before the House. The sanitary question was the question of the day it was a question intimately connected with the welfare of the people-with their physical condition and moral improvement. It was a question The Commissioners were of opinion that human life was shortened-that the comfort and happiness of the poor were destroyed by impure air, by want of drainage, and want of water. In short, they believed that the health of the poor man was injuriously affected by everything except a water-gruel diet. They seemed to forget that if they gave the poor man more air, and air of a purer quality, he would want something more to eat. The Bill, however, seemed to meet with general approval in the House. That ex-perfectly well understood by the public. traordinary decapitated party on the opposite benches--the great Conservative party -made no signs of opposition. What the country most required now-a-days was a good Opposition-not a decapitated Opposition-not the opposition of a party that were known as land crabs, from progressing backwards. If the decapitated party would bestir themselves, they might have every thing their own way. The noble Lord would have no occasion to designate the Bill as a tolerable measure; he might have made it a good measure. But now every measure emanating from the Government was received with gratitude by this generous assembly. As the representative He (Mr. Wakley) did not think the noble Lord would receive that public gratitude which he expected, and he would probably deem the people ungrateful; but, considering the monster grievances which were left untouched by the Bill, it would be unreasonable to expect that they should be contented with its provisions. He asked the noble Lord why the metropolis was excluded? It was because the measure was not thought to be agreeable or convenient to the nasty turtle-eating corporation. Why did Her Majesty's Ministers not resist the soup influence? Why should that influence be allowed to prevail against any measure calculated to benefit the com noble Lord? When they found that it offered no remedy to them, they would be disappointed and indignant. He did entreat the noble Lord to extend the scope of the Bill, to rely upon the good sense and proper feeling of the people. If he were just to them, they would be just to him, and give him the best support he could desire. munity? Why should the corporation re- | such a thing could by possibility happen sist, as it constantly did resist, the Go- in Paris. There they had a public body vernment whenever they were disposed to always sitting, receiving deputations, and do something for the public good? Then, collecting information on the state of pubwith regard to the important question of lic health. Sub-committees were appointed intramural interments. The noble Lord to superintend separate districts. Those was perfectly aware of the poisonous efflu- sub-committees reported to the Committee via arising from the metropolitan grave- of Public Health, and that Committee, in yards he was equally well aware of its its turn, reported to the Minister. If any dangerous effects; but he could not en- erection was deemed injurious to public counter the opposition of the Church. The health, it was at once prevented. What clergy had a vested interest in the church- would be the feelings of the people of Isyards, and it was not convenient for Go-lington with regard to the measure of the vernment to interfere. Did the noble Lord believe would the House believe that the masculine mind of the people of England would be content with a measure of this kind—a measure which did a little, and then shirked the remainder? The public would be dissatisfied, and they had a right to be dissatisfied. The people in the towns would, more particularly, be dissatisfied with a measure which fastened on them a new burden for sanitary improvements, while it did not relieve them from the burden of the window-tax. He would again ask the noble Lord to reconsider the measure. Let his Lordship include the whole of the kingdom in one Bill. Let him not be content with remedying the minor grievances, but at once strike at the root of the mischief. He would bring to the mind of the noble Lord what was now going on in the metropolis. The noble Lord had lately received a deputation from Islington, in the centre of which denselypopulated district it was proposed to erect a fever hospital. Did the noble Lord propose to take powers in the Bill to prevent the establishment of such a nuisance? Who was one of the principal promoters of this fever hospital? No less a personage than Dr. Southwood Smith, one of the Health of Towns Commissioners. The noble Lord did not propose to take powers to prevent this nuisance: he proposed nothing of the kind. The noble Lord told the House that he was afraid the accumulation of filth in the metropolis and large towns would create typhus, and that the typhus might become general; but here it was proposed to introduce the evil, in its worst form, in the very heart of Islington. The noble Lord knew that the ground had been purchased, and that the building of this fever hospital was about to be commenced; yet, with that knowledge, the noble Lord took no power in the Bill to prevent such an infliction. What an inefficient, miserable measure it must be! No ALDERMAN SIDNEY begged, as a member of the corporation of the city of London, and as a commissioner of sewers, to make a short statement on some of the topics adverted to by the hon. Member for Finsbury. That hon. Gentleman had spoken of the corporation of the city of London as a nasty and turtle-eating body. Now there might be some difference of opinion as to the applicability of the word nasty, but there could be none as to the turtle. The hon. Member, however, could not be aware of the extent to which the corporation had effected sanitary reform, otherwise he would not have spoken as he had. He believed that the city corporation were the first metropolitan body who attempted to grapple with the sanitary question. He believed that every main street, and almost every court and by-street, had been sewered at enormous cost; and it was only bare justice to the commissioners of sewers, who represented the corporation, to say that they were most solicitous to avail themselves of every known improvement; and his belief was that the city of London would not be found to interpose obstacles when the