The Poor Law Board has at length given its verdict
upon the investigation into the facts disclosed by the report of the Lancet Commissioner of Inquiry. By dint of accepting every statement of the accused, Dr. Lambert and Dr. E. Smith, the Poor Law Inspectors, have contrived to explain some of the Lancet's facts, and Lord Devon has passed judgment on their report alone. He admits that there is no trustworthy nurse ; that the dayroom for aged men is too small; that further accommodation is needed for infectious cases ; that the lying-in ward is " quite inade- -quate,"—just think what that gentle phrase means,—that the ventilation of the venereal and other wards is " objectionable ;" that the towels are insufficient; that the vagrant wards are unsuitable; that the privies are untrapped ; that the cesspool is too near the infirmary ; and that there has been no constant or minute supervision by the guardians ; and, therefore, the Earl of Devon censures Mr. Powell, the medical officer, whose statements to the Lancet Commissioners brought the disgraceful facts he admits to light. That is all the poor get out of that inquiry, a formal wigging to the only official in Farnham humane enough to tell the truth. And then people wonder that the country begins to weary of a Parliament which, with its endless chatter about everything, will not find five minutes' time to tell the Earl of Devon he has refused to do his duty.
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