The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-31 00:00:00

must depend upon the manner in which it was adminis-
tered, and he was now prepared to show that the board,
as it at present existed, had not worked for the public
advantage. This was no new opinion of his ; because
while in office, he repeated it to his colleagues on every
occasion that offered this act, couple-d with the
Nuisances Removal Act, enabled the Board of Health
to interfere with every trade in the country, and such
a power ought only to be entrusted to men who would
act with great caution, great judgment, and great for-
bearance. The Board had two powers entrusted to them,
namely, to advise as to the best sanitary measures to be
adopted, and secondly, to administer the existing law
with justice and discretion. He was prepared to show
that in neither of these cases had the present Board
given satisfaction. The noble lord then proceeded to
enumerate a number of instances where the advice of
the Board had either proved mischievous or abortive.
The noble lord condemned the constitution of the Board,

which would always be defective so long as it embraced
amateur members, or was not properly under the con-
trol of the Home-office ; and, therefore, before the end
of the next session the powers of this act, as well as
of the Nuisances Removal Act, should be thoroughly
revised. As an executive as well as an advising body
the existing Board had failed ; and since it had entirely
lost the confidence of the public it h•d become absolutely
necessary to reconstruct it. It was necessary that the
house should refuse to read this bill a second time, in
order that the Board should be reconstituted, with some
one at its head in whom the house and the public should
have confidence, and therefore we should move the usual
amendment at this period of the session, namely, that
the bill be read a second time on this day three months.
Sir B. HALL seconded the amendment.

Mr. M. MILNES supported the second reading,
and contended that the existing Board was composed
of both honest and skilful men. Mistakes they com-
mitted, no doubt—who was free from them ; but the
good they had done greatly counterbalanced the evil.
Mr. HENLEY said the Board of Health hitherto bad
wasted their time to no purpose. The fact was, they
were a cleansing board, but the manner in which they
had proposed to carry out their cleansing operations had
proved so objectionable, that in many instances the
people had preferred to remain dirty. The board had
been condemned alike by the Government and the coun-
try ; and even from the nature of this bill, it appeared
that the executive did not approve of their proceedings.
A public board could not have got into such universal
disfavour unless it had grossly mismanaged its affairs,
and believing that it retarded rather than advanced
cleansing operations, he must object to its being con-
tinued any longer in its present form. All that this
bill proposed to do was to transfer the control of the
Board from the First Commissioner of Works to the
Secretary of State for the Home Department, but that
_ _

could not remedy its defects, and the best course for the
house to pursue was to adopt the amendment. Let
there be a short continuance bill, and in the meanwhile
the Government could consider the best mode of re-
modelling the board.
Lord J. RUSSELL said it was admitted on all hands

that a board of this sort was necessary for the safety of
the public, while there appeared to be very little dif•
ference of opinion as to the powers which it should
possess ; what objection then could there be to the pro-
posal of his noble friend, which was that they should
adopt this bill, limiting its operation to twelve months,
and that next session a committee should be appointed
to inquire into the whole subject of reconstructing the
board. No doubt the existing board bad too much
despised the feeling which prevailed in the country in
favour of local self-government, but at the same time it
should not be forgotten that local authorities were occa-
sionally dispo.ed to neglect their duties, and in such
cases the board had exercise.l a very judicious influence.
In someinstances the board might have rendered itself un-
popular by its proceedings in that respect, but there were
very important matters in which the merits of the board
had been greatly overlooked. Their cholera reports
were of the highest importance, and conferred a lasting
benefit on the community, in pointing out the best man-
ner of treating that dreadful scourge, while in no less than
180 towns they had established a system of local govern.
ment for receiving the health of the people, which had
been found to work exceedingly well. It could not be
said then that the labours of the Board had proved abor-
tive • but, on the other hand, it was urged that the
Board was not composed of proper persons. He, how-
ever, could not concur in that opinion, for while no man
had done so much to benefit the poor as the Earl of
Shaftesbury, his coadjutor, Mr. Chard wick, had confer-
red great advantages on the State by his inquiries into
the poor-law, the police, and the crime of the country.
With regard to Dr. Southwood Smith, it was absolutely
necessary that there should be a medical member or the
board, and since no man was more familiar with the
proceedings of Boards of Health, he thought a better
medical member could not readily be found. Under
these circumstances he trusted the house would adopt
the limited proposal of the Government to pass this bill,
and leave it for next session to decide in what manner
the board should be permanently reconstructed.
Mr. HAYWARD added a few words in favour of
Mr. Chadwick, and read a letter from the Dean of
Ely to support his views. He stated that the medical
advisers of Mr. Chadwick had recommended him not to
remain in the board.
Mr. HUME said if the Government would under-
take to remove Mr. Chadwick, he would vote for the
bill.

Lord PALMERSTON said all the three members
had placed their resignations in the hands of the Go-
vernment, to be dealt with as they should think fit, but
with regard to Mr Chadwick, he believed the state of
that gentleman's health would not admit of his remain-
ing on the board any longer.
Sir T. D. ACLAND said, while a rod was hang-
ing over themselves, they should not press with two se-
vere a rod upon others.
The house then divided, when there appeared—•
For the second reading
Against it 74
Majority
The bill was accordingly thrown out.
MILITIA BILLS.

The Militia (No. 2), the Militia (Scotland) and the
Militia (Ireland), were considered and ordered to be
read a third time to-morrow. The Cinque Ports and
the acknowledgment of Deeds by Married Women, were
read a third time.
PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.

In reply to a question from Mr. SPOONER,
Mr. HUME stated that it was not his intention to
proceed with the motion of which he had given notice,
as follows :—" That, in the opinion of this house, it
would promote the moral and intellectual improvement
of the working classes of this metropolis, if the collec-
tions of natural history and of art, in the British
Museum, the National Gallery, and Marlborough-
house, were open to the public inspection after morning
service on Sundays, at such hours as public houses and
gin shops are allowed by law to open on those days."
The reason for his postponing it was this, he was
anxious that the -evidence of the Public House Com-
mittee should be published before he brolight it on,
and, therefore, he had no alternative but to postpone it
until next session.

ROYAL COMMISSION.
Mr. PIILMAN, the Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod,
appeared at the table, and summoned the house to
attend at the bar of the House of Peers, to hear the
Royal assent given by commission to several public and
private acts, for which see Lords' report.
The sittings were suspended at four o'clock.
The house resumed at six o'clock, and was
(LEFT BITTING.)

Mr. Wilkinson was prevented by illness from voting
on the third reading of the Bribery Bill on Friday last.