The
Exchequer

principle of a central sanitary authority for the county is at least fully recognised.

A word or two in regard to the finances of the London County contribution Council will show how-financially-the Council is brought into account; its relation with the Poor Law Guardians and many other bodies. By expenditure. the Local Government Act, 1888, the Commissioners of Inland

receipts and

Grants to Guardians, Poor Law school teachers,

medical officers,

Revenue on behalf of the central government are to open a Local Taxation Account at the Bank of England, and they are to pay into it the duties on the local taxation licenses, which they are to continue to collect at least for the present. These are licenses* for the sale of intoxicating liquor on and off the premises; game licenses ; licenses for dealers in beer, spirits, sweets, wine, tobacco, horses and plate; for dogs, killing game, guns, carriages, trade carts, locomotives, horses and mules, armorial bearings, and male servants; also for refreshment-house keepers, appraisers, auctioneers, hawkers, house agents, and pawnbrokers. Besides these the Commissioners are to pay into the Local Taxation Account a grant consisting of two-fifths of the Probate Duties. On their part the County Councils open each of them an 'Exchequer Contribution Account,' and into this are paid (1) the amount of the duties on local taxation licenses which have been collected in the county, and (2) from the twofifths of the probate duties such a sum as the Local Government Board may certify to have been received by the county in grants from the Exchequer in the year ending March 25, 1888.

From these two sources the Council becomes possessed of means (I.) to make good certain grants to local authorities, which were before paid direct from the Exchequer; and (II.) to make certain extra grants to the Poor Law Guardians and Vestries or District Boards. As to the former, in London the Council has to pay† :—

I.

1. To the Guardians for every Poor Law Union or officer in any area wholly or partly in the county

(a) Such sums as the Local Government Board from time to vaccination, time certify to be due in substitution of the local grants towards the remuneration of teachers in Poor Law schools, and for payments to public vaccinators under section 5 of the Vaccination Act, 1867; and

lunatics, &c.

(b) Sums certified by the Local Government Board as payable in lieu of local grants for the remuneration of medical officers and the cost of drugs and medical appliances;

(c) For the remuneration of registrars of births and deaths, a sum payable to Guardians in lieu of local grants, equal to the

* Section 20 and Schedule I.

+ Sections 24, 43, and 88. See for a short statement London Government,' p. 20.

amount paid out of such grants for that purpose in the financial year to 31st March, 1888; and

(d) Four shillings weekly for each pauper lunatic, if the net charge payable by the Guardians in such cases be four shillings or

2. To the County Fund, for each pauper lunatic chargeable to To County the county and costing it that sum or more-four shillings;

3. Certain compensations to clerks of the peace and officers employed at Quarter Sessions (under 18 & 19 Vict., c. 126), and

Fund for lunatics.

police.

4. To the Receiver of the Metropolitan Police, the proportion of Grant to the cost of the police in the year ending March 31, 1888, which a Secretary of State certifies to have been contributed out of the Exchequer.

II.

Next, as to new grants to Poor Law Guardians and Vestries or District Boards. The Council in London has to pay

To Vestries

5. To Vestries or District Boards one-half of the salary of each for medical duly qualified medical officer hereafter to be appointed; and

6. To Poor Law Guardians

officers hereafter appointed.

To Poor Law

(a) The school fees paid for pauper children sent from a work- Guardians: house to a public elementary school outside the workhouse; and

School fces of workhouse children;

(b) For five financial years reckoned from the 1st April, 1889 indoor relief. (or longer if Parliament so determine), fourpence per head for every indoor pauper. The number of the indoor paupers on whom the payment is to be made, is to be the average number maintained by the Board of Guardians in the five years preceding 25th March, 1888.

The term 'indoor pauper' includes all paupers maintained in the workhouse, district or separate school, separate infirmary, sick asylum, hospital for infectious diseases, institution for the deaf, dumb, blind, or idiots, certified school, boarded-out, and in asylums for imbeciles under the Metropolitan Asylums Board. 'Casual ward' paupers are excluded; and any number of paupers that there may be in a workhouse over and above the number prescribed by the Local Government Board.

These grants do not affect in any way grants made to Poor Law Guardians out of the Metropolitan Common Poor Fund.

This very brief sketch of the duties and powers of the London County Council, and of the qualifications of County Electors and County Councillors, will, it is hoped, be of service. It shows how great the powers of the Council are, and suggests how much greater they are likely to be. The work of the Council may seem to lie somewhat beyond the scope of the Introduction. In fact, however,

i

Commission on housing of working classes.

it does not. The almoner can hardly be a capable almoner unless he be a good citizen, for he must find in the enforcement of the law not, a little of the help which he needs in certain individual cases, and in a better general administration he will probably place his hopes of social progress, at least in certain departments of life. The County Council has not yet been brought into any systematic relation with the Vestries and District Boards. The new body is in no way representative of the local bodies that should co-operate with it, for instance, under the Metropolis Management and Dwellings Acts; and it is likely that ere long they will be modified and re-established, so as to suit the new régime. When the time for this reform arrives, any one who has a sound local knowledge of the civic administration and wants of any part of London, may help to influence public opinion in the right direction. But what is this 'right direction'? It was, says Adam Smith, held in Holland to be 'unfashionable not to be a man of business. Necessity makes it usual for every man to be so, and custom everywhere regulates fashion.' Some kind of compulsion akin to necessity, with custom and fashion in its train, may yet make it usual in London for every man to be a citizen as well as a man of business. Possibly then our local administration may be managed so as to draw out the interest of the local ratepayer, and require his active participation in local work. This to us seems the right direction.

