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_ we-.- "v... -y\'llll\4u u. "(on vtflicient perhaps to refer to the Mother Country, but ho might say that the subject had engaged at larger measure of attention in some of the United States than had been given to it, here, and that sixteen or seven- teen of the States had adopted mea- sures not yet adopted in this country. and for which perhaps there was the same necessity here as in these States. The esti- mate of the death rate hero was 18 to 1,000. son ." He said that the importance of adopting sanitary measures which were not yet in use had not excited a great deal of public l attention, but its importance had been im- pressed on his attention by a number of medical gentlemen ot the highest standing I in Toronto and elsewhere. Tho more atten- I tion was given to the subject, the more im- 'portant did it appear " this moment, as the revised statutes contained a couple of Acts which were the embodiment of pre- vious legislation on the subject. That pre- vious legislation was partly by this Rouge--. via. 88 Yietoria-and partly in the old Consolidated Statutes of Canada. The Do- minion of Canada shortly after Confedera- tion passed an Act on the subject which professed to repeal the old law on the subject in this country-tMug' ,their power to repeal it was somewhat l, doubtful-and their Act contained a number 1 of valuable provisions having reference to t the Dominion. The Act which the House passed at the instance of the Government embodieda clause thought to be of im- portance which the Dominion had thus i assumed to repeal so far as Canada was con- cerned, and also some other changes which were thought important. The present law, it it Were in execution, would seem to pro. vide amply for what was needed on this subject. It provided that each municipal council should constitute aboard of Health, and in ordinary times they could either act themselves in that capacity or commit their power to any two of their number, to visit houses cr other places where disease or what occasioned disease was supposed to exist, and to remove the causw, whatever they might be. In times ot epidemic the Governor in Council had power to consti- tute a Central Board, to which for the time, or for a special purpose, the local Boards were subordinate during the time it was in existence. The subject was one which had received much larger attention in many other countries than in this, and provi- sions bad been adopted which were not in torce here. In England the subject was deemed to be of suc' importance-and indeed had been de- _ mmistratvd by actual experience to be so in; "nant--thut it was one of the great pub- lic questions at the hut elections. For ( once in their lives Covservativee, had claim- ed to be. like ltel'urmers, as they had pre- I sentcd this matter ofpianitar.r arrangements to the attention of the (internment. lie boned they would always deserve as much I com." "army: as thcyhad "ythvirtvliott Itt t. . -"r. It uni one. of equal interest to hott. _ ;!..-s, a; ' . my questions oi bs,is- lotion , . "mun-1. one hm"! l,,,., to "ll '. legislation had taken place in England; ell the old hum, numerous and complicated as they 'twere, had been cow. solidatcd and revised,' and they now formed it very full and very effective body of laws on the subject, though it would not be ex- pedient tundopt them here. The subject was one of great i_ttii'oriancc, and was a fair subject for legislative and Governmental ac- tion. If precedents Were required it was r..mrt:--A A "I . - lation . . i", though oni, "party had to (Kim the iniviativo. Since that pcniod valuable , - _, _ I A . I i - r _ "at, and had recognised It " their duty to make no change. The Bill was and the first time. SANITARY MEASURES'. Mr. MOWAT said that in the absence of the Minister oi Education, owing to ill. health, he would move," That aSelcct Com- mittee be appomtcd to consider and report on the subject of sanitary measures far maintaining and promoting the Public Health, with power to send tor persons and papers, and that such Committee do consist of the Hon. Mr. Crooks, lion. Mr. Mowat, Messrs. Barr, Baxter, Boulter, Clarke (Nor- folk), Haney, Harkin, McMahon, Mostyn, O'Sullivan, Preston, Widdiiield, and Wil- them here. The subject importance, and was a fair live and Governmental ac- Mr. MACDOUGALL (Simcoe), while sympathizing with tho object of the propos- ed enquiry, hoped there would not be any legislation which would tend minke any more power out of the hands of Mr. MOWAT said his aim was to leave the matter very much in the hands of the Committee, as he had formed no definite scheme with regard to the matter. He thought, however, it would be, out of the question to do away with the local Boards, though there might be a necessity tor legis- lation making these boards more effective. 1 If tho present, local Boards would only curt 1 their powers, actively, independently, and _ zealously, nothing more might be needed. But they did not occupy their minds on the subject, their powers were allowad to lie dormant. So far as he could observe from the legislation in the United States, the local Boards Were allowed to exist, though assistance was Worded them in many cases by a 8ttperintend- ing Board constituted for the purpose of assisting, though not for that purpose only. There were peculiar duties and op. ; portnnities which a provincial Board might i 1xercite,it1depcndetitly of any ','e,1,?,.rdi,1',ti tion of the local Board. If, however, the Committee were to come to a dif- I ferent conclusion with regard to the local 1 Boards, he would feel perfectly free to adopt any means in the public interest. I Mr. CAMERON commended the objects of the proposed enquiry, and said that on the principle that "an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure " their importance would be admitted by every hon. member. He did not know, however, whether it was the intention of the Attorney-General to have the Committee report by Bill, or whether ho had formed any particular scheme in regard to the matter. If it was the intention of the Government to take the power out of the hands of the municipal authorities which they now held, the result might be a clashing of conve- nience, if not of interests. If, for example, there was to be an inspection of one's prem- ises by officers of the Government as Welles by those of the municipality, the cffect might be decidedly inconvenient. He was sure that the Government would have the cordial assistance of the Opposition in any such enquiry. l That might not be correct; but if the death rate should be reduced by even one in one thousand, hon. members would see whata large diiierenco it would_make in a country with apopulation so large as ours. Facts which had come to light showed that a de- crease much greater than that had been effected. In some places where sanitary measures had been adopted, the death rate had been lessened by one-half, in others by one-third, and so on. It was said by one high authority that preventible diseases caused one-third of the deaths, and other authorities had placed it even higher. Now, what they wanted to ascertain was whether as a Legislature they could do anything that would have an advantageous bearing on this matter-anything to lessen the percentage of disease. The general sentiment of medical men was that a good deal could be done, though they might not all agree as to what could be done without further consideration and discussion. The decrease of the death rate was not the only thing to be considered; the amount of sick- ness involved in the death rate was a ma- terial element in the matter. He believed that the calculation was that there were 730 days of illness on the average to every death; and, as they would all see. this in- volved a great incidental loss of happiness, wealth, and time. There Were a number of eminent medical men on both sides of the House, und'the Government had came to the conclusion that they could get more valuable information by appointing a Com- mittee of these gentlemen than by any other means, and that these gentlemen would not only be. willing, but glad to pur- sue an enquiry having in view objects so important. The desire was to preSent whateVer was ascertainable, by statistics or otherwise, as the material for further legislation on the subject, if such legisla- tion Were found to be required.