Government attempted to deal with the entire metropolis. The corporation knew that the city formed an integral portion of the metropolis; it knew that the sewers already laid down would require to be adjusted so as to suit the metropolitan sewers; but at the proper time it would be scen that the corporation would throw no obstacles in the way of a comprehensive measure. He might also speak of a part of the city with which he was connected, P MR. MONSELL begged to ask the noble Lord whether it were intended to bring in a similar Bill for Ireland? VISCOUNT MORPETH said, that as soon as the present measure could be matured, he hoped that the Secretary for Ireland would be able to supply a similar measure for Ireland. MR. OSBORNE begged to ask the noble Lord when the separate Bill for the metropolis would be brought in? VISCOUNT MORPETH: A Bill for extending and consolidating the Commission of Sewers will be introduced immediately; and the Sanitary Bill for the metropolis will be brought forward as soon as the Sanitary Commissioners make such representations as the Government can properly act upon; which will be, I hope, in the course of a few days. the ward of Billingsgate. The hon. Mem- | considered that to be a most important ber for Lincoln (Col. Sibthorp) had spoken point. of the districts of St. Giles and Billingsgate in no very complimentary terms. He (Mr. Alderman Sidney) was prepared to testify to the healthy position of Billingsgate. He had the pleasure lately of dining with a party of thirty gentlemen who lived in that ward; and of these twenty laid claim to having lived upwards of fifty years in the locality. He had also to state that the constituency of Stafford, whom he had the honour of representing in that House, had requested him to give his hearty support to any general measure of sanitary reform. He had assured them that he should do so, provided the Government consented to allow the ratepayers in towns and boroughs to control the details. He understood that the present measure provided for some general supervision on the part of a Government board, but that the ratepayers should have a control in the management; and such being the case, he should give the measure a hearty support. It was a question in which his constituents were deeply interested; for he regretted to say that the statistics of mortality showed the number of deaths to be one in thirtythree in Stafford, while in some other places the mortality was not more than one in sixty-six. He sincerely hoped that the attention of the Government would be directed to the prohibition of intramural interments, to the abolition of the window duties, to the removal of markets from crowded thoroughfares, and other points bearing more or less on the promotion of the public health. MR. WYLD said, that the public had already had a specimen of what legislative interference would be in the proceedings of the Metropolitan Sewers Commission. The commissioners, at their first meeting, ordered that a block-plan of the metropolis should be prepared, and they calculated that the survey and plan would cost 61,000l. It would cost more than five times that sum. If the system pursued in the metropolis were carried out in the country, the measure would be enormously expensive. In his opinion there existed no necessity for a block-plan, inasmuch as the 6th and 7th William 4, c. 96, provided that all towns should be surveyed for the purpose of assessing the poor's rate; and all the suburban districts had been surveyed under the Tithe Commutation Bill. He hoped some means would be taken to establish a system of medical police-he MR. JOHN REYNOLDS approved of the measure so far as it went; but expressed his sorrow and deep regret that its provisions were not to be made applicable to all parts of the kingdom. He could not see why its provisions should not be extended to Ireland and Scotland. He looked upon this omission as a most serious error. He conceded to the Government every credit for their good intentions regarding the sister country, and he was far from thinking them amendable to the charge which had frequently been brought against preceding Administrations, that when they had a good measure to give they tried it first upon England, and that when they had a bad measure to dispose of they made the first experiment in Ireland. He said he was not disposed to agree with those who brought such charges against the Government. But still he could not help again expressing his regret that they were not about to give this good measure a trial in Ireland. It was not pretended that Ireland was less in need of sanitary improvement than this country. In point of fact, if there was one part of the United Kingdom more than another which especially stood in need of a new sanitary system, it was Ireland; and if there was one place more than another in Ireland requiring a thorough cleansing it was Dublin. He would read some portions of the evidence taken before Mr. Abraham Heywood, of Dublin, the Queen's Counsel, a gentleman well known to many hon. Members in the House. Mr. Heywood had been appointed to inquire into the merits of a Bill introduced some time since, and intended | bury did not hear the statement of his for the benefit of the city of Dublin, and noble Friend, it might be inferred that he in the course of his inquiry he elicited a did not thoroughly understand the queslarge amount of information regarding the tion in its details, or at least that he had sewerage, drainage, paving, &c., of the learnt them at second-hand. The hon. city, to which he (Mr. Reynolds) begged Gentleman was wrong in his calculation to call the attention of the noble Lord. with regard to Paris. A city with hardly [The hon. Gentleman read extracts from any sewers, where cesspools universally the report, and also from the evidence of prevailed, could hardly be considered as a Mr. Willis, showing the defective condition model for adoption. Imperfect in many of the sewerage, some of the most impor- respects as London was in sanitary applitant squares, and many streets in the city, ances, it must be allowed that Paris was a being wholly destitute of sewers; and in great deal worse. The hon. Member for many others the sewerage was so extreme- Finsbury also complained of the proposal to ly defective as to be almost useless. The erect a fever hospital in a crowded parish, consequences were, the contraction of habits