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III. SOLE APPOINTMENT.-My third proposition is that Sanitary Inspectors should hold no other appointment. I must, however, except the case where a duly qualified medical man accepts the post of Sanitary Inspector, in which case I can see no valid objection to his also being Medical Officer, nor would I be disposed to raise any objection to a Sanitary Inspector being Clerk to the Local Authority, as the duties of Clerk might only serve more distinctly to remind him of matters incumbent on him as Sanitary Inspector.1 That the Sanitary Inspector should hold no other office stands to reason if the work and duties devolved upon him are such as will fully occupy his whole time if properly discharged. But it may be said in a small parish the duties of Sanitary Inspector, however efficiently discharged, would not occupy a man's whole time. I do not doubt that this might be so after a short time, at least, in some small parishes. I do not think there can be any good reason against two or more small parishes having one common Sanitary Inspector subject always to the approval of the Board of Supervision. Another plan might be the mapping out of Sanitary Inspectors' districts by the Board of Supervision itself, and I observe Dr. Grimshaw, in the number of the Sanitary Record, dated 12th September, in an able paper on "Sanitary Legislation and Organization," says:-" Suitable districts can never be formed until the selection of those to be united is left absolutely under the control of the Central Authority." I care not how this matter of detail is arranged so long as the object I am aiming at can be attained—namely, the appointment of a trained Sanitary Inspector every district in Scotland, with sufficient leisure and earnestness to discharge properly all the duties of his office as extended and made more definite in the manner proposed.

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IV. SALARY.-My fourth proposition needs no remarks to enforce it, for it is self-evident that it is only right to pay a man a salary adequate to his training, qualifications, and the work expected of him. I should think it right that the salary of no Sanitary Inspector should be less than £150 per annum. What amount of population, houses, and area a Sanitary Inspector could efficiently inspect, I have no adequate data to go upon. That is, of course, a matter as to which the Board of Supervision would require to make strict investigation.

The remarks which I have made have been chiefly directed to

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1 The only point wherein a difficulty might occur with reference to a combination of the office of Medical Officer with that of Sanitary Inspector is where, in prosecu tions under the Act, medical certificates are required from the Medical Officer. would be anomalous for the prosecutor to grant such certificates, and probably it might be thought desirable in the cases where medical certificates are required, and the Medical Officer was also Sanitary Inspector, to require a medical certificate from another duly qualified practitioner.

2 Since writing the above, I observe that the 10th section of the English Public Health Act of 1872 provides that "the same person may, with the sanction of the Local Government Board, be appointed the Medical Officer of Health, or the Inspector of Nuisances for two or more sanitary districts.

Parochial and small Burghal districts, and not to large cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow; but such cities are certainly in no less need of more definite sanitary legislation than the rural districts, although, I believe, as a rule, there is greater activity and zeal displayed in them in carrying out existing powers of inspection.

Probably it will be generally admitted that the present system of appointment of untrained men is a defective one, and the chief objections that may be urged against my propositions or analogous ones, mainly resolve themselves into two-(1st) That to carry out properly such proposed Sanitary regulations and inspections would involve an interference with the liberty of the subject that would be intolerable; and (2d) That the expense which would be occasioned would be an enormous tax on the ratepayer. These I will deal with in their order-(1st) I admit that it is necessary that great discretion and moderation should be exercised in the conduct of such extensive Sanitary labours as those suggested. But it is neither logic nor anything else to argue that mere annoyance to an individual now and then should weigh for one moment in the balance against the desolation, and ruin, and misery that might and constantly do ensue from epidemics and neglect of ordinary Sanitary precautions. Mere annoyance to the individual can never be allowed to stand against the general welfare of the community. The second objection is as to expense. That such definite and extensive Sanitary inspection, with the necessary staff, will, in the first instance, directly cause more expense to the country is true, but I doubt, exceedingly, if, in the long run, it may not be a saving of expense, for this reason-that the heaviest burdens on parishes are those caused by the death of men in the full vigour of life, who leave large families behind them on the parish. Very many of these deaths are caused by some obvious Sanitary neglect, or by infectious disease, and would not have occurred had ordinary precautions been used. But, after all, I deny the right of the public to regard this matter from a pecuniary point of view at all. When the honour of the country is touched, no expense, though it should involve millions upon millions in a protracted war, is thought too great to avenge it. No outcry should be raised on the score of expense at carrying out what is essential to the social well-being of the community. I have no hesitation in saying that, for my part, I believe that quite as much may be done for the moral and intellectual improvement of the community by Sanitary legislation properly carried out as can be effected by Education Acts, while the physical misery and deterioration that may be saved and arrested thereby is incalculable, affecting not only existing generations, but those yet unborn.

