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154 Parliamentary Intelligence. NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS. The Public Health Acts. IN the course of a debate in the House of Lords on Tuesday, June 30th, Lord Russell of Killowen, Lord Chief Justice of England, said that the subject of sewers and drains, and the responsibilities in connexion with them as a branch of the Public Health Acts, was in a most confused condition-so much so that he should have no difficulty in pointing out cases in the Queen’s Bench division impossible to reconcile one with another. He suggested for the consideration of the Government whether the time had not arrived for putting into one Act, in consoli- dated form, the whole provisions which were to be found scattered ’through different Acts of Parliament, not always themselves easily reconciled, so that the law might be brought into a coherent and simple ,form, instead of being, as now, a fruitful source of litigation. The Earl of Morley, Chairman of Committees in the House of Lords, joined n this expression of opinion of the Lord Cnief Justice, and it is to be hoped that something practical may issue from it. Cocoa Butler. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has prepared a Bill providing that tor the future the product of the cocoa bean, usually known as cocoa butter, shall be subject to the same Customs duty as cocoa or chocolate. !ln the past this article, which is largely used in the manufacture of -chocolate and is imported in considerable quantity, has escaped the duty. duty. Teaching University for London. In the House of Lords on Monday, July 6th, the Bill of the Govern- ment with regard to the reconstitution of the University of London nvas explained and introduced by the Duke of Devonshire, President of the Council. The Bill follows the lines of the measure introduced in rthe late Parliament-that is to say, it proposes the appointment of a statutory commission to carry out the scheme, more or less completely of Lord Cowper’s commission for making the London University a teaching as well as an examining body. As the Duke of Devonshire .explained, this Bill gives a somewhat wider discretion and larger powers to the statutory commission than did Lord Playfair’s Bill of last year, for while the commissioners will be directed to proceed upon the proposals ,of Lord Cowper’s commission they will also be directed to inquire into .and have regard to the requirements of both the iuternal and external students. As his lordship further said, power of appeal to the Privy ’Council will be given to any body or institution concerned and power <will also be reserved to either House of Parliament to address the Crown against the statutes or any part of the statutes framed by the statutory commission. ____ HOUSE OF COMMONS. TUESDAY, JUNE 3CTH. Vaccination Prosecutions. Mr. Logan asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department ilf he was aware that the clerk to the Justices of the Andover Petty Sessional Division was also Clerk to the Guardians of the Poor within "the same district, and advised both bodies in regard to prosecutions for non-compliance with the Vaccination Law; whether such a combina- tion was legal; and if he would, under the circumstances, cause the remission ot the fines imposed on a number of defendants in vaccina- tion cases heard at that Court on Fridav last, and particularly that of a widow who was to be imprisoned for six days in default of payment of fine or goods to distrain upon.- Sir Matthew White Ridley : The Clerk to the Justices of the Andover Division is also, I am informed, the Clerk to the Guardians within the same district. The combination ras, I believe, perfectly legal. The clerk is reported, however as saying in the newspaper extract which the hon. member was good enough to send me that he had not advised the guardians in regard to any of the cases. Costs only, not fines, were imposed in each case, and these I have no power to remit. THURSDAY, JULY 2ND. The Veterinary Department. In reply to a question by Mr. Kearley Mr. Long said he was aware that the veteiinary profession gere --ally is in favour of the arrangement .of business adopted prior to the retirement of Professor Brown at the .end of the year 1893, but he could not admit that the reorganisation which then took place could properly be described as the suppression of the Veterinary Department, or that any real ground for complaint - exists with regard to the status assigned to their veterinary officers. The status of those officers is identical with that usually given to the pro r4’essional advisers of public departments, but he recognised that there has been some misunderstanding on the subject, and as he was most .anxious to give full expression to their indebtedness to the veterinary profession he had arranged that the Veterinary Department should be ,given a separate place in the list of the departments of the Board, sub- ject to the condition that the status of the other officers concerned is .not thereby affected. Explosi,ons in Mines. Sir Matthew White Ridley, Home Secretarv, stated, in reply to Mr. John Ellis, that the number of lives lost in coal mines from .explosions of various kinds had been in lb90, 319 ; in 1891, 76 ; in 1892, 146; in 1893,175 ; in 1894, 329 ; in 1895, 76 ; and in the first six months -of 1896, 169. E2-plosions in Coal Mines Bill. This Bill, which by the promise of the Home Secretary to with- .draw the clauses with reference to check weighing and deductions has <now become a measure solely for the protection of lifr, at this sitting was read a second time by the unanimous consent of the House and referred to the Standing Committee on Trade. The Home Secretary, in moving the second reading, said that dur’ng the past twelve months there had been sad demonstration of the necessity for further regulations if