He thought that a gentleman connected of the utmost carelessness and filth by the with the medical profession would have aplower orders of the people, the increase of preciated the difficulties which beset such fever, the establishment of malaria, and the a question, looking at the feeling which nursing of hosts of diseases of various de- ought to be shown for the patients. When scriptions in the crowded dirty back streets the enormous extent of the metropolis was and by-lanes.] He would only, after considered, the miles upon miles of buildhaving read these extracts, express a hope ings on every side which existed, it must that the noble Lord would take into his be considered that it was no light thing for consideration the propriety of extending a fever patient to be conveyed and jolted the provisions of the Bill to all parts of the through crowded thoroughfares till he kingdom. He was not going to allude to arrived at some hospital built on a spot that colossus of the kingdom, the giant which had not yet been surrounded with corporation of the city of London, nor to buildings. A moment's consideration the part adopted by that colossus towards should convince the hon. Member that the the noble Lord's measure. But he had to question could not be disposed of in the allude to the giant's sister, the corporation off-hand and easy way he seemed to supof Dublin. Standing as he did as sponsor pose. With regard to the expense of the for that body, he begged to assure the survey referred to by the hon. Member for noble Lord that nothing would give them Bodmin (Mr. Wyld), he (Lord Ebrington) greater satisfaction than the introduction believed that, from the best estimate, the of the provisions of the Bill into their city; expense would be 27,000l., exclusive of and he trusted that the question of their the cost of engraving. The noble Lord, extension to them would be taken into con- in conclusion, congratulated the House on sideration by Her Majesty's Cabinet. The the unanimity with which the proposed question, too, ought to be considered in measure of his noble Friend had been reconnexion with that most obnoxious im- ceived. post the window tax; for he believed no MR. HODGES approved of the Bill, measure for the improvement of the sani- and thought the noble Lord had exercised tary condition of the people would give a wise discretion in excluding the metrogeneral satisfaction unless it were accom-polis from its operations, and trusted he panied by the abolition of a tax on light would make it the subject of separate leand air. gislation. VISCOUNT EBRINGTON said, that having paid much attention to the subject of sanitary improvement, the House would excuse him for making a few remarks on statements which had fallen from some previous speakers. He intended to have followed the hon. Member for Finsbury; but he rejoiced that he had not done so, as it had afforded an opportunity to a member of the corporation which had been so hardly spoken of, to vindicate its procedure and intentions. As the hon. Member for Fins MR. BROTHERTON expressed his approbation of the Bill. VISCOUNT MORPETH replied. He begged to express the gratitude which he felt towards hon. Members for the manner in which they had received the statement he had had the honour to make; and he hoped he might look upon it as ominous of future success. The only comment with which he was at all disposed to quarrel had been made by the only hon. Member who had not heard the statement. He was glad to see the hon. Member (Mr. Wakley) | again in his place, in full health-certainly in full vigour; but if he had heard the explanation of the provisions and intentions. of the Bill, he would have spared some of those remarks in which he had indulged. He (Viscount Morpeth) would not repeat what he had already stated respecting the metropolis. He looked upon it as most desirable that they should apply to the metropolis the same principles of legislation which were deemed correct as applied to all other parts of the country. There was no intention to make any exception; but there were certain particulars and details in the case of London which rendered it absolutely necessary that there should be separate legislation. He was strongly of opinion, seeing all that was now being done there, that the metropolis would in time take the lead in sanitary progress, and present a perfect model to the rest of the country. With regard to the suggestion of establishing fever hospitals in the outlets, it would receive the most serious attention from the Government; but the transference of fever patients would be certainly attended with serious difficulty. But it would hardly have been wise in the Government to have attempted to introduce into that measure such arrangements as would have opened up the large and extensive question of the establishment of cemeteries-a subject that required great deliberation and caution. The Bill, however, was comprehensive enough in this respect; not only, as he had stated, would it be in the power of the Central Board to prohibit the use of any burial-ground which was shown to be obnoxious to the public health, but it would also be enacted-and this he had omitted which accommodation had been the source, Leave given. Bill brought in and read a first time. AMENDMENT OF THE POOR a Bill to amend the procedure in respect MR. BAINES asked leave to bring in of orders for the removal of the Poor in England and Wales, and appeals there- consideration of mere technicalities, and to to state—that in future, after the passing of this Act no corpse or corpses should be buried in any new burial-ground which had not obtained express license. Powers would also be taken for purchasing or hiring premises for the reception of the dead, previous to their interment, the want of he believed, of much distress, many harass-giving a power of obtaining the order of reing scenes, and many injurious influences among the poor. The Government would not shrink from their duty on all these subjects; but hon. Members must remember that they were subject to the usual law in human affairs; they could not do everything at once, and if they attempted such an impossibility the result would assuredly be that they would do nothing at all. moval at any time. The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHE QUER hoped that the Bill would have the not arise out of a new Act, however care- Leave given. |