The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-10-03 00:00:00

THE ,NATIONAL ASSOCIATION- FOR THE
PROMOTION OF SOCIAL SCIENVE.-

The Picicient of the Public Health Department, at
the fellywiyg,,staterneut Shoed, from g local
AO, Anal me'e'ting of that section, having suggestitsi.e that
edat
interest dna imperfansrappeat at length at once in the'
journals of this to‘to, We A' tire' earliest insertion
in our power.
Mr. Theodore Rathhone expressed his gfeat fegfee at
having been unable to be present at the imPortfintdisek-
sion the previous day of the causes of a death rate in
Liverpool, still so much higher than, in the opinion of the
Registfet,Gerteral and the administrators of the Govern-
ment Vepatfitient of health, it ought to be, and said that
Odd caVs6 o this • *Well did not appear to have been
notided,i4dcdbtetilk Was the. still Comparatively limited
and imperfect registraVOW of the Contrion /ridging- houses,
and notwithstanding the ileillitispbliant p)ron,ress within
the lastfew months towards more eittikTM gemtut
as well as towards more perfect registratidh Tklitst
cenails stated that of 213,767 persons of 20 years of lige
and up Wards, p,:f slept within the limits of the borough
on! the night of the Well of March, 1851, only 48,298
were natives of the town' the Liverpool medical
!officer has recorded in (Air 'Tratiattiddl that, whilst the
rate 017 ~mi
inmates of
lid
sibete6den
about
common lodging poises N:ias searcell,lt in I',ooo, and
that in the most denselyikoPied parts
tor the town, in
these not a single case of fever lidd duVing the
year. So that of the peculiarly large nuintief of persons
who in Liverpool reside in what are in law strictly Com-
mon lodging houses, but which are still, after all the
recent additions, very largely unregistered, the death-
rate of these unfortunate victims is greatly more than
double *hat it ought to be, and long since would have
been,.if the public lodging house acts of 1851 and 1853
veachfily and Uniformly brought into operation,
as they Were' Veins the first hi districts immediately
adjoining.
Mr. Rathbone then said—j rig?et: that absence of
the president of this association at its lad iiibethig, the
Earl of Shaftesbury, and of the then prefiderit of this
department, who were both present, and took active
part with their usual most useful and unfailing interest
in the discussion to which I have to refer, and in whose
hands I should have much preferred leaving altogether
the statements of facts I have to make, obliges me to
act on the suggestions made to me in consequence, to
take* the first opportunity allowed me, and for which I
have to' fßan.l.7en, Mr: President, of making this public
statement before tWe' .bthiness of this section commences
on this its last duly of Maine, , The facts are of impor-
tance on public as well as privai6'eoWdsiand especially
on sanitary grounds, with reference to ai,e'uYoiliilg' and
general extension of one of the most usertil of din- ails
of Parliament.

