Two verdicts have been passed this week against the Guardians
of Bethnal Green, and two surgeons of eminence, one of them Dr. Letheby, have confirmed the worst statements of the condi- tion of Hollybush Place. The local vestry have, therefore, been shamed into an appearance of willingness to act, and at a meeting on Thursday resolved to appoint a superintending inspector on 80/. a year, retaining, however, the person who accepts shillings ; to divide the vestry into four committees of sanitary inspection ; to borrow 7,000/. for a main drain, and to compel house-owners to build little drains into the big one. These things are good as far as they go, but the parish is not highly rated, and the vestry must put a little more heart into the work. Committees of vestrymen, half of whom may be profiting by the nuisances they want to suppress, are of no use whatever. Bethnal Gredn wants at least three inspectors, all of whom should be medical men, paid at rates which make the work worth doing, and responsible only to the central authority. When they are appointed it will next be necessary to appoint a permanent mayor or chairman of vestry, if the ratepayers like that ridiculous title, to see that the inspectors' reports are obeyed and the houseowners taxed to obey them. The drain is an excellent thing, but if the people of Bethnal Green had not so much French blood in their veins they would have petitioned Parliament long since for much greater things than that.
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