THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 1882. THE CITY COUNCIL, THE BOARD OF HEALTH, AND THE HEALTH OFFICER.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2482, 21 March 1882, Page 2

THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 1882. THE CITY COUNCIL, THE BOARD OF HEALTH, AND THE HEALTH OFFICER.

The state of white heat into which the City Council haa worked itself up with regard to the Board of Health and the Health Officer is an amusing instance of what may happen to a well intentionod body of men, if they will not take the trouble to see that the basis of their arguments and operations are sound. The Council, by dint of fuming and eating Us own vitals has managed to create an impression, at least in its own bosom, that the Health Officer is, as it viore, ex officio, incapable of co-operating with the Council’s officers, and that the Board of Health is a body that backs np tha laches of its officer with the grea'a^t

readiness. And so the Council has passed a fiery resolution betokening intense disgust, and several of the Councillors have made rather eilly speechesThe extraordinary manner in which rumors grow may be illustrated by the present case. The whole thing rose from, a paragraph in the report of the medical officer read at the meeting of the Board held on January 30th last. This paragtaph said, “ With regard to inspection I trust that the Board will see that regular and systematic inspection all over the district is carried out, and that the inspectors are instructed to place themselves more frequently in communication with the medical officer.” The italics are, of course, onr own, and are meant to draw particular attention to the fact that the Health Officer never for an instant made any special charge against the officers of the Council. Ha was talking-generally for the whole district, and very possibly was extremely well satisfied with the manner in which the Council’s officers were doing their duty towards him. In making a general recommendation it is often necessary to pass over individual instances to get at general results. The general result that the Health Officer wished to arrive at was that over the district as a ichole regular aud systematic inspection should be carried out, and that the inspectors should be instructed to place themselves more frequently in communication with the Medical Officer.

On February 13th we find that Dr. Doyle commenced working in the case. As member of the Board of Health, when giving notice of a resolution “ That the powers delegated under the Public Health Act by the Local Board of Health to the City Council he revoked,” he took occasion to say that the Medical Officer knew nothing whatever of what was being done by the City Inspectors, as they did not report. That was Dr. Doyle’s reading of the paragraph of Dr. Nedwill’s Annual Report which we have quoted above. A reading more careless and incorrect it would be impossible to conceive, but nevertheless it is but charitable to suppose that it is a reading, because, if Dr. Doyle had inquired into the matter he would have found that his version wa«quite untrue to facts. Aud next comes the Mayor to help in the muddle. He has read Dr. Doyle’s affirmation, and is moved with indignation. The very obvious course of inquiring among the Council’s officers to see whether there is any truth in the charges never seems to have struck him, but he writes off to the officer of another body with a view, apparently, of getting this officer to incriminate his (the Mayor’s) own officers, for we presume that these latter have had instructions to report to the Health Officer. The Health Officer was no doubt, considerably astonished at the receipt of this letter. He had never, directly or indirectly, complained of any want of zeal on the part of the city inspectors, and to be suddenly in receipt of a mandate to hand in to the chairman of a strange body a statement of how things were going on between himself and the city inspectors was not altogether pleasant. However, he did the best thing he could, and called on the Mayor and explained to him that he could not answer his letter except through his own chairman. So the Mayor wrote to the Board of Health direct, asking that body to request Dr. Kedwill to reply.to him (the Mayor). That letter was discussed at the meeting of the Board and a resolution was framed that it be received and acknowledged. Over this treatment of its letter, the Mayor and the Council appeared to have waxed furious. The Mayor in his remarks on the subject said that he considered the action taken by the Board in the matter to be at once diecorleous and disrespectful to his official position, and as tending to burke inquiry. Bat in. reality the Mayor was asking the Board to do a very disagreeable thing. He was asking it to invite its officer to show that a member of the Board had been speaking' quite off the card. Dr. Doyle had been drawing on his imagination, and the Mayor had taken no trouble whatever about substantiating by personal inquiry a research into the truth or untruth of what he had said. On the contrary, he wished to push the dirty work on to the Health Officer through the Board of Health. The correspondence that might have grown out of the matter could hardly under any circumstances Lava been very edifying. It ended somewhat abruptly it is true. But there are occasions when a very little said is the truest civility. Mr. Thomson waxes exceedingly hitter against the Board of Health during his innings—“ If his Worship,” he said, “ had had one-half of the experience of these gentlemen that he (Mr. Thomson) had jhad, he would not even have written one letter far less two or three. They would make complaints to them, not take the slightest notice if it did not concern them; and when an explanation was asked, they would try to put it on to Tom, Dick, or Harry ” There is a delightful vagueness about this form of denunciation. Why Mr. Thomson has had so many chances of seeing the seamy side of the Board r 's character, it is difficult to understand; but it is still more difficult to understand why he should set himsel; up as a master in the art of official deportment. Mr. Thomson is, na donbt, a useiful official, bat his best friends will hardly dare to. affirm that his official life has been one of unbounded-, urbanity.