I last year submitted a paper to this department—
which was printed at page 596 of our Transactions—
"On the great importance of the uniform and general
registration of common lodging houses,
.and the most
effectual means of securing its accomplishment," and
had occasion to refer in that paper to the happy
and admirable results of the public lodging house
acts; where. brought into general and efficient opera-
tion, d$ both the metropolitan and rural districts
in my' oWn ridght-Vorbood, .in converting, in the
words of Captain Harris; the assistant commissioner
of, the maropolitan "Well. perfect hotbeds of
Mseale, . and misery as defied destiption into
dwelling's far theii 4foitunate imitates; leaving bale
further to be desireilf hninble aide' pool. as .manT of
them are, and to contrast theirr .01th" the' then state of
the common lodging houses of the Wealitiy,. akul, in so'
many respects, admirably administered tear of Wen;
pool, where, notwithstanding all the noble and costly
efforts that have been made with sanitary objects, so
many still continued altogether unregistered, and not a
single one was or could be properly and efficiently
bran* under the ItSeful regulations of these acts.
TWO:of the officers of. council of Liverpool, the
deputy to‘in'-olerk, and the medical officer were present,
as it Was ^lda in Op Committee they would
be in reference to this" discit'ssibli, and certainty made
some statements whicb•Were (*be ceentradiefed-aud.
shown to be unfounded ; the only oiVe. 0 any great
importance that, bad as things had been dllohin to be
Liverpool by my paper, and- on evidence admitting
no disputei all had already been done in Liverpool as
regarded the common. lodging-houses, that could be done
—a state'r&ift itqw most unaNwerably and publicly refu-
ted by the tack tla linlytdrals of unregistered common
lodging houses in Liverpbbi e fete, being aided to
the register, that the by-lois Innieng thn, number of
the lodgers in each room, instead of merely the' entire ,
house, and securing the due and decent scpaiation of
the sexes, essential to proper regulation .and efficient-
registration, and, as I have so often urged all along, in
„ such useful and beneficial operation all around Liver-
:
pod;. Miele since been at length brought into operation
within the limits, ('f. the horongh; and lastly, that Lord
Shaftesbury's
and 1853 (under which
nooneinforn publicion hadiiicU ofe 1
irer
broneitt before the
magistrates, although, as I have W .„en' urged, all
the supposed difficulties and impediments litaief the old
local acts to getting beyond the mere nightly
houses, would thus at all events have been long since
at once got over) are, I am informed on the best autho-
rity, really. about at length to be acted upon by the
sanitary affleerS. But an publication of the last volume
of the TfauiSlCtio'n s f.ent months since, these, and other
,
statements supplied by others in question, but not
found in or supported by tfetityl and pub-
lished reports of the proceedings, appeal. in ft:le sum-
mary, and of course without contradiction—staterneets'
utterly untrue and unfounded, and which reflect most
unwarrantably on the practical operation of the public
lodging house acts, and impute to me as a magistrate in
carrying them put, as well as to the other magistrates and
police of the Conre,; Itherse eo-operation the slightest
knowledge of the law shows fe rte esteptially requisite,
proceedings arbitrary, tyrannical, aiid 6`rpressive, as
well as altogether illegal. The friendly interPsitict! of
the Mayor of Liverpool, in whose hands I at once, on

he appearance of this volume, placed this statement

, ,
and the following documents, for some time past,
having failed to procure the immediate and
ungtialiO.ed tettactation, I, of course, fully antici-
pated, I inAiSt Omit Cleat and decisive evidence

in support of my own Oen:in and. positive declaration
that it is altogether untrue that` T Ifaiaider during the
nine years I have been actively envie as ar magistrate
for the county of Lancashire, in carrying ad fly theilibst
of my ability those most valuable and useful acts,
stretched them in any one decision, or sought to have
them stretched in any one point beyond their plain and
obvious meaning, they being evidently acts applicable to
persons, strangers to one another, received as lodgers
in • • cotillion fdon'isi whether for a single . night or
any longer. period—a Construction confirmed by the
valuable opinion of the officers of the Crown, the
best gat a'u'thorities; and the .abl4enee of any one
appeal., elifier: heie!dr, in the Metropolis, during the long
period; and in the: liiiedteds of cases, the' Magistrates
have so decided, and continue' rto: dOeide: That the
particular instance put forward IVtCYe deputy toWn-
clerk of the oppressive, tyrannical, and; nfitedsonable
working and consequences of these acts, as I hav6 had
them carried out in my own neighbourhood, is alike

entirely without foundation and —a
pure fiction, and
impossible under these acts, which certainly are carried
out in the metropolitan districts by police officers,
and herd :by the police in the ordinary course of their
duty, *itti no. increase Whatever of their number, but
very great cif' their kiVciclicy r 0/o.ga thus almost work-
ing itself, and the there. ahrbilini We, require of the
excellent regulations, at ondd dflpieied toy his on the
passing of the act of 1851 by the Home Office, 'With the
numbers allowed in each room, to the eye of everY
lodger, and the ordinary rounds of the police, now per-
fectly securing an almost unfailing attention to regu-
lations alike the interest of lodgers and, lodging
hotise keepers to observe, and a greater and more
perfect inthe'r,trtity of registration .of all com-
mon lodging bOuse's f'n'dn Oen in the metropolis.
.The paper in question, which I read of course at the
time, and which is one of those selected f)f. publication
in the last volume of the Transactions, and my letter's
to the mayor and town council, which are also pub=
lished, render quite clear and unmistakeable the views
on which I have ever acted, and the basis on which
these invaluable acts have ever been carried out ; and I
have only further to state that Captain Elgee, the head
of the county police of Lancashire, wrote at once on
seeing this voltimeto the mayor of Liverpool, claiming
justice frem the town domicil, and offering indisputable
proof that. Were was no foundation Ithateyer for the
unwarrantable iniPlitations thecounty polite, or truth
in the statements in *Moll they are tbilYeyeti:

