Folios 348-349. To: The President of the General Board of Health. From: George Brown, Clerk…

Description: Folios 348-349. To: The President of the General Board of Health. From: George Brown, Clerk to the Local Board of Health, Barnard Castle [Durham/Yorkshire]. Subject Matter: Letter calling attention to the conversation he had with the President of the General Board last December as to defects in the Public Health Act 1848, and the necessity for amended provisions as to the defective rating, borrowing and mortgaging clauses of that Act. Brown explains that on perusing the Bill, he observes that its provisions are to be 'totally inapplicable even to existing Local Boards of Health unless the latter can obtain the consent of a numerical majority of the ratepayers at a poll, which any parochial agitator by craft, clamour and misrepresentation can deprive them of at pleasure', and that 'no amendments of the Public Health Act 1848 seem to be intended to be made applicable to existing Local Boards of Health that are unable to obtain the consent of this numerical mass which generally in country towns is under the sway of some two or three turbulent and ill-formed men'. He urgently submits that existing Local Boards of Health should have power to adopt the provisions of the amended Bill, if they wish to do so, without being at the mercy of a 'parochial agitator'.

Date: 03/02/1855

Last import: September 11, 2017