The Express.
London, England, 1866-08-17 00:00:00

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must be at the °Mee, 10, houverte-etreet, b 7 Two
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Tills EVENING, THE HUGUENOT CAPTAIN. MOMS. Vining,
sad G. Honey; Wanes Nathan. Auguaaa Thomson, and lin.
infrUng.—And QUIET LODGINGS.

BRITANNIA

TIM Emma, JACKIII.,)O,CHE LONDON ATRIET
ROY; 011, TRY AGAIN. Mr. Rays°lda ; Mn. Yarnold.
Mr. F. Evans &MI Amy Rosalind; Mr. C. Brown; Mlw Lydia
Wham ; Master It Sanders—Mb JOLLY DOOR OF LONDON.

MON WATER AT LONDON !RIME.

TN DAl—Morntng, elf. em Afternoon. all. Elm.
Toatosiow—uorniog, ah. 44m Afternoon, 73 nan.

- - - --
LONDON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 17.

Tits ample reports just published on the con- I
dition and discipline of the workhouses of Padding-
ton
and Rotherhithe enable the public to form its
own judgment on the charges made. There can
be no reason why the result of every inquiry insti-
tuted by the Poor-law Board should not be simi-
larly made known. Few people are aware of the
multitude or importance of the cases which are
year by year made the subject of official investi-
gation, and where the verdict having been neatly
docketed in a departmental pigeon-hole, and
formally communicated to the guardians, is con-
sidered to end the matter. In the glaring instarces
of RICHARD Cosier and TIVOTHY Date the
public were fully informed ; but we could cite
others of equal importance, in which, after an ela-
borate public inquiry, the Poor-law Commissioner's
report has never travelled farther than
the secretariat, or perhaps the President's desk.
Witnesses have been examined and cross-
examined on oath, and seriously damaging
statements refuted or confirmed ; the metropolitan
inspector has performed judicial functions with
gravity and care, and the whole proceedings have
been reported in the newspapers without the pub-
lic over learning their effect. In other instarcee
the rule is to make the inquiry practically confi-
dential, and the correspondence of the parish
board-room, and the mysterious archives of White-
hall, alone show that it has been held. We submit
that this is not merely radically wrong in principle,
but essentially impolitic. The public having been
kept in comparative darkness for years, are now
determinedly clamouring for light. The only thing
connected with the Poor-law Board which is
dearly understood is that it has broken
down ; that the vast sum voted annually
for its maintenance has produced no ade-
quate result ; and that its cumbrous machinery and
thoughtfully-devised regulations have fallen mise-
rably short of the end they were designed to com-
pass. The wise and just provisions of the Metro-
politan Homeless Poor Act would never have been
enforced if independent and watchful observers
had not taken the matter up. The condition of
the sick poor in our workhouses would have con-
tinued to excite spasmodic indignation out of
doors, and official reprimands barren of result, but
for the organized inquiries of our contemporary
the Lancet, and the efforts of the Society which
dates its origin from the revelations made.
Readers of this journal need not be reminded
of the callous, shameless defiance of the law
we have dragged to light in various parishes from
time to time. But for the resolute determina-
tion of a few zealous thinkers and the consistent
support given them by the country, the condition
of the metropolitan pauper would be as hopeless,
the attitude of parish guardians as arrogant, and
the efforts of the officials created and paid for
controlling guardians as fruitless as ever. The
departmental breakdown is admitted on all hands,
and while few readers may care to weigh out and
apportion blame, all are anxious for an effective
remedy. We believe full publicity would be a
step in this direction. We want to pierce behind
the veil of official etiquette, and to ascertain ex-
actly what has been done in return for the
amount annually voted by the country, how much
labour has been shirked, and how much misap-
plied. Let us have more official returns, and -a
copious supply of reports. The relations of the
central authority with the different metropolitan
parishes for the last few years, for example, would
be full of interest. The number of complaints
preferred against each board, the number confirmed
or found frivolous after inquiry, the steps taken
to prevent a recurrence of proved evils, the ad-
vice given by the Poor-law Board, and the steps
taken to see that advice adopted, the opposition
roused, and the means tried to allay it, should be
all made clear.

For it must be remembered that the guardians
have their countercharges against the officials, and
many plausible dories are abroad concerning con-
tradictory and confusing as well as weak and vacil-
lating policy. Proceedings are referred to and
letters quoted, in which the " Poor-law Board "
have arrived at decisions or proffered counsels
widely opposed to the public opinions of its Pre-
sident, and it is now generally understood that the
evils arising from inadequate legal powers have
been hugely aggravated by the petty game of cross
purposes played within official walls. This is only
important as it affects the general issue. It is
the able performance of the national business
rather than the personal convenience or anti-
pathies of officials or ministers which is interesting
to the public, and in this sense Mr. FAIINALL'S
summary removal to a provincial district may
turn out to be a blessing in disguise to the cause
of reform. It at least opens out a field for in-
quiring exactly what the metropolitan inspector's
duties have been, and how he has performed them.
It is not enough to know that the independent
workers for parochial reform pronounce him to be
zealous, enlightened, and humane. The public
naturally wishes to judge for itself, and
shrewdly comparing the amateur certificate of
merit, with the recent removal by Mr. HARD,
and the lamentable condition of the Lostion
wd-khouses, asks that the discrepancy between
"'praise and pudding" shall be explained away.
The opportunity of informing the country should