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THE WATER SUPPLY OF FOLKESTONE.
843
they be said to coincide with the more general supervision exercised by the police. In dealing with matters of this kind, indeed, the mere possession of an official character must be something of a drawback. The police, on their part, welcome the efforts of the Society as complementary of their own, an evidence in itself that the field of usefulness thus taken in hand has only been awaiting occupation. It is therefore satisfactory to learn that the vigour of the parent Society in London is attested by a tendency to development at other centres. A few weeks only have elapsed since a body of the citizens of Leeds inaugurated a similar organisation in that city. Their enterprise is as yet too young for anyone to predict its future, but what steps have been taken give promise of further energetic action. The Committee of Management have, after due deliberation, appointed an inquiry officer of experience, have jointly guaranteed his salary during the first six months of service, and, having thus launched the scheme, are endeavouring to secure for it the interest and assistance of their fellow-townsmen. We need not say more in favour of a project already so well commended by the certain necessity out of which it has arisen, and we feel j justified in expecting that one effect of the present sure, if slow, revival of trade will be to stimulate the liberal-minded in furthering this deserving work. can
___
THE THEATRES AND THE METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS. THE recent debate in the House of Commons, and the refusal of the House to enlarge the powers of the Metropolitan Board of Works with regard to the theatres, must be taken as an indication of the public opinion that the Metropolitan Board is a body in which implicit confidence is not to be placed. The public can hardly be blamed for thinking that the Board has not of late looked so zealously after the interests of the ratepayers as it is its duty to do, and there is not wanting evidence to show that, even without regard to the Local Government Bill, the days of the Board are numbered. The question will soon arise, "Who is to have the supervision of theatres and places of public assembly ?" At present the Lord Chamberlain, the magistrates, and the Metropolitan Board of Works have each of them a voice in the control of these establishments, and we trust that, in the interests alike of the public and the managers, under the new Act these three masters may be replaced by one. It is very necessary that in the management of these establishments there should be no vexatious vacillation, and that managers should feel that capital invested in the business of public entertainments should not be jeopardised by fluctuating whims. If capital be safe and healthy competition be encouraged, there can be no doubt that the publtc will gain in the improvement of the arrangements made for their comfort and saftty, and that free trade and the discouragement of monopolists will do more in this direction than any amount of harassing regulations. Seeing, however, that these places are, or should be, places of recreative education, it is very necessary that they should be Eubjected to at least as much control as the press, and that libfl,
licentiousness, and disorder should be vigorously repressed. It is time, we think, that the functions of the Lord Chamberlain and the Metropolitan Board should cease, aLd that these functions should all be merged in the functions of the forthcoming London Council, who should nominate a high official to deal with places of public entertainment, and frame regulations for the control of these placts from the triple point of view of security, morality, and hygiene. The action of this official would of course be controlled by the Council, but we think that his powers should be great; and we have no fear but that the publicity
which is given to all such matters by the press would be sufficient to cause him to perform his duties circumspectly, and with a well-balanced regard to the public welfare on the one hand and the vested interests of proprietors on theother. It is very necessary that questions of cubic space, solidity of construction, and means of exit should be regulated by hard-and-fast rules, but beyond this we advocate a maximum of freedom subject to good behaviour.
KINGSTON IMPROVEMENT BILL. ON the 17th inst. the Kingston Improvement Bill came before the Select Committee of the House of Commons, which consisted of the following members :-Mr. Hastings (chairman), Sir Archibald Campbell, Dr. Farquharson, Mr. Hardcastle, Mr. Mayne, Mr. Powell, Mr. Sexton, Mr. J. L. Wharton, and Mr. Williams. Several details of the measure were discussed on the first day, and on the 18th inst. the clauses imposing on medical practitioners the compulsory notification of infectious diseases were considered. Drs. Biddle and Corbet, representing eighteen members of the profession residing within a mile and a half of the Kingston Town Hall, strongly opposed the notificationclauses, but declared their willingness to certify. Dr. Shirtliff, medical officer of health for the borough of Kingston, gaveevidence in favour of the clauses. At the conclusion of the evidence the chairman intimated that there was no necessity for Mr. Cripps, who appeared for the promoters of the Bill, to address the committee on the question of these clauses. He said that it was decided to retain the clauses in their original form, and that the committee believed that they were framed, and in a great number of cases in other places have acted, for the benefit of the whole community, the medical profession included.
THE WATER SUPPLY OF FOLKESTONE. A STRONG
teeang nas been aroused in Jomestone owing to deficient water service available there, the imme-the very diate cause of discontent being the attitude of the Town Council in not opposing a Bill promoted by the WaterCompany. According to the statement of the chairman of a public meeting, the Water Company has, in a series of Bills, gradually deprived the ratepayers of their rights. When the first Bill was presented to Parliament, Folkestone had a right to a constant service; in the next Bill the supply was made an intermitting one, the service being limited to eight hours; and now, with a service which has dwindled to two. hours, the Company want to extend their mains to an outlying place. We cordially endorse all that has been said a& to the dangers of intermitting services, and we would add that the sanitary reputation of Folkestone, would receive an undue strain if it were to become evident that, in this important matter of an ample supply of wholesome water, the sanitary authority did not place the health interests of their town before all others. The statement of the chairman, that in such matters the ratepayers had the remedy in their own hands, is one that needs enforcing in the case of all elected bodies having sanitary control. CLINICAL STUDY OF CHILDREN’S DISEASES. As will be seen by an announcement in our advertising columns, arrangements have been made at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond-street, for the delivery during the summer session of clinical lectures and demonstrations on some of the more common diseases to which children are liable. No doubt a want is largely felt in the metropolis of means by which the study of the diseases of childhood may be promoted, and this attempt on the part of th& lecturers and committee of the hospital appears well calcu-lated to meet that want.
