1865.] Agriculture. 649 



immorality, harbours disease, and materially lessens the effective 

 power of the working classes by injuring health and shortening life. 

 Considering all these, and many other equally important facts as 

 already sufficiently proved, the Society discussed the practical difficul- 

 ties in the way of an adequate provision of good house accommodation 

 on terms within the reach of the labourer's means. On one point in 

 particular, which relates especially to cottages in country districts, 

 the Society very properly declare that the alternative of charging the 

 relief of the pauper on the parish or on the union in which he resides, 

 is one which peculiarly affects the building of cottages in the country. 

 The present system has long been found one of the greatest obstacles 

 to the proper accommodation of labourers on the estates on which 

 they work ; and the Society were prepared to recommend an amend- 

 ment of the law by the extension of the chargeability of the poor from 

 the parish to the union. The same views on this important question 

 have been, however, generally recognized by the Legislature, and it is 

 probable from the course of recent legislation that they will be still 

 further carried into operation. 



With this exception most of the topics which came under the 

 attention of the Society affect rather working men in towns than rural 

 labourers, and we do not therefore quote at length those paragraphs 

 in the report which relate to demolition of houses by railways, to 

 workmen's trains, and to enforcing the sanitary laws. The following 

 shortly are the results of their deliberations. They recommend :— 



1. That corporations, limited owners, &c, should have increased power 

 to sell land for the erection of dwellings for labourers, under conditions as 

 to proper drainage, ventilation, and sanitary regulations. 



2. That the public loan commissioners should be authorized to lend 

 money, at a rate not exceeding 3£ per cent, per annum, for building 

 dwellings for the labouring classes, under suitable guarantees and with 

 due regard to sanitary arrangements. 



3. That in all future railway acts, and acts for local improvements, 

 when houses inhabited by the working classes are destroyed under 

 compulsory powers, such companies should be compelled to provide, 

 within a convenient distance, other dwellings in lieu of those destroyed. 



4. That the following amendments should be made in our sanitary 

 laws : — 



a. That the appointment of inspectors of nuisances throughout the 

 country should be compulsory. 



b. That increased power be given to the proper local authorities, 

 to oblige builders of houses to provide adequate drainage and 

 ventilation. 



c. That the medical officers of health should be irremovable without 

 the consent of the Privy Council, and that the amount of their 

 salaries should be subject to the approval of the same authority. 



d. That houses in which lodgers are taken, especially where particular 

 rooms in a house are overcrowded, should be brought under more 

 efficient inspection. 



