The Express.
London, England, 1867-03-27 00:00:00

BRNANNIA.

TON EVIGTINO, FAUST MT, Lane and Mesdames
Jerolo. and Rooth. —After which THE fIrK KT OF LESVE.
Minim.- Reynolds, Cranford, Intuntoomd, Ingwood, and Elton
31i.s .4. Mlle*.

MOH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
TIM DAY —Morning, oh. 1 ten Alteri,...n, r,2 'l2m.
ib3t,K&uw—Mordng, 5-10 a Atternoou. 70. lam.

LOA-DON, IVEDNESDAY, MARCH 27.

THE House of Commons has been asked today
to read a second time Mr. Tomo:Ns' Bill to
pi...vide better Dwellings for a rtisans and Labourers.
This measure was brought in last session, but the
discussion which followed its introduction showed
that a work of preparation remained to be dine
in the mind of the members of the Legislature,
and it was referred to a Select Committee
of the House of Commons. The Bill in its pre-
aunt form is very much what that Committee
made it, Mr.Toastaxa having wisely accepted the
suggestions offered to him ; it thus reappears with
an authority which did not attach to it a year
ago. The preamble declares in general terms
that it is expedient to make provision for taking
down or improving dwellings occupied by
working men and their families which are unfit
for human habitation, and for the building
and maintenance of improved dwellings for such
persona in their stead. In face of the reve-
lations made during the recent epidemics,
and after all we know of the conse-
quences of permitting the crowding of men,
women, and children in houses which, through
various causes, have come to be no better than
fever dens, it would be impossible to deny the
necessity on which the Bill is founded. This con-
sideration precludes all misconception of the cha-
racter of the Bill, the title of which might be
utulerst....l as implying a measure of clam legis-
lation. Cholera and typhus are terrible levellers :
BAmc.•F never preached the dogma of equality so
energetically as they do when they stalk abroad.
The Bill is to apply to the metropolis, including
the City of London, and to all English boroughs
and places under the jurisdiction of local boards
constituted tinder the Public Health Act
of IS-18, or the Local Government Act of 1858,
as well as to towns and boroughs in Scotland
and Ireland. The powers of the Act may be set
in motion by the officer of health reporting that
any premises are unfit for human habitation, or
in a state dangerous or prejudicial to health ; or
four or more householders may represent in
handwriting that disease exists in a locality, and
it will then be the duty of the officer of health
to inspect it and make a report, copies of which
are in either case to be furnished to the clerk of
the local authority and the clerk of the peace.
The former of these officials is to lay the report
before the board or council, and transmit a copy
to the owner of the premises, giving him notice
that it will be taken into consideration by the
grand jury at the quarter sessions. The report
is to be brought under the notice of this body by
the clerk of the peace, and the grand jury are to
make a presentment according to the requirements
of the case. Upon receipt of a copy of the
presentment the local authority will cause
a survey of the premises to be made, and have
prepared a plan and specification of the works
requiring to be executed. The owner is to be noti-
fied of this plan, and is to send in within fourteen
days any objections he may have to make to its
execution, after the expiry of which term he will
have a further space of ten clays within which to
come to an agreement with the local authority.
But if no agreement can be curve to the case will
be carried before two justices of the peace in
petty sessions, who may make an order. The
owner may, however, appeal against such order
to the next quarter sessions on giving due no-
tice, and the court may vary the eider, awarding
costs to either party in its discretion. Within
three months of the receipt of the order the owner
must declare in writing that he undertakes
the work, or that he requires the local au-
thority to purchase the premises in question.
Where the owner fails to execute the works
properly the local authority may come in, carry
them to completion, and charge him with the ex-
pense, or if he should fail to require the local au-
thority to purchase, they are to tender a valuation
of the premises to be taken down, and if their va-
luation be not accepted, the amount is to be as-
nosed by a jury. The purposes for which the local
authorities are to be authorised to hold property
where it may be necessary to do so are, in the
first place, to provide the labouring classes within
their jurisdiction with new dwellings, and, in the
second place, the opening out of closed or partially
closed alleys or courts inhabited by the lower
classes by pulling down obstructive buildings.
and opening the dwellings to the light and
air so as to make them healthful. To guard
against the local authorities becoming permanent
landlords, it is stipulated that if, at the end
of seven years, the land or buildings acquired be
not disposed of by sale or exchange, or a lease
for ninety-nine years, they shall escheat t. the

