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to any one mode of accomplishing this object; he only wished
to see a practical scheme. The amendments of the Act, as
embodied in the resolutions passed, were to the effect that the
report of the medical officer of health, condemning certain
houses as unfit for human habitation, should be forwarded to
the Local Government Board, or to the Metropolitan Board of
Works, when so authorised, in order that a medical inspector
should examine the premises and report thereon, previous to the
reference to the surveyor of the local authority; that whenever
land was made vacant by the removal of dwellings under the
provisions of the Act, power should be given either to the
Metropolitan Board or to the local authority to require owners
to sell the land, by arbitration, to any private association or
public body for the purpose of erecting new dwellings for the
poorer classes under suitable restrictions; and that when the
premises have been demolished and a site cleared, and no
sufficient offer shall have been made by private persons for the
purchase of the site, within a specified limited period, the local
authority shall report the facts to the Metropolitan Board of
Works, who shall be empowered and required to purchase the
site by arbitration, and to arrange for the erection of dwellings
for the poorer classes on it. The Board should also be required
to sell the building so soon as sufficient offer had been made
under stipulations guaranteeing the maintenance of the dwellings
for the poorer classes, and that the balance or less be carried to
the account of the rates of the metropolis."—The Metropolitan.
I trust that this Society will do all in their power
to see that an amendment embodying Mr. Torrens'
suggestions for the improvement of the Bill may be
speedily introduced into Parliament.
In spite of the objectionable character of this Bill
in its author's own estimation, you will see by
referring to your minutes, that two Vestries in
London—St. George the Martyr, Southwark, and
St. Giles, Camberwell—have succeeded, with the