The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-13 00:00:00

THE CHOLERA.

Yesterday, at a meeting of the committee, the
Lord Mayor presiding, grants were made to the
amount of £350 in all, viz., to Poplar, £lOO ; St.
Nicholas, Deptford, £lOO, with nine gallons port
wine ; Mile-end Old Town, £lOO, and a similar
quantity of port ; the Rev. Dr. Cappel, for the
poor Germans who had suffered from the disease,
125 ; and the Aldersgate Dispensary, £25. Besides
the Lord Mayor, the members of the committee
present were Sir Mordaunt Wells, - Rev. F. G.
Bloinfield, Mr. 11. W. Ripley, lir. R. N. Fowler,
Mr. Richard Hoare, and Mr. Robert Wigram.
The following is the official return of deaths from
cholera and diarrhoea registered on Tuesday, 11th
Sept.:—

Cholera. .Diarrhco I.

West districts
North districts
1.,,,ntral districts
.bast districts
SOUtII districts

Total in London ... ... 2—J3

The Metropolitan Poor Law Medical Office: s.

-+- --

The Association of the Poor. Law Medical Officers
of London have had under their consideration the
report of Dr. Smith upon the London Workhouse
Infirmaries, and have just issued an elaborate criti-
cism upon this remarkable document. In the first
place, the • medical officers controvert Dr. Smith's
opinions with respect to the minimum of cubical and
floor space, and. they say if the space given by Dr.
Smith were to be taken in opposition to the opinion
and experiments of eminent men in all parts of the
world the London hospitals might be called upon to
house three times as many patients as they now find
room for. With respect to Dr. Smith's experiments,
the medical officers show that wards cannot withsoo
cubical feet of space to each patient be properly ven-
tilated, for the amount of air requisite to be kept
passing through the wards would be injurious in the
highest degree to all the patients, and even fatal to
the subjects of bronchitis, pneumonia, and kidney
disease, and many other diseases commonly Seen in
workhouse wards. The only point upon which the
medical officers agree with Dr. Smith, is in his ad-
mission that there is a necessity for the abolition of
pauper nursing, but they consider that more paid
nurses than the number laid down by Dr. Smith are
necessary. Nearly all the nursing, if it may be so
called in the London workhouse was carried out
until very lately by paupers, who had an extra ra-
tion of beer or gin for the performance of this respon-
sible duty, and even now night nurses are unknown
in many Loudon workhouses, where there are several
hundred sick and infirm. At present there are
about 130 paid nurses distributed over the 40 me-
tropolitan workhouses, and of those nearly one-half
have been appointed for the first' time during the
last year. Dr. Smith considers that 130, more are
immediately needed, making 260 altogether for the
day and night superintendence of at least. 6,000 ac-
tually sick persons. The Poor-law medical officers
say, in conclusion, that they. " cannot refrain from
an expression of deep regret, and even pain, that
they should have been under the necessity of reflect-
ing upon the fairness and sound judgment of their
confrere, the medical officer to the Poor Law Board.
They cannot, however, but feel that while his report
is in many respects wanting in justice to' the medi-
cal officers as a body, they also have• reason, from
facts brought to their knowledge, to object to the
manner in which some, at least, of his personal in-
spections were conducted ; and the persistency, and
in some instances the scant courtesy, with which his
peculiar views as to cubic space and ventilation
were pressed upon individual medical officers.
They regret that he should have so completely
ignored the extreme difficulties, disadvantages, and
discouragements under which medical officers have
hitherto laboured iu carrying out their arduous and
ill-requitted duties. Finding themselves now, for
the first time, openly consulted upon questions of
management and hygiene, and the Poor-law Board
having manifested a disposition to open afresh those
general principles which they had previously laid
down as guides, by calling for the opinions of the
medical officers, they cannot consent without pro-
test to see their opinions uncourteously dismissed as
of no value because they do not agree with those of
Dr. Smith. They appeal with confidence against the
unfavourable verdict he has given, without adequate
knoWledge of the extremely unsatisfactory nature of
their position for many years past to the judgment
pronounced by Mr. Farnall iu his report, which runs
as follows :---‘ Upon the whole, I am enabled with
satisfaction to report to you that the medical officers
of the metropolitan workhouses appear to me to do
their duty to the best of their ability ; but lam
obliged to add that in many instances their duties
are very arduous, and their salaries inadequate.'"
This report is signed by Dr. Rogers, the president,
Dr. Andrews, Mr. C. M. Frost, Mr. T. Godrich,
and Dr. T. Orme Dudfield.