Crown. To enable the local authorities to dis-
charge their duties, the Public Works Loan Com-
missioners are to be authorised to make loans,
with the sanction of the Coi 1111 l isaioners of the
Treasury—the loan to b; secured by mortgage of
the premises acquired, and be discharged by the
sale of the same. Such are the leading prn•isions
of the Bill. It would be idle to suppose that
none of them will provoke opposition, or only
such criticism as might lead to their amendment.
Besides the large class which timidly resists all
change, there are first the theorists, who will main-
tain that, inasmuch as houses are bought and sold,
and held as investments, they should be rs.girded
its no other light than that of property. With
these pens sus thss house is a more sacred thing
than the num for whom it was built, and whom it
stifles and stunts, with his offspring. These ob-
jectors will find leis speculative but equally stout
allies in the worshippers of the absoluteness of
private ..wnership, persons who will willingly admit
that I.l,lN:iv has its duties as well as its rights, but
who eons:der that the first iluty of every estate
is towards its !proprietor. It will be sufficient to
reply to 0...0 objectors that the absolute owner- I
ship of %%bids they dream has no existiwee in
EvOish law or En:_tlialt prActiee. Every foo, of
land in this col:. ry is held subject to pfildie
claims. It is fort Legislature to designate the
interests on le•half of which those claims shall lie
asserted ; and a full and adequate homage is paid
in this Act to the principle of private property
when the alt•entative of es oms•sesation is offered to
owssers who object to fulfil requirements made in
the name of the "ty. The principle of
this Bill is unassailable. if its details can be still
further improved after the consideration it has re-
ceived from a Select Couuisittere, SO much the
better ; but it may be hoped that nothing will
prevent its enactment this session.

TIIK intimation published by order of the
Directors of the Brighton Railway that the usual
train service of that line cannot be maintained in
its regularity, on account of a strike among the
engine-drivers and firemen, brings the effects of
the power of combination home to a class of the
public who have hitherto only known of strikes
by report. It appears that on Monday last the
men had an interview with the directors, at which
all the questions which had arisen out of the allot-
ment and distribution of labour were satisfactorily
adjusted. The negotiathms, nevertheless, broke
down upon a point which is incessantly causing
trouble wherever men am employed in large
numbers in a skilled service, and which involves
principles which may be evaded for a time, but
upon which no compromise is posaible. The men
want their advancement from a lower to a
higher rating in the Company's service, with
corresponding increase in pay, to take place
without reference to their ability, or, as they put
it, apart from the option of the locomotive
superintendent. The men say that the direc-
tors' system encourages persecution. This is a
most unbusimais-like objection, and has about
it an air of unreality. It is apparently
aimed at the recognition of superior skill and
merit as titles to superior position. No employer,
however, can entirely relinquish the principle of
selection, the application of which is tolerably sure
to be made in such a way as to reconcile the inte-
rests of both the employers and the employed.
Promotion by merit is the life and soul of
good service. We trust the difference between
the Directors and the men may soon be arranged.
It goes no further than a disagreement as to the
terms of service, and the disposition of both parties,
so far as at present appears, is good. It is satis-
factory to knew that the traffic on the main line
suffered no interruption yesterday of a nature to
cause serious inconvenience to the public, although
subjected to considerable uncertainty ; on the
branch lines, however, it was greatly disor-
ganised.

Ora expectation that the Sale of Land by Auc-
tion Bill would change its character as soon as it
came in contact with the practical good sense of
the House of Commons has been realised. The
Bill has been thoroughly reconstructed on the
principles for which we contended ; and, if passed,
will remove difficulties instead of creating them,
and assist those whom in its original form it was
calculated to ensnare. Mr. SELWYN, who has
charge of the Bill in the House of Commons, has
consented to all the amendments proposed by the
auctioneers, who, from opponents, have become
supporters of the measure.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)