The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-03-03 00:00:00

3tuarbri4e Oberber.

SATURDAY. MARCH 8:d, 1883.
DANGERS AT HOME.

The ordinary Englishman who lives at home
at ease is apt to flatter himself that as be is not
surrounded by the dangers which threaten in
other climes, it does not behave him to take the
precautions which strict regard for comfort
forces upon his fellow-men in far-off lands. But,
singular as it is. dangers at a distance often
look far more formidable than similar perils
close to one's own doors ; and, just as in the
old sea-song, the sailor in a tempest rejoices
that he escapes on the broad ocean the risk run
by the landsman from falling chimneys or flying
tiles, so the Englishman, in his satisfaction at
being far removed from the habitations cf
malaria or of yellow fever, from the places
where the mistral or the sirocco sweep the living
into eternity, fails to note that even in the inner
recesses of his own home luik dangers unsus-
pected until dewily work has been by them ac•
complished. This fact has been forcibly pre-
sented to the public mind by the second annual
report just published of the Loudon Sanitary
Protection Association. This body has arisen
out of the cry which is almost daily becoming
louder for a better system of sanitation, and, at
the very least, for the existing one to be care-
fully looked after. The result of the Associa-
tion's labours, even though these have been of
only two years' duration, would appear to show
that much was wanted. By this it is not as-
sumed that Utopian schemes are put forward to
be rejected at pain of the high displeasure of
imaginative theorists. The British householder
and especially the British house owner. is not of
the stuff to be moved to overhaul his premises
merely because he is told the sanitary arrange-
ments are not in an ideally perfect condition.
Perfection is just what is not striven after, and
as long as things work fairly well,, both landlord
and tenant are apt to be satisfied. But what
has been disclosed is, in eifact, this—that in a
very large, it may almost be said an alarming
proportion of the dwellings of the careful and
the well-to-do, exist a defective state of things
sanitary which must in many Cases lead to the
most disastrous results. And this being so in
the cases of the houses of those who are suf-
ficiently thoughtful and sufficiently rich to pay
for a special inspection of them, the question in-
evitably forces itself upon notice "What must
be the state of affairs in the dwellings of the
poor 2" It is a hopeful sign of the times that in
these latter dale social questions are corning
well to the front, and that even in circles where
but a short time since only imperial politics
were talked, attention is now being given to
those matters which intimately affect the health
and well-being of the community at largo. The
consequence of this must be that to sanitation
will be devoted more time and thought than has
hitherto been the case. It is not, perhaps, the
pleasantest of subjects ; it is certainly not, one
upou which a public speaker could expect to
arouse mach enthusiasm, or a strong popular
movement soon to be expected. But it is a
matter which will have to be faced sooner or
later ; and, to exactly transpose the saving of
Canning with regard to war, we would rather it
were sooner. The safety of the people is tho
hi ;hest law is an old sayicg which has done
good service in the political fights of by-
gone days ;in these times it is capable of a
touch wider significance bang attached to it
than ever before. For there is demanded not
only the safety of the people from foreign inva-
sion or from civil broil, but from dangers which
threatens them i their own homes, and which
though insidious, and therefore the more diffi-
cult to be dealt with, are far from inset mount-
ab!e."; A healthy mind has beau provided for as
f r as itcan be by the various Education Acts ;
a healthy body in which that mind can progress
to its highest development, will yet have to be
the care of politicians and statesmen as well as
1 of philanthropists and social reformers.