The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1879-08-19 00:00:00

EMENCE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
TO THI MOTOR OT TVS DAILT NIMS.

Sta,—• remarkable scene took place at a meeting of the
guardian, • few elayt ago in a small town in our part of
{be srotli. • gentleman deputed by the Local Govern•
want Board tint the guardian., uid thus addremed there.
11. Vold thorn that his Baud bad felt but little plearore
at the manner in which they had carried out the
provisions of the Act. It wee true that they were spending
some £4O per annum in payment of local officers to see
that no nuisances exuded, but this showed only a poor
awreciation of the opportunities which had been offered
• no. The thing needful was that they ehould appoint
a specislly trained and qualified person se their officer.
The object in new waa not the mere prevention of a
wawa/ here or a nuisance there, but that they
should Appoint • genthtnian such ise ho had
nirendy &Buried to, whose knowledge sod a quirements
would enable him tc parry out a scientific examination of
the district. It WWI is roan that the guardians pleaded
that there were no towns lath. district under qu atlas,
not eve@ the small town in whkb they were meeting,
that it was one of the healthiest diolcirro in the country;
and that they could provide neither suttici•nt than. nor
rudiment nuluance. to furnish employment for an officer
of such high qualificatioaa Warming with this subject,
the deputy entered into %fuller explanation of the •iews
of his department. It wee not morel, a local queltion
They were engaged in scientific reeeuches they were
etudyizgdimase as it manifested itself en the sand, on
r tho k, on the gravel, oath, clay; they were tabulating
results ; and a scheme of such proportion. could only
be carried oct by the appointment of one of thuse gentle-
...who wore being specially trained for the work. The
country minds of our faithful guardians retunined still
unconvinced. "Your reports will only gi into the
pigeonholes of your London °films. and remain there in
the dust,- said one of them. "Nothing of the sort, I
segue you, replied the deputy, indigasindy " you do
zot yet understand the scheme aa • whole;" and be
cosiLused still further to •xpound the career in mance
which ho wee proposing to thorn. Bat the convincing
orio.o.j. boo' :et to be used—the Last vanquishing touch
of tho h.., on
...tut nail's head. Sea, you are now
sintiffint CIO yew a.. 7 'pro' oo !undo Dno as I toll
4.• i officer at • slightly
so="oZi Letliormilyiu "' neer half the ex.
mem." The argoinent wag irmelati%. pre.""
considerations of local requirements, of health;disesse,
nuisances, vanishes into thin air In our put of the
country at. STO proof against any argument except the
argument which is addressed to the ratepayers' pockgt.
All men bare their weakness We are men, and that Is
our vestment I think our trusty representatives would
have reclined to the last gem on its own merits, Ik. in.
indices whoa. for making them study die-au on the
chalk, the sand, the clay. sad the gravel; ha to be paid
for doing it—to sasist in the excitements of r
catching, fixing, and tabulating the phienotn=fhotobs.
to stand in the van of program; to be wring the world a;
is themselves, and at the tame time find a cheque for
some ten or twenty pounds lying at their beaker's. this
altered the whole face of abbe.; no resolutions, no pp..
ciplee could withstand ouch a chance, both of being
virtuous and of fa= a profit ; and to-lay we are all
wondering In the wily we did 13,4 long ago discover
whin • deiisittlnl Piece the world le, when we can take
part in such great nines, and receive a suhetantial
acksiowledgmaat front the na..,,nal money cheat for
doing NO. Tb. advertieesuent ie air, ..ly iutbe r+and
tne gUtod 000 to n probably whims his v.rpet-beg
to come to t4ll.
And now, Bit, let nut e•lt you if thiii steru of petty
t. gOOO or wholesome foe •kyhody cone ,rued in
litilem not undervaluing the awful observation and
.eord of any of naturo's fuss ; MOM 1181.1 mon important
will toccene the work wawa we tower ender the a.• of
sews,. dome by all men Is rrompzirt of the field -ef
bat what Ido olden La
to the of ninon
by a pablie d•P•1161411t. I. • =l:4l°,ftetk.
of
public morality whether heffindesen, amo muter the
ser..rn of a great dam should mime tamp ectongjfk
madam and satidy their seleatillo curiosity by o
themmelvee of a mealier) sad ea axpeadltom Which

aids. did asetaisly set mete he seala purpose It Is
en biers tainting. Beal, toe fa *seed better results are
to be hoped for from the avowing desire of lotolligent
men to understand the natural I ezta that belong to the
district in vhich they bre, than front the appointment of
• paid Miner to undertake this work for them. Such
men have often a passion for their own subjects of
inquiry ; they set upon others, and became Mar. from
I which new interests and new speculations are aroused. It
cannot be too strongly insisted upon, that the spirit of
science—in simpler words, the desire to understand and
I to know accorately—is of more value to • nation than •
heap of scientific facts collected by some •P,c4.1
machinery. Leave this temper of inquiry to grow, to feed
itself upon the natural food that surrounds it ;do not take
from it any of those things which are necessary to its
growing •POStite. 3Orl in all good time you will peuees
she f mt. in the fullest abundance, for you will have
worker. no all aide. sell-employed in every pert of the
field. But these crude attempts to create a dose of
official ecientista to-iay, and to tabulate all knowledge
to-morrow, will only carry no further from the point
where we wish to be. Though men are slow
to reOOCL.OO it, life and growth have always
been arrested under the incubus of ofilciallam. The
histories of art, literature, and religion yield the same
evidence. Let science trust in herself: she will end her
strength in the attachment of the people to her, as they
learn what she has done for them—the mists scattered,
the wider horizons opened oft, and what she yet has to do.
Bat, like religion, she must choose which of two parte she
will play. She may become the mistress of a whole
people, chosen for her own sake for what she is in herself;
or she may be the property of a stacial and official class,
buying her way alike by the gift of great places and the
pittance of .C2O thrown to hungry removers-
I encloses my frientl's card who was present at the inter-
view, and from whom I received • report of the proceed-
ings. He Wu read this letter, which he considers quite
faithfully represent' what passel.
I am, faithfully.
AUBILION Hunter.
Ashley Atnewood Farm, Lymingtoo, August.