MOURN FOR THE JURIST.

A Reporter's Lament.

(AFTER DELTA'S 'MOURN FOR THE BRAVE.')

AIR.-Caller Herring.

MOURN for the JURIST,

Fount of legal lore the purest,
Mourn for the JURIST,

Whom we shall see no more!

When Faculty Reports were bad,
Enough to drive subscribers mad,
The JURIST rose to make men glad,
For quick and good reports they had.

O mourn for the JURIST,

That wrought for us, and bled for us,
Mourn for the JURIST,

Best fount of legal lore!

Mourn for the JURIST,

That wrought for us, and bled for us,

Mourn for the JURIST,

That eked our little store!

O mourn for the JURIST,

That lived with us, and died with us,
And now the place that knew its face
Shall see it never more!

II.

Wide was its fame spread,
In every Scottish Sheriff Court,

From "FACULTY" and "S. and D."

The palm away it bore.

For five and forty years it fought,
Nor bated of its strength a jot,
And ne'er by us should be forgot,
The help it gave to boil the pot.
O mourn for the JURIST, etc.

III.

O great was the kudos,

When cases sometimes cited were,

As "only in the JURIST,"

The Inner House before!

But when at last, beguiled by Fate,
For Judges' notes it learned to wait,
And gave reports three months past date,
It found the error out too late.

O mourn for the JURIST, etc.

IV.

O long were the story,

The names and deeds of all to tell,
Who helped the JURIST'S glory,
And up its banner bore!

And many a man in all those years,
It raised to honour 'mong his peers,
But now, by Fate's abhorred shears,
Its thread is cut, despite our tears!
O mourn for the JURIST, etc.

V.

O SCOTTISH JURIST!

My heart this night is sad for thee,
Though many a time, in summer's prime,
I counted thee a bore.

Tormented by the devils small,
For "copy" who did ceaseless call,
And waited patient in the hall,
I felt myself to be a thrall.

O mourn for the JURIST, etc.

VI.

O SCOTTISH JURIST!

We'll drink a parting cup to thee,
Though thou art sped to join the dead
On Pluto's dismal shore.

Let this our consolation be,

That in the sons of S. and D.

The transmigrated soul we see

That still preserves thy memory!

O SCOTTISH JURIST,

My ancient trusty friend that wert!
Though thou no more endurest,
We mind the days of yore.

O SCOTTISH JURIST,

Here's a long farewell to thee!

Gentlest souls or dourest

Alike for thee deplore.

Farewell, O JURIST,

That lived with us and died with us,
And now the place that knew thy face
Shall see it never more!1

Review.

Parliament House Book for 1874-75. Edinburgh: W. Burness, 1874. THIS is the jubilee year of this extremely useful book; the present being the fiftieth edition. All one can say of the present year's volume is, that it fully keeps up the reputation for fulness and accuracy of information which its predecessors possessed; and what more can one say. The information it contains must be of value not only to practitioners in the Supreme Court, but also to practitioners in the local Courts. Thus we find in the Appendix of Acts of Parliament the recent Conveyancing Act, the Conjugal Amendment Act, the Evidence Further Amendment Act; the first of which is as necessary to be possessed by agents out of Edinburgh as by agents in Edinburgh, and the last two of which apply more to Sheriff Court practice than to Court of Session practice. The work also contains a digest of decisions of the Supreme Court affecting practice in Sheriff Courts, beginning in October 1868 and brought down to date. As, besides the purely legal information, the book contains chronological lists of the rates of property and income tax, and of the rates of interest charged and allowed by the Edinburgh banks for many years, it must be of service not only to lawyers, but to bank agents, and many mercantile people.

The Month.

Shorthand Writers and Sheriff Courts.-In our analysis of statutes in the last number of the Journal, we referred to the Evidence Further Amendment Act, which allows the Sheriff, on the motion of any

1 ADDITIONAL VERSE.

On many a night of waking,
Until the day was breaking,
O'er a novel I would pore;

If it didn't induce a slumber,
I would take thy latest number,
And immediately I would snore :
And therefore 'tis no wonder,

When at last thou hast knocked under,
Thy loss I should deplore.

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