TO Tnronoa.E.w. RATHIJO:St,EIeTOI,: PRIORY.
l'rescot, 12th March. 180. •
DEAR have just seen with the greatest ourprise; in
the report of the Transactions of the Social Science Assoelation
for last year, 'a statement, by Mr. M'Gowan, of Liverpool, that
you have "insisted upon a cottage rented by a working man
and his wife and occupied by them and th.e wile's brother and
child only, being registered and treated as a common lodging-
house, and that you have ma e the people have a board stuck
up
.outside d Sign, calling it a common lodging house. end
compelled the inmates to stibmit to the arbitrary visits of the
poree.!'
This statement, if true, Would. justify Mr. M'Gowan in con-
sidering the proceedings tyrannical. aad Most unreasonable,
but I well know the statement to be wholly untrue.
I have, as clerk to the, magistrates, uniformly attended the
petty sessions, both at Woollen and Wavertree, since the
formation of the .Childwall diyisiori in 1857, and throughout
Prescot division since the passing and bringing into operation
of the Common Lodging House Acts, and I aver heard of such
a case, or any like it, or of your or any other magistrate having
interfered in any way whatever with the police in carrying out
these acts.

In fact, granting, the application to have a hcatse registered
as a eommon lndging house is regarded rather as a favour and
privilege to householders from the preference given by lodgers
to registered houses.

In-every—case brought before the magistrates, either at
Preseot, St. Helen's, Woolton, or Wavertree, for non-regis-
tration of houses, supposed by the police to he common lodging
houses, the informationshave been invariably dismissed where
any doubt has existed whether such houses were in fact within.
the plain meaning of the acts of Parliament, i. c., houses in
which the inferior class of loduers, strangers to each other,
are lodged in a common apartment.
These acts work very well, and have produced the most
beneficial effects both to lodgers and lodging house keepers in
the places I hava mentioned, and the manner in which their
provisions are carried out by the police have never keen a
subject of complaint at petty sessions by parties summoned
before the magistrates for breach of . the regulations. I am,
dear sir, yours very faithfully, . WiLLIA3I CROSS.

TO THEODORE W. RATHDONE, E=Q., ALLERTON PRIORI.
Lancashire Constabulary, Prescot Division,

• Present, March' 12, 1860.
Sin,—ln reference to your communication calling my atten-
tion to a statement made by Mr. MtGowan, of Liverpool, that
vim had insisted upon a cottage, rented by a working man and
his wife and the wife's brother and child only being registered
and treated as a common lodging house, and that you made
the people have a board stuck up outside like a sign, calling it
a common lodging house, and compelled the inmates to submit
to the arbitrary visits of the police, I beg to say that so •ar as
my knowledge extends this statement is totally and entirely
destitute of truth.
passing of the Common Lodging House Acts, ,
I have been inspector of eummon sincelodgiboaunsdesthis
is theilie ,•
first Wile I ever heard of y-on (or, in fact,
magis-
trate) interfering in any way whatever respecting
- Chlilhd
regis-
tering of. common lodging houses. any other
eregis..az divisions attended
w everyh enpe evtetiy
and if it was satisfactorily
sessions both iu .he Present and
keeping unregistered lodging hosus,,e,es,
parties have been summoned for
visits of the police. Through-
out One word about the arbitrary sohfotwhenotehei4tptirr,sttitipepcoasseedslolaterb,eardelsrmielastsievde.s or even friends
exP,--if-arbitrary, harsh, or uncivil con--
I can confidently state that
who have so ably assisted Inc in
the whole of my
police,l'aill'a.siniotns of the acts, has ever. come' m •
persons sum
ndoutetoonne
tstegpleartcoonfit!
carrying out the p
e of this kind has
ever been made.---I a JAMES FOWLER,
knowledge,inoned
before
onfo.
not
the
eta numerousrg
Superintendent. •

LIVERPOOL DISPENSARIESe—view eases received
advice and medicine at the institution: North. 278 ;
South, 162 ; total, 440. New cases visited at their own.
houses and supplied with medicine : North, 86 ; South,.
38 ; total, 124. Rev. Rector' Campbell, A.M., Pre-..
sident ; Major Bourne, Vice-President of North
Dispensary; Mr. R. A. Payne, .Vice-PreSident of South.
Dispensary ; Mr. Francis Mill, Treasurer ; Mr. F. S.
-Langley, Secretary.