Though Preston still boasts a steady receipt of tribute for
the strike, the effect of diminished means and hard neeessity is evi- dent. The working classes are returning to their work in other towns ; and even in Preston, advantage will probably be taken of a new offer from the masters, to take down the names of those who will return to work, and to reopen any mill as soon as a sufficient number of hands are collected to work it.
The " cause " which makes most sensible progress is sanitary reform. Much is really done in the Metropolis to abate superficial nuisances; and Mr. Simon's report to the City Commissioners of Sewers, recommending a thorough system of drainage, at once, under pain of cholera, is regarded as an event. It is a masterly synopsis of the necessity and expediency of such a measure. We have had many documents before of similar moral, and some, though not many, comparable to it in force ; but we have read more than worked on this as well as other subjects. It has become a custom to record sound views and completed plans, and not to execute them. Recently, however, we have seen a grand breach of that custom, in the passing of the Irish Encumbered Estates Act : a necessity was recognized, and, routine or inertia notwithstanding, the necessity was fulfilled. It seems to be felt that the same custom will be broken in favour of Mr. Simon's scheme. The grand difficulty is the imperfection of the intrument—how can the Metropolis drain, when it has no municipal authority or organiza- tion? To carry on the work well, we must complete the fitting local instrument; though, rather than delay a beginning, we had better begin with what tools we have.
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