The Express.
London, England, 1866-08-30 00:00:00

T and G. UMPSON, Tailor. and Outfitters,
iv • 1 aM S, Mnootetrast, LaCigterdqUare• W.. Me out
11110111601111 host of aora CLOTHING reedy nada.
bura Knickerbocker aldta
leen antneoes Sulfa 2ll. to 40a.
Gams °moods l4a. to Ma.
Suitable for all tkate

,AND SEE THE SHOW
.1.4.i1eg L oij viowsipmeiitb! mop wthdow, and select
A a. and G. EtAm rai,eB, Tama, and gnaw.;
mAlVlthkowilasfotakmAirsatAre. W.

AP WHAT?—After Melon's Promenade
may, LTANW to sop. We shall meet there.

/Mt eVarrtraOS•

TO OOLEESTONDENTS.
Advertisements Intended for "The name," tondos Evening
Paper. matt be at the Office, 10, Bouverte4treet, b Two
o'doch on the day of yaltheskiess

PZIMMOBS.

THIS EVENING, TITS IieQUINOT CAPTAIN. Mesas. Vining.
and 0. Honey• Misses Nslison, Awasta Thomson, and Mrs.
Stating.—And Win LODOLIIOII

BIZTANNIA.

T 979 ISVZIMIG, THE MUTINY AT TVS Nei—Nr. P.
Evan& lON Itosalind& Mtn lattattr ; Mr. H. • YR. C.
Woodman; Master E. deadars.—And JACK ICED MK
LONDON STREW BOY.

WATIM AT LONDON MUD=
Tens DAY —Nonni, Os an Ananias. as MA
Taliaisiow—Morung, as. lan Atlas. ft. Um

LONDON, THURSDAY, AUGUST 30.

THE health organizations for the metropolis,
strengthened as they have lately been by the
Sanitary Act of 1866, embody an amount of exe-
cutive power such as probably has never been
granted for any other purpose connected with the
public interest. The Privy Council, admirably
advised by some pf the most advwced representa-
tives of medical science, has much more than re-

placed the General Board of Health, which exp'red
in 1858. Its acquaintance with the public need,
and its power of rapid action, is much greater than
that which was possessed by the defunct body.
Under the " Nuisances Removal and Diseases
" Prevention Acts," and notably by the " Sanitary

" Act," the Veetrie3' —now for the first time charged

with the care of the healthy and the clispoeition
of the Nick—are provided with aimed deapo-

tic power in dealing with the necessities
of their particular districts. In examining
into hygienic conditions, and in aiding the Vestries
with scientific information, the able body of medi-
cal officers of health is daily rendering most im-

.
portent service. It requires no stretch of the
imagination to believe that the present lull in the
progress of cholera is due to a large extent to the
working of this powerful machinery. We have,
therefore, good cause to congratulate ourselves
upon the sanitary progress of the metropolis, and
to look hopefully forward to an ever-increasing
amount of protection from preventible disorder.
Whilst, however, we recognize these advantages

and allow the fullest credit to their source, we are

met by a deficiency so startling that we are tempted

at first to overlook the benefits, and see only that
in some moat important particulars so elaborate
a scheme has utterly failed. In the east
of London we note that cholera has spread

with a rapidity completely overwhelming any
local efforts to arrest its progress, and producing
an amount of distrait which the whole country is

now being called upon to relieve. How is this
apparent paradox to he explained?
It seems to us that we need not look far for a
solution of this question. The organizations for
health to which we have referred are complete and
ample, so far as the duty of dealing with the more
common forms of disease is concerned. The
ravages of typhus, scarlatina, smallpox, and corre-
sponding forms of symotic disorder, whose course,
as a rule, is comparatively slow, can be kept in
check with tolerable certainty by the arrangements
described, if only they be properly carried out.
It is when we have to deal with a disease like
cholera, which fastens suddenly upon a limited lo-
cality, and attacks hundreds at the same instant of
time, that we find our powers, however great, unequal
to the emergency. And it is not difficult to fore-
see that in the nature of things under the exist-

ing system of local self-government this must
always be the case. If, when a fire broke out in
one portion of our city, the machinery contained
in that particular district were alone capable of
being employed in an attempt to extinguish it,
we should ace that happen daily with regard to
conflagrations which has chanced recently in res-
pect to cholera in East London. In this matter,
however, our arrangements are infinitely more
appropriate. The outburst of a fire is the signal
for the concentration upon the spot, if necessary,
of the whole fire brigade of the metropolis. If we
were to deal with a fire as we deal with cholera
we should send to it the one or two

parish engines which happened to be available,
and afterwards appeal to the country for help
towards alleviating the distress which the timely
help of the brigade in general would have abso-
lutely prevented. Cholera is much too powerful
an enemy fur one parish successfully to contend
against. To employ another illustration :it would
be quite as reasonable, in the event of this country
being invaded, to expect the regiment nearest to
the spot to repel the enemy, as to look for victory
at the hands of a single parish.
Those portions of the ne:tropolis which are pe-
cuniarily the least able to afford the outlay for
adequate resistance are precisely those most liable
to attacks of cholera. It is the want of money
. more than any other cause that has prevented
our eastern parishes taking those steps by which
alone cholera can be efficiently opposed. In
matters of hygiene we require co-operation. Those
parts of our city which are happy in
escaping an epidemic visitation must help to
furnish the means by which their less
fortunate neighbours may be protected. The ex-
posures which have lately taken place in reference I
to the treatment of the sick poor in workhouse
infirmaries all point to the same necessity. The
need, however, is still greater in reference to sani-
tary provisions. And those who feel inclined to
demur to the idea of an uniform rating should
remember that in the protection of the weaker
parts of the metropolis the question of general
safety is involved—immunity for the rich as well
as the poor. If the subject be regarded from this
point of view, it will be seen to be one, not of
abstract sentiment, but directly affecting the secu-
rity of the public.
There is one quarter of London which furnishes
a good illustration, on a small scale, of the ad-
vantages of this kind of co-operation. The parish
of St. Giles's is a very poor one. Unaided,
it would be able to take but very limited
precautions against a cholera outbreak. It is con-
joined, however, with that of St. George's,
Bloomsbury, which, by contrast, is exceedingly
opulent. Owing to this conjunction, St. Giles's
finds itself at the present time in possession of some
of the best concerted organisations to be found
in the whole metropolis. It is one of the very few
parishes where, without as yet any serious alarm
from the presence of cholera, a hospital with 40
. beds is already prepared. The able officer of
health, Dr. BoCNANAN, who is also one of the
foremost members of the Privy Council staff, has
established in St. Giles's a system which may serve