laid before us, that I became aware of the real magnitude and national importance of this question.[1] And after waiting to see whether any other member of the House would bring it forward, I determined, with the concurrence of that Committee, to give notice of the resolution which I am now about to move.
Moreover, the two memorials to which I call attention have been prepared and presented to the Government—one by the Royal College of Physicians, the other by the Charity Organisation Society; and these have been followed by a correspondence in some of the public journals, which appeared to me to bring the subject into so ripe a condition that it might be promptly dealt with by Parliament.
If I needed any justification of the course I am now pursuing, in asking the attention of the House to this question, I should find it in the speeches of right hon. gentlemen on the opposite benches. The right hon. gentleman, the Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Cross), in introducing his Licensing Bill the other day, dwelt earnestly on the necessity which existed for improved habitations for working people. Again, the right hon. gentleman, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir S. Northcote), in explaining his Budget, used language on this subject which led one to hope that he was about to sketch out some measure by which the long-wished-for result of improving the dwellings of the working classes might be achieved. To go back a very little further, Lord Derby, in his speeches in the North of England, has repeatedly called attention to these sanitary questions.
And the right hon. gentleman who is now at the head of Her Majesty's Government, in laying down his programme at Manchester, adopted as his motto, 'Sanitas Sanitatum, omnia Sanitas.' However, the right hon. gentleman confined himself to words, and the country is now in expectation of the acts which ought to follow on those words. Sir, if it should be the good fortune of the Government who now occupy those benches to legislate wisely on sanitary matters, especially as regards the habitations of the working classes in London, they will not only confer enduring benefit on the metropolis, but will surround their names with lustre and the history of their administration with credit.
If honourable members wish to have an authoritative statement with regard to the special needs of London for im-
- ↑ The Committee was greatly indebted to its able chairman, Lord Napier and Ettrick, and to its zealous and indefatigable secretary, Mr. Charles B. P. Bosanquet, who has given me the greatest assistance in studying this subject.
