1868. | The Public Health. 285 
the benefit of the people at large. A measure which, in the minds 
of some of its promoters, undoubtedly had this object in view, is the 
Improvement Act, which was passed by Parliament in the session of 
1866. It may be remembered that this Act provides for the 
expenditure of 1,250,000/., in order that the unhealthy dens, wynds, 
courts, and lanes that have been allowed to grow up and accumulate 
in the lapse of centuries might be rooted out, and be supplanted by 
open squares and thoroughfares, and by dwelling-houses constructed 
according to the most approved plans for the sanitary well-being of 
the occupants ; and that, in short, the denizens in the heart of the 
city should no longer be secluded from the healthy influences of the 
sun’s rays and the pure air of heaven. The benefits expected to 
ensue from the operations of the Improvement Act are removed 
farther into the future than was wished by ardent sanitary reformers. 
So soon as the police assessment papers were issued for the first year 
under the Improvement Act, complaints both loud and general were 
raised against the Act, because it was found by the taxpayers that, to 
the already heavy load of taxation for general police and sanitary 
purposes, there was to be superadded no less than sixpence per 
pound on the rental for improvement purposes. That amount of 
assessment was the utmost limit allowed by the provisions of the 
Act. The people began to consider that they were to purchase the 
improvements at too great a cost, that they were “to pay too much 
for their whistle.” What made the load seem still heavier, was that 
the occupiers were compelled to pay the whole of the assessments, 
while the owners of household property were allowed to go “scot 
free.” The Lord Provost, who was the chief promoter of the 
improvement scheme, lost his place in the Town Council in conse- 
quence ; and very soon thereafter the rate for improvement purposes 
was reduced to fourpence per pound for the second year. Considering 
the great depression and dulness prevailing during the last year or. 
two in the engineering, shipbuilding, and other staple trades of 
Glasgow, the resolution come to by the Improvement Act Commis- 
sioners was certainly a wise one, as it is not desirable that the lawfully 
constituted local authorities should be guilty of such conduct as 
is prone to provoke opposition to their decisions from any large body 
of the ratepayers, many of whom have always ample demands made 
upon their hard earnings. 
The position which Glasgow occupies in respect of water-supply 
is one that may well be envied by London and many other large 
communities. In a city of upwards of half-a-million of people the 
supply of water is 26,400,000 gallons daily, and of this quantity 
about six-sevenths is obtained from Loch Katrine by an aqueduct 
whose total length is thirty-four miles. The aqueduct could convey 
as much as 50,000,000 gallons per day; and this, be it noted, is 
water of great purity (24 grains of soluble matter per gallon), with 
x 
