The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-26

| A decree of divorce has been granted
in London against the American ac-
tress Fanny Ward, of st. Louis. on
the petition of her husband, Joseph
Lewis, the wealthy South African.
rhe suit was undefended.
! Mrs. Lewis has appeared in many
| ,lays. both in Europe and America.
| Her collection of jewels is one of the
| most famous in England.
........................ .................s...sss.,
| thing that the only work this body does
| is to look after the lunatics of the met
| ropolitan area But 1t does very much
more than that and is an extremely I'M
portant factor in the public health of Lon
DON. 1t has established and administers
| all the infectious diseases hospitals IN
/ London. There are over dozen of them
| for fever patients, and there are three
] smallpox hospitals. The river ambulance
| service is under its control, it has seven
| land ambulance stations, controls the
| training ship Exmouth which is moored
| off Grays, and possesses several children S
| schools and homes. One of these is for
| sick and debiltated children. two are for
| ophthalmia cases, one is for ringworm
| cases, three are seaside homes for chill
| dren, and there are several homes for
| defective children and remand homes,
This board is the body to which noti-
+, fication OF infectious diseases has to
be made. and its promptness in at
| tending TO these cases and seeing to their
. isolation and proper treatment has often
| saved London from what otherwise might
have been serious epidemies. There 'is
no town in England where zyanotic dis
| ease is so well and persistent1y tackled
as in London. Although there are -
| local health authorities and 81 boards OF
guardians there is. thanks to the ex-
| istence OF this board, complete unity
| of effort In stamping out infectious dis
| eases. The members of the board are
| selected, not elected. and there. are those
who attribute its efficiency to this very
fact. The various boards of guardians
nominate proportion and the local gov
| ernment board also nominates members.
| No person is directly elected to the
board. Experience has proved that the
work is much better done than II It
had been left to the 81 boards of guar
| dians.
| The Water Board
The process of selection Is also fol-
| lowed in the composition of the met
ropolitan water board. This board is
responsible for the supply of water to
| the district known as Water Lon =
4
county of London. There are some who
| argue that 1t ought to be abolished and
| the control of water put under the
| county council, but that is manifestly
| impossible because the county council
| does not cover the necessary area The
body is not elected and yet has sue
| ceeded in giving London what is prob
ably the purest water supply possessed
l by any big city in the world. The boa rd
| consists of 66 members, who are nom
| mated by the various local authorities
in the area for which it has to supply
| water. There may be complaints as to
| the price which had to be paid to buy
| out the old water companies, but there
are none and can be none, against the
efficiency with which the board does
its work. Had the progressives of the
| county council of some years ago had
| their way. London water would prob
ably have been much dearer than it is
They had an idea that London ought
| to go to Wales for its water supply
But the water board, consisting of men
who have become experts in the work
| and have taken care to get the best
| advice possible, have found a way Of
keeping the supply up to a first class
standard, and we are now told that to
Ego to Wales or anywhere else would be
| wasteful. The water board has dscov-
| cred the great secret of pure water
supply. Every Londoner knows that to-
| day London water is much softer than
| it used to be and that 1t is much purer.
| Yet 1t comes from the same sources
as before, and the increase in the pop
| ulation of the Thames valley did not
make the problem of publication easier.
| BY experimenting the water board dis
| covered that the greatest purifying
agent was nature herself and that il
water were only stored long enough it
would not only get rid of its lime de-
posits which made il hard, but of all
other impurities as well. That is why
| the water board has built and is con-
| tinuing to build huge reservoirs for
storage. Incidentally, this is also pro-
lection against water famine. The
temptation of an elected body would
have been to advocate picturesque
schemes, but the practical men of the
water board have found better and
cheaper way.
| Better Than Men Elected
| The members of the port OF London