1311 difficulty which they found in forming such companies was the old supply before Thirlmere was tapped, have been main- the want of assistance from the civilian part of the popula- tained in good order and condition. The work of the com- tion. Some brigades were badly in want of such help. In mittee has included the laying of 19 miles of iron piping and Birmingham they seemed to have received considerable connexions made to 4991 additional houses. The full supply encouragement and he should like to see the people in other of water has been maintained throughout the year. The places encouraging the men who formed such companies by new 36 inch main from the reservoirs at Prestwich for distri- attending at their gatherings and offering prizes for their bution in the city of the second instalment of the Thirl- competitions. He thought that the greatest credit was due mere water is nearly completed. The level of the lake to Colonel Whitcombe and Captain Badger for what they itself is being raised 15 feet above the present height had done. and this will considerably increase the storage capacity. May 2nd. This increase is necessary in view of the demand that will be made when the second line of pipes from Thirlmere is completed, as it soon will be. The hydraulic power supply MANCHESTER. has been well maintained and is extending. The average weekly output of water for the year is 3,590,900 gallons, as (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) against last year’s average of 3,565,900 gallons, an increase of 25,000 gallons per week. How long the present supply will suffice is of course as yet unknown, but if the population " Tramp Factories." continues to increase it will be a matter for careful calcula- tion. It will be difficult to find another Thirlmere un- AT a conference of women guardians held on April 28th appropriated. in the Manchester town-hall, under the of the presidency 11 Clean Heads." Lord Mayor, Mrs. Higgs of Oldham made some strong remarks on the need of re-moulding the present system of We English think ourselves a clean people but we might - dealing with the homeless. By the Poor-law of Queen be cleaner. In some sections of the population the tolerance Elizabeth’s time it was proposed that every worker should exhibited towards parasitic pests is something marvellous. In be anchored to a parish and nobody should be idle. But a discussion at a meeting of the Clitheroe education com- to-day the decline of agriculture and the growth of "indus- mittee Mr. W. E. Musson, an old practitioner there, said he trialism made it necessary that labour should flow readily had examined as many as 60 children and found that not from one manufacturing district to another," and such more than six or seven had absolutely clean heads. He migration should be facilitated. In tramp wards the spoke of the hardship it was to have to send children among "tramp" proper and the genuine seeker for work should be those of negligent parents, for no amount of care would keep .distinguished and the latter, man or woman, should be children’s heads clean if they were among others who were allowed to stay in a town long enough to look for work. unclean. A motion was adopted that where slates were Mrs. Higgs spoke from personal experience of tramp wards used in schools the practice of spitting should be rigor- and common lodging-houses. She said that women who ously suppressed and that the education committee should entered a tramp ward scrubbed floors I I and for their night’s encourage the use of paper instead of slates as far as prac- lodging did a day’s work worth at any rate 2s. and good ticable. Presumably if the committee suppresses spitting food. Yet they emerged from the ward half starved and it will supply water, with rags or sponges, for cleaning worn out after a long, weary, foodless day." As it is the slates and paper if used will be burned when done tmdoubted that the chronic tramp is one of the chief agents with. It was also decided to recommend the town council in spreading small-pox and other diseases it is desirable to allow its medical officer to visit each school once in that he should be dealt with differently from the genuine three months to examine the eyes, hair, and teeth of the seeker for work, however difficult the separation of the children and that his present salary should be increased by two classes may be. The tramp question came up at a £15 a year. It is to be hoped that the town council will meeting of the Cheshire Standing Joint Police Committee agree to this modest request and some such arrangements held at Chester Castle on April 30th. The Northwich should be general, though three-monthly examinations give Union wrote calling attention to the tramp nuisance and too much time for parasites to run riot. suggested that a warning issued some years since by the Chief Constable (Colonel Hamersley) "not to relieve tramps Death from Anthrax. or render them assistance " should be distributed. any widely An was held on 28th on the of a butcher The Chief Constable that when were inquest April body suggested tramps near Nantwich who was to have died from before the should them. It living suspected brought justices they discharge anthrax. The evidence showed that on March 31st he was decided to re-issue the notice. There is no doubt that dressed the carcass of a cow that was afterwards sent to besides a nuisance the is a being costly professional tramp Manchester market. He became ill and died on 25th. serious to the health of the April danger, community. The owner of the cow said that it died after a few hours’ Sir Henry Roscoe’s Graduation JubiZee. illness and the veterinary surgeon told him from "milk fever," that he said the cow was a good bit of beef, and Although Sir Henry Roscoe cannot be claimed as a advised him to make the best of it. The evidence member of the medical profession it may perhaps be per- showed that the cow was dead before the veterinary missible to notice the very general congratulations on the surgeon saw it and that at his suggestion it was occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his graduation at dragged out of the shippon and bled. Mr. Frank E. Heidelberg as a doctor of philosophy. There was a large Mathews said that death was due to anthrax. From gathering in the Whitworth Hall of the Owens College on this case and from others it is evident that there is a ’the evening of April 22nd of the old students of the great deal of ignorance or carelessness or both with regard to Owens College, of university professors from all over the this most dangerous disease, and that the veterinary pro- ’kingdom, and of representatives of scientific and" philo- fession, whose responsibilities in the matter are extremely sophical societies, and addresses were read from these and serious, are not always alive to them. In this case the from colonial and foreign universities. It is 47 years since coroner is reported to have said " it was perfectly scandalous Sir Henry Roscoe became connected with the Owens College that cows which died from disease were stuck for the when it was located in a dwelling-house in Quay-street. For purpose of being sent to market and sold for human food." 30 years he taught at the Owens College, for the last 17 Although there may be some consolation in knowing that years he has had the title of emeritus professor of Victoria when well cooked no ill consequences may befall those who University, while for eight years he has been Vice-Chancellor eat it, however nasty the idea may be, still the risk incurred of the of University London. During his long residence in by those who handle the raw meat must be considerable. Manchester Sir H. Roscoe has always shown much interest The verdict was that " Death was due to accidental inocula- in questions affecting the public health and medical men tion from anthrax bacilli," and the jury "expressed dissatis- everywhere will join in congratulating him upon his faction with the veterinary surgeon’s evidence and with the graduation jubilee. way in which he had handled the case." The matter is The Water-supply. serious for Cheshire and every care ought to be taken that no more disastrous blunders are made. Cremation of the The annual of report the Manchester Waterworks Com- carcass seems to be the only satisfactory mode of dealing mittee contains some interesting facts. The reservoirs, water- with these cases. courses, and subsidiary works at Longdendale, representing May 3rd.