possibla to diminieh lisk and loss of life in coal mines. The principal difference between this Bill and the Bill brought in last year by his predecessor (Mr. Abqu’th) was that it did not propose the constitution of a central board. There was a proposal in the Bill of last year that after fiery and dusty mines had been certified as such there should be an appeal to a central board in London, and if a mine had been proved to be fiery and dusty it should be under special rules as to management, which should be the subject of arbitration under the general Act. The proposed central board had not proved popular either with owners or workmen, and was regarded as a cumbrous method, and therefore it was not to be found in the present Bill. What the Bill proposed was to give the Secretary of State certain powers to impcse, amend, and modify special rules under the general Act, and greater power than he possessed at present with regard to lamps, explosives, and the mode of using them, the number of persons to be permitted to remain in the mine, watering or damping the mine and general precautions for the prevention of accidents. Mr. Asquith delivered a strong speech in support of the Bill. He declared that it was impossible to exaggerate the urgency of the dangers with which it dealt and appealed to the House to carry the motion for the second reading with unanimity. It was not, he said, until the investigation of the Royal Commission was completed that the difference of opinion which had previously existed amongst experts as to how far coal dust was an effective cause of colliery explosions was finally set at rest. But since the completion of that Commission. amplified and extended in other countries as well as our own, he did not belibve there waa any difference of opinion worth considering at all on that point; and they were now coming rapidly round to the view that not only was coal dust an effective means, but was far more than any other means the cause of dangerous and ftisastrous explosions in our mines. The existing law-the Act of 1887-was vyholly inadequate to deal with that particular form of danger, for the fimple reason that at the time the Bill was prepared the attention of experts was directed to dangers arising from gas and falls of roof ; and the danger of coal dust had not yet been accurately gauged. It appeared to him the moment the report of the Commission was presented, con mining in an authentic form evidence to sustain those conclusions. that it was the duty of those responsible for the administration 01 the mining laws to invite the attention of Parliament to the matter and to place upon the Statute- book more effective safeguards for the lives and limbs of the mining population. MONDAY, JULY 6TH. Cholera in Egypt. Replying to a question by Mr. Pierpoint Mr. Curzon said: In a memorandum annexed to Lord Cromer’s Report on Egypt (Egypt, No. 1, 1896) Rogers Pasha, head of the Egyptian Sanitary Department, states (see p. 34) that it is difficult to say how Alexandria became infected with cholera, that the disease was certainly imported (see p. 35), and again (p. 6) that he has no doubt that the probability, if not the certainty, of the introduction of the epidemic by pilgrims will be fully established. The various projects for the Nile Reservoirs, in- cluding the Rayan scheme, were referred to a Technical Commission. the majority of which approved, with certain modifications, the pro- posals of the Egyptian engineers for a dam and reservoir on the first cataract at Assouan The general questions of water-supply, sanita- tion, and irrigation are dealt with in Lord Cromer’s report at pages 14. 18, 29, 30, and 31. Mr. Pierpoint asked the Unier Secretary whether it was not the fact that the scheme for a dam at Assouan has been practically given up. Mr. Curzon : It may have been temporarily suspended, but it is not within my knowledge that it has been given up. TUESDAY, JULY 7TH. The Duties of Relieving Officers. In reply to a question put by Sir Walter Foster on this subject Mr. Chaplin said that he had directed that a statement should be prepared as to the duties of relieving officers for the information of those officers and the boards of guardians, and he proposed in a circular letter accom- panying that statement to remind the guardians of the views of the Hoyal Commission on the Aged Poor as to the importance of the out- door relief granted being adequate to meet fully the extent of the destitution and other matters connected with the administration of relief. Seizures of Meat in London. Mr. Chaplin, replying to Mr. T. J. Farrell, said that he was informed that the largest seizure of unsound meat in the City of London in any one month was during the four weeks ending June 27th last. The greater portion of that meat was putrid and not necessarily diseased. He was told there was no such thing known as meat being voluntarily surrendered by the owners before being offered for sale, but that the salesmen to whom the meat was consigned frequently called the atten- tion of the inspectors to meat after the same became unfit for food. Appointments. Successful applicants for Vacancies, Secretaries of Public Institutions, and others possessing information suitable for this column, are invited to forward it to THE LANCET Office, directed to the Sub- Editor, not later than 9 o’eloek on the Thursday morning of each week for publication in the next number. BOND, F. T.. M.D. Lond, M.R.C.S., has been re-appointed Medical Officer of Health for the Chipping Sodbury Rural Sanitary District. BRODIE. W. H., M.D.Edin., F.R.C S . D P H., has been appointed Medical Officer for the Workhouse of the Battle Union. BROWN. HADYN, L.R.C.P., L.H.C.S. Edin., has been appointed Clinical Assistant to the Chelsea Hospital for Women. DATE, W. H., M.R.C.S., has been re-appointed Medical Officer of Health by the Culmatock Rutal District Council.
