The Express.
London, England, 1866-11-06 00:00:00

BRITANNIA.

Tam Emma, WHAT K. Cantons ; Mr. Ogden
"Kind Old nimbly " Paul Denliu ; muter George Perim—THE
OLD CHEEKY TREK Mrs. Lane.—And EDWARD THE
BLACK Pallier.

HIGH WATER, AT LONDON BRIDGE.
UN DIY —lloDslAg, lb. lAlt witellI001). lb. U
Talloisow—Morning. lh. 62m Aftersoon, 211. 80.

LONDON, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6.

Soma eighteen months ago, under the heading
" Self-Help at Bethnal-green," some praiseworthy

local efforts to meet a distressing local emergency
were described in these columns. Since that time
there have been several significant movements in

this great pariah, each tending to the same ends—
the fostering a sound public opinion, and the pro-
motion of social and sanitary reforms. The abeo-

_ ..
lute ignorance of West-end London concerning the
manners, customs, habits, and even situation of
such places as Bethnal-green is such that informa-
tion respecting them which does not wind up with
an appeal for charity, has the sort of freshness
which pertains to records of unexplored, or little
travelled lands. A general impression that deaths
from starvation and cruel cases of injustice con-

stantly occur ; that pauperism, long suffering, and
great hardship are the normal conditions of the
place, and that an occasional or frequent money
gift is the duty of the affluent residents in other
parishes, is common enough. But that Bethnal-
green should ever be held up as an example, or
quoted as a guide, is a contingency which, at first
sound, savoursof burlesque. Yet when Victoria-park
was threatened by the gas companies local energy
and courage sufficed to preserve it from destruc-
tion ; and other evidence is not wanting that the
district deserves something better from its neigh-
bours than an indiscriminate and half contemp-
tuous ' bestowal of alms. Even the scandals of

parochial jobbery and parochial squabbling, both
of which are painfully rife, are not without their
leaven of good ; and it is impossible to watch the
pariah closely without ascertaining that its great
want is sympathetic intercommunication with the
dwellers in other and more favoured parts of
London.

The workhouse and its management is still a
fruitful and unsatisfactory source of discussion.
When the master, whose retirement was insisted
on, finally left his post three days ago, an edifying
debate took place as to the alleged irregular dis-
posal of medical comforts, wines, spirits, and
stores. If one-half of what was insinuated at
this board meeting be true, there has been
a disgraceful misappropriation of the rate-
payers money, and though the implied charge
of larceny was treated as a joke by one sec-
tion of the guardians, though symptoms of petty
quarrelling set in directly the subject waabroached,
and though the pecuniary relations of the man
whose character was at stake, with some of the men
whose public duty it was to sit in judgment on
him, are freely spoken of as equivocal, still an
appeal made by one guardian to his fellows' sense
of decency was at last responded to, and in the
event of the Poor-law Board not stirring in the
matter, the subject will be allowed to quietly drop.
The new master was appointed some weeks ago in
this sapient fashion :—Advertisements were put
out for candidates" under forty-five years of age,
and without incumbrance." Many applications
were sent in, out of which this local board selected
a man who is some years older than the prescribed
limit, and blessed with a numerous family. But
even here it is both satisfactory and significant to
find the parish thoroughly awake to the anomaly ;
and that the more than suspected job is vehemently
denounced by local politicians who ask whether
guardians can say one thing and do another, and,
if so, whether the ratepayers have neither consola-
tion nor redress.
When the cholera first appeared here there were
manifold discussions as to the best mode of dealing
with it in the mass ; and it was at one time feared
that the differences of opinion in vestry and board-
room might result in the disease decimating the
district before an effectual means for dealing with
it had been decided on. But the cry for action
became so imperative that the authorities were
stimulated into promptitude, and accepted a
proposition made to them with an alacrity fully
justified by results. A temporary cholera hospital
was opened in Commercial-street, Bethnal-green,
for the inhabitants of Whitechapel, Spitalfields,
and Bethnal-green. The total number admitted
into this hospital from August 20th to November
2nd was 364. Of these, 243 were suffering from
undoubted Asiatic cholera, 109 from choleraic
diarrhoea, and 12 from other causes. With
one exception all the cases coming under
the two latter heads recovered, while out of
the 243 cholera cases 132 died. Cabs were
kept. waiting outside the hospital night and day,
and the instant a case of cholera was heard of were
deapatched with blankets, restoratives, and a nurse.
Mere, too, local self-help was pleasantly conspi-