The sum of £37,000, including 4,000 sovereigns,
was taken to the Bank of England yesterday.

REFORM MEETING AT NORWIC-11.—A. Reform
" demonstration" took place at Norwich on Monday
evening, Mr. Edmond Beales being the lion of the evening.
Mr. Beales was met at the Victoria station of the town by
a few of the Radical politicians of the town, and was es-
corted through the principal streets by a procession, the
general object of the promoters of the gathering being evi-
denced by the motto on one of the banners displayed,
"reform, and no more shuffling." In the evening Mr.
Beales attended a meeting in the Corn-exchange, which
was pretty well filled, although the building was never
crowded. The attendance on the platform was almost en-
tirely restricted to the Radical section of the Norwich
Liberals, a fact which is not at all surprising seeing that the
resolutions adopted nem. con. declared for residential regis.
tared manhood suffrage protected by the ballot. Mr.
Bealos, who was, of course, received, addressed
the meeting. He appears, however, to have fairly talked
himself hoarse; in fact, he does not seem to possess either
the physical strength or the oratorical powers requisite for
a popular speaker. The meeting closed amid some con-
fusion, some persons having succeeded in creating a
considerable amount of discord, although the exact cause
of the disturbance was not very intelligible.

RFEORM DEMONSTRATION.—On Monday after-
noon a demonstration of the Reformers of the North
Staffordshire district was made at Hanley, the central town
of the Potteries. Processions were organised in each of the
neighbouring towns, and, headed by nine brass bands,
paraded the principal streets and marched into the market-
square, where an immense open air meeting was held, under
the presidency of Mr. James Macintyre, manufacturer, of
Burslem. Various estimates were made as to the number
present; according to the imagination of the political bias of
those by whom the computation was made—some placing
it as high as 40,000, while others fixed it as low as 10,000.
A candid observer, remembering that the entire population
of the district represented is about 150,000, would say there
were from 15,000 to 20,000 assembled when the meeting
commenced. Most of the speakers advocated manhood
suffrage as the ultimate object to be attained, while they
expfessed themselves willing for the preient to accept any
measure of reform that might be proposed by Earl Russell,
Mr. Gladstone, and the other members of the lato Govern-
ment. The resolutions condemned the "comPkve
exclu-
sion" of the working classes from all share in theeflirefermin,
ment, regretted the rejection of the late me
pledgingdeiaads theof
the
people meeting never e tom
Mr. John
of the meeting to Lord Russell, Mvitho d
had manfully and
Bright, Mr. J. S. Mill, and other:d%
ecte,aas
and
d agitationde.tn.d seatoresunctii:ltihtehteh
ajnuks just
defended the rights of
ably vindicated the character
werea all carried unanimously,
the people. The resolutions
tnhge
another e -
building calculated
andmen the
named meeting
fo
th concluded o lt tired evmdp wuo
ssiiit
meeting was held in thhieh
was
nearly
filled, although
-to hold about 2,000, w music-hall,
a
ad-
mission was by is. tickets. Gilman presided. Letters
were received
inn the follov,ing
thengetlemen among others
ho was prevented by special and unexpected
fell M.P., Iv
who bad been ted to attend meeting i—Mr. Gren-
eng'agement, and who disapproved the resolution thanking
Earl Russell in consequence of his lordship having at-
tempted to pass an abortive measure of reform - reform in
his (Mr. Grenfell's) opinion being useless without vote by
ballot ; from Mr. B. P.ope, M.P., whose "existing arrange-
ments" prevented him visiting llauley at present; from
Sir E. M. Buller, M.P., who deemed it inexpedient as a
general rule to attend meetings which did not embrace the
county or a division of the county, and who thought that
the strong resolutions to be proposed might embarrass him
w
and compromise him with his rural constituents if
ho
he at-
tendedse the meeting ; from Mr. Adderley, M.P.,
duties at the Colonial-office would prevent him visiting
Hanley till Thursday, when he had to attend a public din-
ner there; from Mr. W. S. Allen, M.P., and, from Mr. E.
Betties, the latter of whom had an engagement at a Reform
meeting at Norwich. the same day. The resolutions passed
in the afternoon were also unanimously adopted iu the
evening, when the speakers included the Rey. Henry
Downes, of Longton, the Rev. A. M. Hall, of Manchester,
L and Mr. Rusden, merchant, Manchester.