LVIII. THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL AND THE VESTRIES AND
DISTRICT BOARDS AS SANITARY AUTHORITIES. *

The last official survey of the wants of the community and the means at its disposal in regard to the housing of the working classes is contained in the report of the Royal Commission, published in 1885. They allow, that in comparison with the state of things thirty years ago, the condition of the houses of the poor has greatly, the late Lord Shaftesbury said 'enormously,' improved. But the evils of overcrowding are, they say, becoming more serious than ever, and are still, especially in London, a public scandal. They complain that though there is much legislation on the subject, the laws are not put in force, while some of them have remained a dead letter from the date of their being placed in the Statute book. They describe in some detail the graver defects that have to be remedied, and suggest improvements in the law and its administration. Altogether they make out an overwhelming case for more honourable dealing and greater public spirit on the part of those who supply land and houses for dwellings, and a more responsible

The National Health Society (44 Berners Street, Oxford Street, W.) has published a little 'Guide to the Sanitary Law.' Price 2d.; in cloth, 4d.

performance of their duty on the part of those who administer the sanitary law. The notes of legal enactments which follow will suggest to the almoner some of the chief defects to which he will doubtless frequently turn his attention. For a fairly complete statement on the subject he cannot do better than refer to the report itself.

Sanitary,
Building,

Three groups of Acts are referred to in this section: The Sanitary Acts, consolidated for the rest of the country and Housing under the Public Health Act of 1875, but in the Metropolis not yet consolidated.

The Building Acts, of which the first is the Metropolitan Building Act of 1855. To these Acts the following clauses chiefly relate (1) Cleansing of streets, drains, &c.'; (2) the medical officer of health, inspector of nuisances, and public analyst; (3) the abatement of nuisances; (4) overcrowding; (5) the registration of tenement houses; (6) common lodging-houses; and (7) building.

The Dwellings Acts are the third group. They are dealt with in Section lvii.

On the enforcement of the Sanitary and Building Acts, the following remarks, taken from the report of the Special Committee of the Charity Organisation Society (1881), are still pertinent. It should, however, be added, that there are new forces now at work, which may lead to many radical changes in administration. London has now a County Council; and the County Council has appointed a medical officer of health. There is now, therefore, in embryo at least, a central sanitary authority for the Metropolis.

Acts.

Acts.

The Sanitary Acts, with the Building Acts, may be said to fix TheSanitary a kind of standard of habitability which, if properly enforced, would and Building leave little to desire. Dr. Farr has shown that mortality is relative to the density of population. The cubic space per head should be, it is generally agreed, at least 300 feet. Adults should have 400 cubic feet, children of less than ten years, 150. But underlying the law are the questions of expense, and the difficulty of educating public opinion-the two great obstacles in promoting sanitary changes; and in the Metropolis the present system of local government is a further obstacle. To enforce the law in London there are (including the City) forty-one Vestries and Local Boards, each with a medical officer of health, and under them about three or four inspectors, who have, besides the inspection of houses, other special work. There may thus be said to be 260 persons taking care of the sanitary interests of a population of 4,000,000. There is no common system in the administration of sanitary laws in different districts; the standard of habitability varies; some of the medical officers are so paid that they can devote their whole time to the work, others are engaged also in private

Cleansing of drains, &c.

practice; in one or two districts there is a regular periodical inspection; in most this is found impossible, or considered needless. It is evident that an impartial, independent, and systematic sanitary administration of the Metropolis, as a whole, is necessary; and that, until that is arranged, it is impossible to say whether existing sanitary legislation does or does not meet all the requirements of the case.'

'With regard to the enforcement of the Building Acts in the Metropolis, there are 65 districts and district surveyors for this population in an area of about 75,462 acres, with, according to the Census of 1881, about 488,995 inhabited houses. If the class of houses now being built in such district surveyors' districts as Stoke Newington, St. Giles's, Camberwell, Rotherhithe, Streatham, is taken into consideration, the work thrown upon some inspectors must be enormous, for to prevent infringement of the bye-laws of the Metropolitan Board of Works the most constant supervision is necessary. The enforcement of the Building Acts in the suburbs is no less important. The extension of London makes it very necessary that bye-laws such as those of the Metropolitan Board should be adopted in some of the suburbs, where at present, in several instances, much less stringent regulations are in force, and the staff must be large enough to thoroughly inspect the rows of small houses erected in some districts, and to prevent the speculating builder from adding to his profits by the use of bad material and inferior work.'

'Lastly, to carry out the Artizans' Dwellings Act, there are the Metropolitan Board of Works [now the London County Council], and to carry out the Torrens Act (as amended) there are the Vestries and District Boards; and in the City of London the Commissioners of Sewers are charged with the duties of both Acts. There is thus, in a large and populous area, an extreme complexity in the administration, especially where simplification and a good municipal government are most desirable.'

(1) Cleansing of Streets, Drains, &c. In regard to the cleansing of streets, drains, &c., the Vestries have authority to compel owners to construct drains to the common sewer; they may order combined drainage for blocks of houses; they have to see that no house is built without drains constructed to their satisfaction. Before the foundation of any new house, or building, or rebuilding, or the making of any new drain, seven days' notice has to be given to them. Every new or rebuilt house must have sufficient watercloset and ashpit. After giving 24 hours' notice they may have any drain, etc., inspected at any reasonable time in the day, and they may require the owner or occupier to put it in order They may compel the supply of water to houses, if it can be obtained at a rate not exceeding threepence a week, and they may provide drinking fountains.