Mr. Stansfeld's new Sanitary Bill, which we omitted to notice
last week, is a Bill made to pass, but unambitious as it is, it is a step forward in the right direction. It defines the authority responsible for sanitary measures. In towns this will be the Council, or Improvement Commission, or Local Board, and in rural districts the Board of Guardians. All the powers now conferred by existing Sanitary Acts, which are more extensive than is supposed, will vest in them, as will also a new power for securing "pure air inside houses," based, we sup- pose, on a modification of the principle adopted in the Lodging House Act. The councils and guardians will also have to build hospitals and provide for epidemics, and will provide the requisite medical officers, who may or may not be "medical officers of the Poor Law Board." The Bill will require careful reading, but as far as we see, its only defects are a certain uncertainty as to the extent of supervising authority retained in London, which ought, in the last resort, to be considerable, and a little indistinct-
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