Beating a squire is hard work. Our readers may remember
that Mr. H. N. Burroughes, a county magistrate and ex-M.P. of Norfolk, was ordered by the justices to improve certain of his cot- tages which had been reported by the sanitary inspector as nuisances. Mr. Burroughes, in a towering rage at an order which 'compelled him to treat human beings as well as cattle, appealed, but the Quarter Sessions rejected the appeal. Mr. Burroughes then fell back on his natural defence—his social influence. He did nothing to obey the law, and he conciliated the local guardians ; • consequently when Mr. Clarke, the sanitary inspector, applied to the Board for authority to proceed for a penalty, they refused it, Mr. Clarke felt himself compelled to resign, and Mr. Burroughes remained master of the field. We congratulate him on his success, and earnestly hope that when his labourers have emi- grated in a body to lands where they may be their own landlords he may not regret his triumph. With wages in America at two dollars a day, and Miss Burdett Coutts agitating for peripatetic schools, an example like this Norfolk squire's is dangerous. Be- tween landlords and game laws, Norfolk may be declared a fine county to emigrate from.
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