The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-09-04
DUBL|N'S SECOND
WEEK Of GAYETY
Opening of the Health
Congress.
GATHERING OF NOTED MEN
PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS THAT
MEAN MUCH.
Clancy Draws a Vivid Picture of the
Assembling of Members of
the Royal Health In
stitute.
GATHERING OF NOTED MEN
PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS THAT
MEAN MUCH.
BY j. d. CLANCY.
Correspondence of The Call.

DUBLIN, Aug. 20.-Close on the heels,
SO. to speak, of the celebration of the
Wolfe Tone anniversary has come the
meeting of the annual congress of the
Royal Institute Of Public Health of the
United Kingdom, the other leading
event of the week in Dublin. 1t is five
years since the congress assembled in
this city before. On that occasion 1t
met in Trinity College, which has now
once more thrown its doors open to its
members. In the halls and squares and
. park of the old Elizabethan foundation
a spacious and appropriate place is
found for the meeting of any body Of a
literary or scientific character, and so
every visitor must have felt. The
weather was not the very best for the
opening ceremony. A heavy downpour
of rain was succeeded by a leaden sky;
but all the more striking on that &C
count, perhaps, was the spectacle of
unlimited color and animation which
was witnessed when the time for open
ing the proceedings arrived. Carriages
came in rapid succession and deposited
within the front square all sorts of aca-
demic and municipal dignitaries in their
robes of scarlet and other colors Most
:. conspicuous among the throng, of
. course, was the Lord Mayor of Dublin
and his encourage. The Lord Mayor
rode with his secretary and chaplain
in the state coach of the city, which is
brought out only on special occasions
and was attended by the mace bearer
and the sword-bearer, who respectively
carried their ancient emblems of au-
.thority, whose origin and use are now
lost in a rather remote antiquity, for
one has to go back to the twelfth CEN
fury for their introduction on the scene
of human affairs. Besides the Lord
Mayor of Dublin there were several
other chiefs of municipalities in Eng
land and Ireland-the Lord Mayors,
namely, of Belfast and Leeds, and the
Mayors of Cork, Derry and several
70 English and Scotch cities; but these
latter were, perforce. content to be dis
tinguished by their elaborate chains of
office. When the whole crowd assem-
bled in the examination hall the scene
was a really brilliant one despite the
gloominess of the sky outside, and Dub
lin seemed once more the capital of a
nation.
The proceedings commenced with the
delivery of his address by the president
of the congress for the year, Sir
Charles Cameron, a Scotchman, who
has occupied the important position of
Medical Officer of Health and Public
Analyst to the city of Dublin. 1 have
no space here to refer in any detail TO
this address, but l may mention that
Sir Charles Cameron gave a very rose
ate but at the same time just account
of what it's corporation had done for
Dublin to improve the sanitary con-
ditions in which it's people live We
have here, thanks to that body, the
finest water supply in the world, it be-
ing derived in superabundant quantity
from the heart of the Wicklow Hills
thirty miles away. The streets have
been paved in modern fashion through
out the whole extent of the city, and
are swept every night like clockwork,
the rubbish being Immediately carried
away and eventually brought out to
sea and deposited there, while ashbins,
which are emptied into the corporation
carts, have been substituted in every
house for the ancient ashpits. Many of
the areas in which the poor dwelt in
rookeries have been cleared out and
comfortable workmep's dwellings erect
ed upon them. Several of the old
bridges which spanned the Liffey have
been removed and new structures
erected instead, one Of which-O'Con-
nell BRIDGES one of the finest of it's