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Leader (1850-1860), 5th February 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 18, whether open or close, are equally ineff...

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      We Are Disposed, On The Contrary, To Ent...

      less oiid . less . The factories , however , ; existed fief ore the houses / which now surrounded them . . Every house that was built , was built with a knowledge that the factories were there ; every lease that yras taken , was taken subject to this known ineonlenience . If a . railroad was to berun ; as proposed , beneaththe Duke ofNorthumberland ' s mansion at Charing cross , he might reasonably ask compensation ¦ for the annoyance , but if he chose now to build a . palace close ; to the Camden station , he could hardly < slaiia damages for his slumbers being disturbed by the rattle of the trains . It is very easy for the

      legislature to ignore this plea , and content itself -with simply ordering the oftensive trades to move on , as a policeman addresses a vagrant in the street , tut it is not so easy to say where the offensive trades are to move on to . There are not many traders in this line who have sufficient capital , or whose trades are profitable enough to bear the enormous loss and outlay attending a removal of . their factories and machinery ; and even those who « could afford it are . at a loss where to move on to . The very nature of the trade requires it to be Carried on in the immediate confines of the metropolis- —for , otherwise , the materials employed in the manufactures being all bulky , the expense of carriage becomes fatal to profit . If they move on to t t bl

      the outskirts , they are certain tha he inevitae : and constant growth of London , as well as the ¦ adventitious one ai-ising from the . activity their own works create around them , wiU , in a very few years , surround them with a new population , who , in turn , will clamour for their expulsion to less crowded ^ districts . . ¦ ¦ ¦ - . ¦ •¦ No man > -undoubtedly , is obliged to carry on an / offensive trade , and if the London parishes like , at jv great increase of their rates , to become their own scavengers , there is no more to be said about this jside of the matter . What , however , the chemical manufacturers do demand- ^ and , in our opinion , demand with justice- —is , that they should be subject to the same laws and the same jurisdiction as -their fellow-subjects .

      JBy our present laws > the protection of our sanitary Welfare is committed to the various parochial iBoards of Works , who rule , or misrule , the affairs of the metropolis . The whole Board of Wprks system is going so fast to the dogs , by its own unassisted efforts , that any external comment is ^ unnecessary to expedite their dissolution . . . Without want ' . of charity , one can determine without difficulty the sort of influences- which act on these jParochial inquisitors . There are the owners of mouse iproperty in the parish , who justly believe that their yents would be increased by a removal of

      there . should have been an offensive smell , at th e time alleged . He may put his foremen , in the witness-box , but their evidence is dismissed as wPrthless , on the ground that they are interested parties . He may show workmen who have lived lor years with their ] families in good health close to his works , and he is told that the exception does not prove the rule . In fact ,, it is impossible to prove that a man did not smell a particular amell at a particular time . The ease is proved . The magistrate is obliged , however unwillingly , to convict . Qn each indictment the fine is doubled , so that after a few such persecutions the manufacturer is ruined , or retires from the contest . The object is attained , and the vestry men have deserved well of their parish .

      Only the other day a case occurred which illustrates the animus with which these persecutions are conducted . Mr . Perez ; a gentleman of high standing in the commercial world , is the owner of large chemical works in the neighbourhood of Limehouse . The Board of Works of the Sliadwell district brought a charge against him before Mr . Yardley , pf having created a nuisance in the neighbourhood from the emission of acetic acid during the process of manufacture , and requested the magistrate to order the immediate removal of the works . Mr . Perez represented that removal would

      be absolute ruin to him ; that he had takea evei-y means which science could Suggest to render his manufacture innocuous ; and that he would most gladly adopt any further precaution that the parish authorities or their advisers ' . might think expedient . The only answer made to him was that the parish had resolved that he ought to go , and go he should . Mr ; Perez then requested that at least , if he was to be ruined , he might be ruined by a fair trial , and the verdict of an English jury . The magistrate himself most strongly urged the prosecutors to remove the case to a superior court , and expressed an opinion , in which we most cordially agree , that it was abominable that any judge should have the power of ruining a man of his own single will

