View report page

29
In one the initial action does not rest with the Local
Authority, only at a later stage of the proceedings may the
Vestry be called upon to intervene, nor has this power of
intervention ever been invoked.
In regard to the operation of the second, the Commissioners
themselves are decided that a premium would be placed
upon a neglect of duty on the part of the owner; and, in
consequence, they recommend that the provisions having
this effect be repealed.
The third and fourth Acts arc, in principle, repressive;
and in no point arc they levelled against the causes which
determine overcrowding.
Reviewing the nature of the powers vested in the local
bodies it then becomes obvious that a higher authority than
that of the Vestry is responsible for the condition of overcrowding
from which we suffer to-day. To saddle responsibility
upon the bodies to whom no power has been
entrusted does not help forward the solution. No legislation
worthy of the name has yet been framed to meet the difficulties
of the problem.
In order that the ground may be cleared to admit a right
understanding of the remedial measures about to be proposed,
it is well that the mind be disabused from the
influence of arguments which have been urged in support
of the Malthusian doctrine. By the logic of experience that
doctrine has been proved untenable and the arguments which
buttressed and supported the theory fallacious. An hypothesis
which assumes that the population of England is in excess of
the possibilities of the means of support provided by the
resources of the country, is unworthy of credence. The
assertion of the existence of a general condition of overpopulation,
and the arguments which support the supposition,
paraded upon the occurrence every social crisis that