The Express.
London, England, 1866-11-08 00:00:00

trite erpreoo.

TO CORRESPONDSNTS.
,dvertiletatata Intended for lb* kixpetwa," London Moaning
paw, mast be at the Otlke, 10, nouvariooaron, by Two
o'clock oa the day of publication.

DRURY LANS
TRW IMMO, FAUST. Mr. ?helps, Mesas. E. Phelps, W.
garrison, H. Yandesho sad J. Johnstone Mrs. Herman
Veda and Miss Poole.—And THE COMEDY OF ERRORS.
The Brothers Webb.

PRINCESS%
Two worms, THE TRIPLI ALLIANCIL—After which THE
HIIGIIIINOT CAPTAIN. Meows. J. G. Shore & Mousy ; Mires
Edison, Augusts Mamas. wad Mrs. &IMAM.

ILATMARKET.
THis EVININCI, A Ballet Divertissement. The Misses Healey.—
A DANGEROUS FRIEND. Mesas. C. Mathews, Howe, Kendal,
die.; Mesdames C. Mathews, Chippetidale, dd. —THR CRITIC.
Mr. C. Mathews.—And A KIBB IN TUE DARK. Mr. Clark.

LI
Two ammo, BRUTUS AND CESAR. Miss Henrsde.—And
THE LONG STRIKE. Messrs. D. BowiesMt, Emery, WiMilicomb,
C , /M. •, Mrs. D. Boucle:salt —CowelutUng with TWEEDLE-
i= TAIL COAT. Mr. 11. Widdteumb.—Commesee at 7.

STRAND.
TM &IMMO, IN THE WRONG BOR.—ST.& FRIISCHCTZ ;
OE. A GOOD CAST FOB A PIECE.—And BOOTS AT TILE
SWAN.

HOLBORN.
TVI Win s% at 7. LARKIN'S LOVE LEFERRS. Mr. Bel-
lmore and Mir C. Sanaders.—And FLYING SCUD. Messrs.
Neville, Delmore, Blake, Voltaire, do. ; Mesdames F. Josephs,
C. Saunders, Beadle Foote, Addeo, Lennox, Raymond, B.c.

BRITANNIA.
TEO warms, WHAT IS 111-511aa K. Cardona; Yr. Ogden.
"Mud Didnaddy , " Paul Dentin Muter 011071111
OLD CHERRY TREE. Mrs. Lane.—And KDWARD THE
BLACK PRIEM

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
TRW DAY —Morning, 211. Min Afternoon. Th. 42en.
To-MoitAoW—Mcaulng, Id 68m AitagnoOni, U. 15in.

LONDON, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8.

Tire Poor-law Medical Officers' Association has
for its primary object the protection of its mem-
bers. It claims, however, to act in the interests
of the public and the poor, and passes searching
criticisms on the action of guardians and the policy
of the Poor-law Board. It may be that these
criticisms are occasionally tinged with professional
bias, and the opponents of parochial reform have
already stigmatized the Association as " a Trade
" Union." But the sneer is an unfair one, for the
whole tenor of its action has been in the direc-
tion called for by the highest authorities, and in
the publicity of its meetings and the directnesa
of its aims the public have some guarantee that
clam interests are not being unduly pressed. One
of the chief points discussed at its recent quarterly
meetingwaa the propositionto create resident medi-
calofficers for the metropolitan workhouses,and the
spirit in which it had been received by some loaf
boards. When this reform was originally sug-
gested it was in the hope that a resident medical as-
sistant might be appointed for each union, underthe
present doctors, who would preserve their position
and pay their visits as heretofore. But what was
intended as a benefit to the sick pauper has been
eagerly seized upon by some guardians as a plea
for taking additional power into their hands, and
for vindictively punishing doctors who have shown
unpleasant fancies for reform.
The proposal to appoint a resident doctor would
seem in these instances to have been accepted with
alacrity, and the new post offered prospectively to
the actual medical officer with the conviction that
it would be declined. To offer a hundred a year
and residence in a workhouse for the exclusive
services of a professional man in good general
practice is a tolerably certain mode of ensuring a
refusal ; so that tho practical result of this
apparent acquiescence in workhouse reform
would have been an arrangement in which the
present staff of union surgeons would have gone
to the wall. Worse than this, as the men ap-
pointed in their stead would have drawn their sole
income front parochial sources, the guardians
would have had supreme power, and the doctors
been at their mercy. The effect of this change
upon the welfare of paupers may be estimated
from the tone of the discussions of Tuesday
evening. In every instance quoted the subject of
dispute between gnardiauts and their doctors was
on the question and cost of diet and medical
comforts. " I know how to reduce tho mortality
" in my workhouse," said ono gentleman (and his
professional brethren present warmly acquiesced),
" and I know how to increase it. It's all a guts-
" tion of diet ; and as I can't get my guardians to
" feed the old and infirm sufficiently, I put them
"on the sick-list that I may have the right of
" prescribing them extras.' " It was pertinently
argued that a doctor dependent solely
upon his workhouse stipend for bread would be
less likely to incur this necessary but greatly de-
precated expense, and the plain inference that the
paupers of his parish would die of starvation but
for his bold interpretation of the law was accepted
without doubt or cavil by men whose personal
experience and professional knowledge make their
testimony indisputable.
The power to dismiss a parochial medical officer
has, however, since 1835 been carefully vriiitheld
from the guardians, on the recommendation of a
committee of the House of Commons, which re-
ported thus :—" Every medical officer appointed
" should continue in office until he may die, re-
" sign, or become legally disqualified to hold such
"office, or be removed by the Poor-law Board." It is
clear, therefore, that unless the central authority
takes upon itself the responsibility of formally dis-
charging the present medical officers, no creation
of new poets gives the guardians power to dismiss
them. The Association advises that the resident
assistant should occupy an analogous position to
the resident medical officer of a provincial hos-
pital, should attend to all cases of emergency,
keep the books, and dispense the medicines, and,
under certain prescribed conditions, be the subor-
dinate of the regular doctor of the union. How
far this view will be adopted rests with the Poor-
law Board and the guardians of the different
parishes ; but it is clear that no decided course
will be pursued without close scrutiny and public
examination. And here the usefulness of such
associations as the ono under discussion becomes
very apparent. The first communications of the
Poor-law Board with the guardians on
the subject of appointing a resident me-
dical officer were sufficiently ambiguous to
puzzle those to whom they were addressed,
and some medical officers felt they might be sacri-
ficed by an adverse vote from men whose preju-
dices it had been their bounden duty to offend.
The Poor-law Board, too, was thought to be in
some difficulty as to its most prudent course ; with
a powerful section of society pressing for reforms
on the one hand, and with a policy which should
conciliate guardians and increase political capital
tempting Mr. HARDY on the other. Between
these two stools the medical officers, and through
them the paupers, might have come to the ground,
but for the action of the Association and the com-
ments of the press. There is now little fear, that
this particular injustice will be inflicted ; and as
lung as the Association can rest its claims to sup-