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XXXIV SOME NOTICE OF THE
{>. 11, a ft i-r treating of this measure, the compulsory relief of
the poor of Iivlaii'l, \vas a consideration of the miserable
habitations of so many of those that dwelt outside of the
poorhouses.
On Swlury The Census Commissioners of 1841, reported that nearly
Legislation for
Town*. one-half of the families of the rural population, and some-
what more than a third of the families of the civic population,
were living in accommodation equivalent to a cabin
consisting of a single room. A Commission of Inquiry
was shortly afterwards issued into the state of the tenure
and occupation of land and of means of improving the re-
lations of landlord and tenant, and Mr. Haliday pleaded fora
similar inquiry into the sanitary condition of the labouring
classes in towns, of whom, according to the Census, one-
third were so miserably lodged.
He gave instances, and contended that there was need of
some new law for the regulation of house property in
towns and for the protection of the health, comfort, and
rights of the poorer classes, some modification perhaps
of the medical police system of German cities, and the
Conseil de Salubrite* of Paris. Such an authority, he added,
as would compel the builders of houses to secure a supply
of pure water for their tenants, to build sewers, and to pro-
vide all essentials to decency and cleanliness, before any of
the houses could be let in tenements. This body being made
the guardians of the public rights, could prevent individuals,
however poweiful from depriving the labouring classes of
the advantages which open spaces, public walks and pathways,
and access to rivers and the sea afford. 1 He was
thus early an advocate of sanitary legislation, which had
not then commenced, but has latterly been so productive of
improvement.
'He entitled this
which was anonymous
pamphlet,
" A letter
of the Luw in respect of the Build-
ing and Occupation of Houses in
to the Commissioners of Landlord Towns in Ireland." 8vo., Dublin,
and Tenant Inquiry, on the state Grant and Bolton, 1844.