The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-06-05 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES.-- LIVERPOOL, FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 1857.

In this free country of ours, popular
opinion ought to command respect, even if it was
the result of prejudice or error; but when it is
exerted for an object clearly legitimate and
right, then it behoves those who wield authority
to bow to it. There can now only he one
Abject in view on a question like this ; or at all
events there ought only to be one, namely,
public good. All are agreed that the Pike
water is discoloured and foul. Dr. HASSALL,
the eminent microscopic chemist of London, on
reporting to Government on the qualities of the
London water, says—" That the best test of the
quality of water is its colour ; that all discoloured
water, from whatever cause the discolouration
may proceed, is unsuited for human use, and
ought to be avoided."

Mr. WILLIAM EARLE now admits that the
Pike water is discoloured—much discoloured—
but he says the Water Committee are doing
their best to improve it. We believe
that Mr. EARLE has the interests of the
town of Liverpool as much at heart as
any man in or out of the Council ; that be is
a true friend to progress and liberal ideas ;
while his talents, character, and social position
are such as to command the utmost respect.
On this unfortunate water question, however,
he has, along with many others, said and done
things which, for the sake of principle, we
deeply deplore. We would much rather reckon
Mr. EARLE amongst our friends than our
opponents. And, in one sense, we deeply regret
that the very strong prejudices he has unfor-
tunately imbibed about the Pike, and the rather
unscrupulous manner in which he has been in
the habit of treating those who presumed to
demur to his dictation, should have produced
their necessary consequences—retaliation.

Let us now hope, however, that as the truth
has been made abundantly manifest—as Mr.
EARLE himself admits that the Pike water
is diccoloured, and as Dr. HASSALL has proved
that all discoloured waters are unsafe to use—
in fact, are poisonous—that he will abjure all
further connection with a faction, which has
been the means of involving the town of Liver-
pool in a contest which, for bitterness and
prostration of all that the true friends of justice
and truth value, is without a parallel in the
world's history.

Six weeks before the publication of the article
n the NORTHERN TIMES upon the alleged

insufficiency of attendance upon the sick sent
into the West Derby Workhouse, this writer
(Dr. NEN-1m) wrote to the Poor-Law Board'

.nforming them of the increase of sickness and
the necessity for additional medical attendance,

and received an official acknowledgment of
receipt, and nothing more. On the 9th of March,

t,lso alalnn.one atill inerna Qin 0% 13P nt to the
Poor Law Board a copy of the still more urgent
application which he had made to the ex officio
Guardians, the county magistrates, and this
letter also. The Poor Law Board sent an official
acknowledgment of receipt, but nothing more.
On the 28th and 29th of April, the Poor Law
Board sent an Inspector to the Workhouse,
before whom it was shown that the Guardians
had imposed such conditions in their vote for
a dispenser, that no respectable man could be
induced to take the office, and that Dr. NEvtNs
was then paying for the necesssary assistance
out of his own pocket ; and although in its
letter just published, the board records the fact,
there is not a word which implies that they
think it is the Guardians who ought to provide
it. The public will therefore form its own
opinion as to the probable result in any future
case, if the medical officer were to act upon the
injunction of the Poor Law Board in its letter,
and " confine any complaints he has to make
as to defective medical arrangements to the
prOper channels." What assistance have the
" proper channels" afforded in this instance ?
There is, however, another feature in the case,
which it is necessary to mention. On the sth
of April, Dr. NEvINS wrote to the Poor Law
Board, expressing an urgent wish that an
Inspector should be sent down to investigate
his cnarges as to the insufficiency of the medical
attendance, and enclosing copies of all the
published articles which had appeared. Of
this letter the board took no notice, and on
the 25th of April, Dr. NEVINS wrote again,
asking whether they had received it. Of this
letter also he received no acknowledgment until
the sth of May, when the board wrote to say that
they had received both his letters, but, " they
did not appear to them, under the circumstances,
to require a direct acknowledgment." Some
days, however, after Dr. NaviNs' letter of the
sth of April, the Guardians also wrote, request-
ing the visit of an Inspector, and the letter was
acknowledged immediately by the Poor Law
Board, and an Inspector, without any communi-
cation with Dr. NENTA, visited the Workhouse,
and had an interview with the Visiting Com-
mittee, and on the following Board day, he is
reported in the Mercury, of the 17th April, to
have informed the Guardians, through the
Clerk, " that he could not recommend an inquiry
with respect to the charges brought by Dr.
NEVINS rgainst the Board, the Guardians not
being amenable to the Poor Law Board for their
conduct." Four days after this exparte inter-
view, Dr. NEVINS received a letter from the
Poor Law Board containing an unqualified
expression of censure, and concluding thus—
" The Board, however, having directed an
inquiry into the medical arrangements of the
Workhouse, and into the foundation of the