      and judgment . The solicitor to the Board , however , refused on tlieir behalf to accede to the wishes of either defendant or magistrate . : The act gave the magistrate ample powers to enforce their wishes , and they had no notion of incurring the additional expense of a trial at the sessions . . Their first consideration must be their duty to the parish . Whether Mr . Perez was justly tried or not was a matter of no importance to any one but himself . If it had not been , indeed , for the great arid praiseworthy reluctance exhibited throughout by the London police magistrates to exercise their enormous powers under the act , the abuse would ere this have become intolerable . We are no advocates of vested rights 6 r old-standing abuses , but we do consider that even " public nuisances" have a right to common justice .

      the offensive factories . There are the well-to-do tradesmen ^ who would prefer some aristocratic and ^ genteel customers in the place of factory workmen . "Chore ate the local solicitors and local apothecaries , ;? who like to exhibit their zeal and energy on behalf of their respective clients and patients at some-: body else ' s expense . And last , but not least , there . are the publicrspirited pot-house patriots who must 4 o something and rout out somebody in order to ( justify the choice of their constituents . Subject to , and appointed by , these boards , there are an array of medical officers , inspectors of nuisances , surveyors , & o . & c , who must make work to earn their

      salaries . Baiting a badger is dull sport compared with routing out a manufacturer . A policeman on the hunt for nuisanoes lays an information that at & uch and such a- time he became conscious of an offensive smell , which , in his opinion , proceeded irora the works of the manufacturer in question . With wonderful discernment he is able to pronounce / exactly on . the quality of the smell , ' and to distinguish between the fumes of sulphuric acid and sulphuretted hydrogen . A scientific man is brought forward to assert that "if" the aoid described is evolved in sufficient quantities in the course of manufacture , and " if > r the atmosphere happens to

      icontuin certain ingredients , the fumes of the acid •" may" act prejudicially on peculiar constitutions of the human name . The parish doctor is acquainted ¦ with several cases of illness in the vioinity p f the works , and considors them all aggravated , if not -caused , by thb offensive character of the factories . A number of shareholders come forward with their opinions as , to the . general nuisance arising from the works , and afid a variety of interesting details about their wives and families . The oaso is oom-. fploto . The manufacturers may bring forward the JiugJacafc scientific evidence in the world to prove that , as a rule ,, the nature of bis trade is not noxious , to health , thafc every possible precaution is adopted , « t We faotory , and that , therefore , it is improbable

      S#8 The Leader, .[No,: ' 463, February 5...

      S # 8 THE LEADER , . [ No ,: ' 463 , February 5 , 1839

      Whether Open Or Close, Are Equally Ineff...

      whether open or close , are equally inefficacious - and he advocates local commissions of inquiry into special facts as the only adeqiiate means 6 t makm-oreasonable laws . Both he and Sir James scout the idea pf referring to pttblie / opinion— " commonl y the opinion of newspaper writers " - — -to ascertain what laws should be passed ; and both are of opinion that a legislative committee of the Privy'Council , selected from the leaders of political parties , as recommended by parl Grey , would be extremely advantageous in preparing laws . The testimony of

      two such well-informed political inquirers as . these two gentlemen against our present mode of making laws , enforced as it is by our jungle of a statutebook , is of great value ; but it does not follow that local and special inquiries , and a committee of the Privy Council , as they recommend , to investi gate every project of a law before it was submitted to Parliament , would lead to more satisfactory results . These plans have been already tried in different countries and at various times and occasions , and have nowhei'C brought ; about legislation so favourable . on the whole " the public welfare , though .

