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24
"year after year by a majority of the Vestry who were
"interested in the class of property which the Sanitary
"Committee would interfere with. All who had held the
"chairmanship of the Sanitary Committee for years past
"had testified to the harm done by the action of the
"majority of the Vestry. The Sanitary Committee had
"now been repressed, and there was no one left to protest
" against the management of the affairs of the parish."
The Home Secretary has spoken of some
"parishes as constituting a positive danger to the whole
"Metropolis, and he (Sir Charles Dilke), on his official
"responsibility maintained that that was the case. He
"maintained, with regard to the Parish of Clerkenwell,
"that its sanitary condition was not only a disgrace, but a
"danger to the whole town, and the Vestry was not to be
"trusted with such a position. Medical Officers of Health
"had testified that it was well known they had much
"difficulty in performing their duties when so many of
"those who employed them were directly or indirectly
"affected by the discharge of those duties." .
"His honourable friend knew how much sanitary regula"tions
were needed with regard to tenement houses; and
"also that St. Pancras and Clerkenwell had refused to listen
"to the representations of the Local Government Board
" that they should pass sanitary bye-laws,"
The attention of the Sanitary Committee was called to
the matter on the 7th July, and they passed a resolution—
''That the Clerk write at once to Sir Charles Dilke,
"emphatically denying the truth of the statements made, and
"also furnish a statement of the facts of the case to the
"Borough Members, the Lord Mayor, the Home Secretary,
"and other Members of Parliament, asking them to bring
"subject before the House of Commons at the earliest
" possible opportunity, in order that the denial may receive
''the same publicity as the allegations made, so far as the
''allegations against this Committee are concerned."