There are 1,200 ' cases of epidemic fever in Over-Darwen,
a town of some 24,000 inhabitants. The reason is abominable filth. ,'\ Darwen is drained by cesspools, acres of excreta lie uncovered, and the inhabitants are, in fact, living in an immense privy. A Government Inspector has been sent down, but he can scarcely get the Local Board, elected to keep down rates, to do. anything. A story of the same kind, though not so bad, is reported from Winchester, and might be reported; if the--weather were hot, of many another town ; but the remedy is not quite so easy as it appears. The, town ought to be thoroughly-drained. by a State engineer at its own expense, but how-is that expense-tube met? You cannot fine all owners a whole year's rent all at once -without exciting resistance, and the method of distributing the original charge is still most imperfect. The work ought to be done by an issue of town bonds, with a sinking fund of three per cent., but the machinery for that operation outside the great cities seems not to be in gear. Draining in a panic, more- over, gives every builder and plumber in the place an opportunity it is hardly in human nature to withstand: The work ought to be done, but some brain must be applied to the organisation of the machinery.
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