      more systematic in appearance , as our own . Mr . Chudwick ' s miud delights in details , and for many years local and special inquiries as the basis for ¦ ' legislation' have been _ his libbby . To them , however , it seems a sufficient objection , that all legislation , however local be its nominal scope and temporary its object , jiiTects the whole community , and to its mode of action , ik futuro , local inquiries into local facts already gone by can furnish no clue . Mr . Chadwick , from local and special inquiries , has been the author , or at least the contributory author , of much modern legislation , such as the newPoorlaw , the Constabulary Act , & c , all of which has

      tended very much , to centralise authority , to increase the necessity for extending its action and multi plying regulations , thus augmenting very much the discrepancies in our legislation which he now deplores . The new Poor-law was to put an end to pauperism , and the Constabulary Act to diminish crime ; in spite of some favourable circumstances in the condition of society since IS 4-2 , they have been attended by an increase of both . They ok viously direct an increased proportion of the produce of society to mere administrative purposes , and so lessen the rewards of industry , in 1844 , accordingly , the rate per head of the amwint expended in relief to . the" poor , on the estimated population , was Gs . f d ., awl in 185 G it was Gs . 8 fd ., which was l £ d . above the average of twentyrthrec vcars from 1834 to 1850 . Another effect of these

      laws has been to make the separation more complete between the rate-payers and the rate-receivers , and widen the breach between classes which nature is for ever filling ! in . When the Legislature , irom local inquiries into the condition of the agr iculturist and the price of corn m different countries , passed and maintained the Corn-law , it did not mean to stop trade , lessen employment , and starve the people . All these effects , however , followed from a law intended only to keep up the price of com . Mere local und special inquiries into facts never can furnish any clue to the effects of general tows , which being the acts of the whole community , nU ' ect overy part of it . Facts such as Mr . Chiuhvick Gathers are not an index to sentiments and

      opinions , and hence Mr . Chadwiok ' s plan , which lias already been acted on , and failed , can never supply a safe ' basis for legislation . With deference both to him and Sir James Stephen , wo contend that the present mode of ascertaining public opinion and making tows in accordance therewith , is preferable to either ol the methods they propose . Both sneer at extemporised leaders on all sorts of subjects as the means ol m-

      PLANS OF LEGISLATION . To ridicule the lofty pretensions of Mr . Chadwick and Sir James Stephen , to set all the world right on the mode of making laws , is seasonable and proper ; at the same time the subject itself , as brought under notice at the meeting of the Law Amendment Socioty on Saturday , deserves serious consideration . According to Sir James Stephen , legislation as an art was unknown to . the Constitution in the time of Delolme and Blackstone ; and , according to both him and Mr . Chad wick , it is now very imperfectly carried on by Ministers and a pai'tisan House of Commons , Mr . Ohadwiclc quotes Lord John 'Russell ' s opinion : *~ That it is " rather a defect in the Government of this

      country , that while persons who are out of office , and who are in the House of Lords and Commons , can give their attention to great subjects , tho time of Ministers is so very much absorbed with the duties of their offices , that there arc very few of them who can give their attention to a great uubject , and look at tho consequences to the country of tho measures that are adopted . " And he submits : —

      That the Cabinet ( or close and secret ) preparation of measures , almost of necessity limits the facts accepted as the basis for legislation to - thoso who may liappon to bo within tho knowledge of tlxo one , two , or tUroo persons forming tlio committee to which it is confided , Measures prepared in the dark , or upon suah Irnporfoot information , must noods bo put forth by tlio Governments In tho dark as to the . reception tuoy -will moot ¦ with .. . Then lie shows that the preparations for legislation by committees of cither House of Parliament ,

      forming the public , but both must be well aware that ; men of tho highest authority—men who have devoted thoir Hvca to particular subjeots—have made tho public press tho vehicle for communicating thoir knowledge to tho community . Because tho pross lives by the public , and must tliorotoro please tlio public , it supplies it with all luncla oi information . Loaders are only a part of tlio menus , and norliuns tho loast important part of tlio moans

      by which the press helps to form public opllU 0 ! f As no laws can possibly bo good , because thoy win not bo supported and cannot bo oarriod into execution unions , thoy arc supported by pub ho opmi «» , the present natural moUiod , wo may , oall » -- ' " 1 ms grown up rftthor than boon oontnvoU—ol usooituimng publlo opinion by moans of , tho proas , ana making it the basis of legislation , is tho boat poasiblo method , Wo have a striking illustration ol this in tho most important of our modern w-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 5, 1859, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05021859/page/18/