they be said to coincide with the more general supervision exercised by the police. In dealing with matters of this kind, indeed, the mere possession of an official character must be something of a drawback. The police, on their part, welcome the efforts of the Society as complementary of their own, an evidence in itself that the field of usefulness thus taken in hand has only been awaiting occupation. It is therefore satisfactory to learn that the vigour of the parent Society in London is attested by a tendency to development at other centres. A few weeks only have elapsed since a body of the citizens of Leeds inaugurated a similar organisation in that city. Their enterprise is as yet too young for anyone to predict its future, but what steps have been taken give promise of further energetic action. The Committee of Management have, after due deliberation, appointed an inquiry officer of experience, have jointly guaranteed his salary during the first six months of service, and, having thus launched the scheme, are endeavouring to secure for it the interest and assistance of their fellow-townsmen. We need not say more in favour of a project already so well commended by the certain necessity out of which it has arisen, and we feel j justified in expecting that one effect of the present sure, if slow, revival of trade will be to stimulate the liberal-minded in furthering this deserving work. can
___
THE THEATRES AND THE METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS. THE recent debate in the House of Commons, and the refusal of the House to enlarge the powers of the Metropolitan Board of Works with regard to the theatres, must be taken as an indication of the public opinion that the Metropolitan Board is a body in which implicit confidence is not to be placed. The public can hardly be blamed for thinking that the Board has not of late looked so zealously after the interests of the ratepayers as it is its duty to do, and there is not wanting evidence to show that, even without regard to the Local Government Bill, the days of the Board are numbered. The question will soon arise, "Who is to have the supervision of theatres and places of public assembly ?" At present the Lord Chamberlain, the magistrates, and the Metropolitan Board of Works have each of them a voice in the control of these establishments, and we trust that, in the interests alike of the public and the managers, under the new Act these three masters may be replaced by one. It is very necessary that in the management of these establishments there should be no vexatious vacillation, and that managers should feel that capital invested in the business of public entertainments should not be jeopardised by fluctuating whims. If capital be safe and healthy competition be encouraged, there can be no doubt that the publtc will gain in the improvement of the arrangements made for their comfort and saftty, and that free trade and the discouragement of monopolists will do more in this direction than any amount of harassing regulations. Seeing, however, that these places are, or should be, places of recreative education, it is very necessary that they should be Eubjected to at least as much control as the press, and that libfl,
licentiousness, and disorder should be vigorously repressed. It is time, we think, that the functions of the Lord Chamberlain and the Metropolitan Board should cease, aLd that these functions should all be merged in the functions of the forthcoming London Council, who should nominate a high official to deal with places of public entertainment, and frame regulations for the control of these placts from the triple point of view of security, morality, and hygiene. The action of this official would of course be controlled by the Council, but we think that his powers should be great; and we have no fear but that the publicity
which is given to all such matters by the press would be sufficient to cause him to perform his duties circumspectly, and with a well-balanced regard to the public welfare on the one hand and the vested interests of proprietors on theother. It is very necessary that questions of cubic space, solidity of construction, and means of exit should be regulated by hard-and-fast rules, but beyond this we advocate a maximum of freedom subject to good behaviour.
KINGSTON IMPROVEMENT BILL. ON the 17th inst. the Kingston Improvement Bill came before the Select Committee of the House of Commons, which consisted of the following members :-Mr. Hastings (chairman), Sir Archibald Campbell, Dr. Farquharson, Mr. Hardcastle, Mr. Mayne, Mr. Powell, Mr. Sexton, Mr. J. L. Wharton, and Mr. Williams. Several details of the measure were discussed on the first day, and on the 18th inst. the clauses imposing on medical practitioners the compulsory notification of infectious diseases were considered. Drs. Biddle and Corbet, representing eighteen members of the profession residing within a mile and a half of the Kingston Town Hall, strongly opposed the notificationclauses, but declared their willingness to certify. Dr. Shirtliff, medical officer of health for the borough of Kingston, gaveevidence in favour of the clauses. At the conclusion of the evidence the chairman intimated that there was no necessity for Mr. Cripps, who appeared for the promoters of the Bill, to address the committee on the question of these clauses. He said that it was decided to retain the clauses in their original form, and that the committee believed that they were framed, and in a great number of cases in other places have acted, for the benefit of the whole community, the medical profession included.
THE WATER SUPPLY OF FOLKESTONE. A STRONG
teeang nas been aroused in Jomestone owing to deficient water service available there, the imme-the very diate cause of discontent being the attitude of the Town Council in not opposing a Bill promoted by the WaterCompany. According to the statement of the chairman of a public meeting, the Water Company has, in a series of Bills, gradually deprived the ratepayers of their rights. When the first Bill was presented to Parliament, Folkestone had a right to a constant service; in the next Bill the supply was made an intermitting one, the service being limited to eight hours; and now, with a service which has dwindled to two. hours, the Company want to extend their mains to an outlying place. We cordially endorse all that has been said a& to the dangers of intermitting services, and we would add that the sanitary reputation of Folkestone, would receive an undue strain if it were to become evident that, in this important matter of an ample supply of wholesome water, the sanitary authority did not place the health interests of their town before all others. The statement of the chairman, that in such matters the ratepayers had the remedy in their own hands, is one that needs enforcing in the case of all elected bodies having sanitary control. CLINICAL STUDY OF CHILDREN’S DISEASES. As will be seen by an announcement in our advertising columns, arrangements have been made at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond-street, for the delivery during the summer session of clinical lectures and demonstrations on some of the more common diseases to which children are liable. No doubt a want is largely felt in the metropolis of means by which the study of the diseases of childhood may be promoted, and this attempt on the part of th& lecturers and committee of the hospital appears well calcu-lated to meet that want.