The Express.
London, England, 1867-12-07 00:00:00

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TO 0011.11ISPONDENTS.
ntvetlientwets intended for "The rese," London Profane
=mat be at the Moe, 10, bouvtaie-stavet, by Two
en the day publication

URI/EY-LANE.

TIM Beetriee, THE 50016FVBWICK Mr. Phelps, Messrs.
LC. Cowper, IL K Phelps, Barrett, Temple, lee Stra
Hermann Yeah', Miss Grattan,rte.—And TIM LADIES CLIJR
Mesdames Beatrix Shirley, Kate Ilartkar, H. Vaadenhoff, dtc.

BATH AMERY.

Tin ZVISING, THS WII•7I7I3OZARD. Mr. Compton
BROIII6Ii SAM. Mesa", &Ahern, Buekstone, Compton, John-
son, eta. • Msciames t hippendale, Robertson, Lewin, ao.—And
MY WilkB MOTHER. Messrs. Chippendale and Howe.

PRLSCEMS.

TUB HeEnna, A LITTIE lbli.TATlON.—After which THE
COLLEE HAWN. Moan Bench:milk D. Murray, L Atkios, U.
Neville, J. G. Shore, H. Mellon, Re. ; Mrs. Booc.itsultot Mimes
Barnett and Elsworthy.—And NO. ONE ROUND THE CORNER.

LYCEUM.
THIS EVIII7IIO. PERFECTION. 9lss Maud Shelley.—And
ROMEO AND JULIET. Mews. W. Lacy and &yder ; Miss
Vsstvall, Mrs. Manton, and Was !illy ?slaw.

eramirD.

TWIN true lie, NOTHING TO NURSE. Mr. Thorne and Mita
Ile ton.—K IND TO A FAULT. Mews. Passel*, Belford, and
tunes: Mewlarnes Johnstone, Owynne, and liughes.—And
WILLIAM TELL WITH A VINGSANCE.

HOLBORN.

Tins Esintnid, FOE LOTH. Mesas. 11. J. Montag** Price,
Garden, Westland, and H. Wlddlcoreb: Hamdenles Stephens,
If enrade. C. Saunders, ad—And MILEY TUENEE, ; OH, THE
W1C101.78 WILLIE. Miss Josephs.

IiTTANIRA.

Tura Eraanea, Messrs. lay-
°old', Bell, tc ; Mrs. S lane.—Mr. R. Fruer ; Mr. Mark Fl d
Mr. and Mra Langan and Mr. J. llillteeut—CAPTALN OERALD.
Mora Lowe, Charltoa, Ice ; Mesdames Courtuay, Booth, Se.

HIGH W Aria AT LONDON GRIMM
HMI GAY —Horning, 103 10m.... —Afternoon, Ioh. 43m.
ge.monow—Mornizig, Ilb. ALL

LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7.

LORD DZVON'S promise to ask for enlarged
powers for the Poor-law Board was alloyed by
compliments to the present system of inspection.
According to his lordship, the country has but to
extend the operations of the department in the
crrection in which they are already worked, to re-
medy evils which are admitted to be scandalous
and disgraceful. We take leave to dispute this
flattering conclusion. The Poor-law Board stands
convicted of shortcomings which are as grievous
in their results as anything yet proved against the
guardians ; and while it is proper to seek and to
grant sufficient authority to those entrusted to
carry out the law, we must also insist that respon-
sibility shall be made definite, and that neither
official reticence nor official etiquette shall be per-
mitted to screen men to whose laxity the suffer-
ings and tortures of our aged and infirm prupers
are directly due. It is admitted that the law as
it stands is consistently violated, and abun-
dant evidence is at hand that the represen-
tatives of the Poor-law Board hrve failed to
enforce its regulations. But it is not so clear
that this failure has only arisen after repeated
efforts have been unsuccessful; and in more than
one instance the guardians have retorted upon the
Board that existing evils are due to the placid
indifference with which applications for assistance
and advice have been met. It is stated, for
example, that the condition of the Bedminster
Union, concerning which the most shocking dis-
closures have been recently made, was originally
reported to Whitehall by a guardian. That is,
the duty of the Inspector of the district was dis-
charged by one of the people he was appointed
and paid to check. This functionary was then
ordered by the Poor-law Board to examine,
and report, into the allegations against
himself ; and not unnaturally declared
everything to be right and proper. Some
time later the medical adviser of the Poor-
law Board paid this Union an official visit, and re-
ported that the supply of cebic air to the sick
wards was horribly insufficient, but either did not
discover, or thought proper to avoid all mention
of, the disgusting details since brought to light.
We have heir, by the way, a proof that " the
" medical knowledge " which has been insisted on
in some quarters as a panacea for existing evils is
not infallible, and that even professional inspec-
tion, as conducted now, will not secure us from
the scandals which any alteration in the Poor-law
must be framed to prevent. But it is further
stated—and this representative case seems to
' furnish a solution to the c'oud of difficulties with
which many others are surrounded—that Dr.
SMITH'S report never went beyond the Poor-law
Board and its officers, and that the guardians only
heard of its existence after amateur inspection had
been followed by painful publicity. If this dis-
graceful story be well founded—and it is for
' the House of Commons to teat its truth—it is
quite plain that official action was rendered use-
less by official obstructiveness ; and it is time to
ask on whose shoulders the burden of continued
cruelty to the Bedminster paupers lies. If it
be true also that the reports made by the
Inspectors to tha Poor-law Board on the condition
of the workhouses in their several districts never
went beyond the permanent secretary for years, and
have been attended to or neglected as that official
thought best, some heavy arrears of explanation
are due to the public. It is quite clear that the time
for amateur discoveries and official hushing up has
passed by, and that any measure of Poor-law re-
form to be successful must ensure the fitting exer-
cise of official powers as well as an enlargement of
the powers themselves. The country is sick of
departmental inquiries into facts it is folly to
dispute; and our crying want is, not further infer-
mation concerning patent evils, but a mode of
grappling with them which should be reasonable
and satisfactory. Some reformers maintain
that it will be found necessary to consiltute
an officer of each workhouse directly re-
sponsible to the Poor-law Board, and enact