214 The Artizans and Labourers' Dwellings Bill. [April, 



readers as remember what was stated in a former number of tbis 

 Journal,* namely, that the Corporation of Manchester, leagued with 

 some neighbouring municipalities, obstructed the passage of the 

 Sanitary Act of 1866, will not be surprised to hear that the boasted 

 metropolis of the north is pursuing a similar course with regard to 

 the present Bill. 



The objection we hear raised to it in that quarter is that it will 

 enhance the value of dilapidated tenements, and that landlords will 

 neglect their property in order to compel the Corporation to pur- 

 chase it. For the benefit of some of our landed gentlemen, who 

 are not supposed to penetrate the municipal secrets of our large 

 towns, we may explain that when a wealthy Corporation like that 

 of Manchester raises such an objection to the expenditure of money 

 in the way described, for ameliorating the condition of its working 

 population, it has some grounds for so doing, inasmuch as landlords 

 — aye, rich landlords — in large towns often do take advantage of 

 " Improvement Acts " to sell then property to Corporations at an 

 exorbitant price ; but in this case the sinners are likely to be poor 

 people who own a house or two in a court, and who possess little 

 or no influence in municipal elections. The rapacity of such people 

 must not be encouraged, even if the alternative be that Manchester 

 (or some other larger town) shall remain what our uninitiated 

 readers will find it to be if they will take the trouble to peruse the 

 article on its present condition, in another portion of this Xumber.t 



Shame on you, men of Manchester, who have amassed your for- 

 tunes by the sweat, not of your own brows, but by that of the hardy 

 sons of toil to whom you would now deny even decent habitations ! 

 Would that the shade of Richard Cobden could rise, that he might 

 point the finger of scorn at his successors who deny the fresh air 

 of heaven to those upon whom he conferred the boon of cheap 

 bread ! We have little fear of the result of such opposition ; it 

 will recoil upon the opponents of the Bill, and it is but just to the 

 citizens of Manchester to say that, as far as we have been able to 

 ascertain, the municipal authorities do not in this, nor in any other 

 sanitary obstructions, represent then true feelings and desires. 



But the Bill is not without drawbacks, and one of these deserves 

 attention. We think it gives too much power over the public 

 moneys to an almost irresponsible public official, the Medical Officer 

 of Health. We strongly recommend the addition, in committee, of 

 a restrictive clause s imil ar to the 49th clause of the Sanitary Act of 

 1866, which enables the Home Secretary to act upon the well-founded 

 complaints of inhabitants, and we are not sure that it would not be 

 better in the very first instance to divide the responsibility of making 



* " The Public Health," ' Quarterly Journal of Science,' Oct. 1, 1866, p. 496, 

 on the Sanitary Condition of Manchester. 



t On u Manchester : its Sanitary and Social State, and its Corporate Eiders." 



