THE - BOARD OF HEALTH.
THE cholera season has fairly set in; the Board of Ifealthhasheen reconstructed; ana the new President, wAli Iii.tne,wjtl, yeati,- lated his first circular before a MaryIebone napplt4ng qn, Afehtlay, ; announcing that he did not intend to command, but,onlyte cone-- sal, advise, and guide, even in the Province; for the )fetropolis is exempt from the control of the Board. Substatutipg $ir Benjamin Hall for Mr. Edwin-Chadwick, it seems, our rulers,have replaced the North wind by the South—compulsion by persnasion: it re- mains to be seen how far the substitution will work out the de- sired result. Some effectual interference is evidently necessary. The case of Lord jocelyn is not less eloquent upon examination than it appeared at the first sight. It is not only because a mem- ber of the aristocracy has succumbed that the necessity of a more effectual interference is exhibited ; he evidently fell a viotim to his duty. The cholera had been virulent in and around the Tower ; those who were compelled to abide on the spot were afraid in their hearts, and he determined to sleep in the fortress three sights in a week, in order to prove to his regiment, which is stationed there, that there was no occasion for fear. It does not fit,all fellow that Lord Jocelyn was unsusceptible to the apprehensions that at such times insinuate themselves into the hearts of the stoutest ; but even if he felt some internal ta.emour, it would but enhance the merit of his boldness and his devotion to duty. Why should he shrink from a place of danger, any more than the humblest man in the regiment ?—No doubt, he put the proposition to himself thus. Others were compelled to stay in the Tower ; he was a volunteer setting an example of cheerful fulfilment of his duty, and he performed that duty : but others had not performed theirs. It was right that he should stand to his post notwithstanding the apprehension; but it was not right that the post should be left in such a condition as to render it a home for pestilence as well as for militia-officers. There is every probability that if the Tower and the neighbourhood had been properly attended to at the proper time, the life of Lord Jocelyn, and of others whose death had caused the apprehension, would have been spared. At such a time of necessity, it becomes of importance to know what means we have of expecting an improvement from a new office. Sir Benjamin Hall has now publicly stated the reasons that dictated the selection of himself. They appeared to have been, the fact that he took a conspicuous part m opposing the pre- vious bill for continuing the Board of Health with less modifica- tion than it has undergone in the bill which passed into law ; with the fact that he was known as an advocate of localself-government, and as representing Marylebone. On the last point, perhaps for keel reasons, the new President of the Board of Health, dwelt most strongly at the early .public meeting. In other words, there had been b. desire to give the active " private Member" a post in the Government 'as Member for Marylebone, not less than on per- minalgrOunds and on the score of his attachment to local self- goverintetit. The reaaons Which he has stated publicly for his special appointment to the direction of the Board of Health are limiteello the ground that he had a mortal objection to the.origi- nal-measure propounded by Lord 'Palmerston. The whole trans- notionloeks Very like a Ministerial Crisis in a single department, undid far it is an sinemalous innovation upon our system of Min- i4it1ee, A Cabinet, it appears, may successfully resign in detail andeontinue in detail. Extend the application of the new prin- ciple, and a Cabinet might remain in office upon a ninety-nine years' leate,.so low,b as it were a repairing lease. A more immediate question, however, is the mode in which the Beard Of Health, with apparently limitLd powers, is to conduct it- self seas to secure enlarged results. It is quite possible to do so; for a despot *hem nobody obeys cannot do half the good which may be effected by an adviser of whose authority nobody is jealous. The Beard has already announced to local bodies, that it ceases to contras/id, and desires to direct and assist ; and there is some rea- sett-614e that most districts Will gladly accept assistance thus offsitedin a'season of trouble and doubt. Should any local author- Wait neglect manifest duties, there is still the Nuisances-Remeval AA; 'tinder which they may be compelled to do that which the la.w direets ; the Board of Health, in such, cases, only performing the part of an authorized and disinterested public prosecutor. Finally, the reeess,will be well employed, in a revision of the whole subject, so -as toiray befbre Parliament, next session, a comprehensive mea- sure' diseneumbered of the thllateral alma which have provoked jealousy, contest, and defeated the main Object.
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