SANITARY LEGISLATION. 
385 
S AX IT AE Y LEGISLATION. 
ABSTRACT OF MR. A. ROOKER's PAPER. 
(Read January 30th, 1873.) 
The Lecturer, at some length, pointed out the object of Govern- 
ment as tending to the maintenance of the State, the security of 
the person, the protection of property, and the development of 
civilization and social progress. "While some regarded the office of 
Government as simply protective, others assumed that there 
devolved on it the responsibility of inaugurating and giving effect 
to whatever conduced to individual good. But this was scarcely 
tenable ; for the State could not provide in every way for the 
well-being of every personal unit, which would be impossible. 
But the immediate question especially related to sanitary legis- 
lation. He then showed, at some length, what sanitary legislation 
involved, its objects, and the means through which they might be 
attained ; and pointed out, as one evident result of recent inquiry, 
that the moral as well as the social condition of a people in a 
great degree depended on their physical condition. After carefully 
tracing the development of sanitary legislation, the lecturer 
referred to the progress of sanitary improvement in the immediate 
locality. The borough of Plymouth included a area of 1,500 acres, 
of which 500 acres only were occupied with houses. In 1851 
there were 5,178 houses in Plymouth, and in 1871 they had 
increased to 7,867. In 1851 the population was 52,221 ; in 1861 
it had reached 62,600; and in 1871 it had increased to 66,525. 
The area occupied by buildings had not increased in the same 
proportion as the population. AYith the sea in front, Cattewater 
and the Laira to the left, and Stonehouse, with its estuary, on the 
right, lateral extension was very difficult ; and the increase of 
population had resulted in closer aggregation, aggravated in some 
degree by want of capital, and the swarm of small builders ready 
to settle on any eligible site, and cover it with inferior houses. 
In 1847 the Plymouth Health of Towns Association, which was 
formed about that time, mainly owing to the strenuous and 
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