The Life and Times of Sir Edwin Chadwick. By S.
E. Finer. (Methuen. 42s.) SIR EDWIN CHADWICK'S importunity kept him in public service for twenty years despite continual exasperated opposition. His argumentative presence, first on the Poor Law Commission, then the Metro- politan Sewers Commission and the Board of Health, drove Parliament to disband or reconstitute each with entirely new member- ship. In committee he was irresponsibly high-handed, and when in danger of dis- missal he threatened the Government with exposure of " revelations," but gladly kept silent when offered further serf ice, yet he furiously protested against jobbery. He was a social reformer, though inhumanly cal- culating ; for twenty years The Times alter- nately attacked his place-hunting and wrong- headed dogmatism and, praised his great labour, only to call him obscure fourteen years afterwards when he stood for Parament. This apparently contradictory evi- dence could provoke a comprehensive interpretation. Instead the author maintains a successful scholastic disinterestedness approaching ambiguity. A terse portrayal of Chadwick in the first chapter is left un- enlarged upon by all that follows; conse- quently interest turns from the man to his unique position in the turbulence of con- temporary forces. These forces are thus seen at an engaging but confusingly close range. Historians will appreciate the author's efficient marshalling of the thought that lay behind these motives and opinions. Their national significance, however, is not con- sidered, and the reader must estimate it, if he will, for himself, from accounts of clashes in Parliamentary Enquiries, Commissions
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