The Health Exhibition Literature (Volume 2) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Conference On Thursday, June 5, i His Grace the Archbishop Of Canterbury in the Chair. 1. "Suburban Dwellings and Cheap Railway Fares!" By James H0le, Esq. 2. " The Treatment of the London Poor." By Miss L1DGETT. 3. " On the Creation of a Building Fund." By H. D. Harrod, Esq. SUBURBAN DWELLINGS AND CHEAP RAILWAY FARES. The housing of the working classes has assumed a degree of importance it never previously possessed. We have suddenly awakened to the fact that our highly-developed civilisation may be confronted by a barbarism threatening its existence, and at least depriving large numbers of its commonest advantages. To what end, so far as they are concerned, the enormous growth of wealth, of art, science, literature, if they leave them untouched by any beneficent influence ? The barbarism that nearly overwhelmed ancient civilisation was external; our danger is from within, almost at our doors. The problem demands a two-fold solution: one immediate, urgent, and not to be set aside; the other the future, with which I more especially wish to deal. As to the present necessity, it is admitted that existing sanitary legislation, if vigorously enforced, would remove many of VOL. IL?H. C E the grossest existing evils. But the prospects of such enforcements under vestry government are not encouraging. Many of their members are nuisance makers; it would be idle to expect them to remove nuisances. In one of the largest and worst districts of London (Whitechapel) the sanitary laws have not been enforced for eighteen years. The district surveyors, whose province it is to prevent improper construction, would, if they instituted a prosecution, do it at their own risk?not a very likely way to encourage them in the performance of their duties. The letter to the ve...