certain regulation, embodied in the Bill they were then considering, were
carried into effect, it would, in some instances, not only injure
property, but prevent improvement. Partial objections of this nature,
which after all may be very slight things, often prevent most useful
measures from being carried. But why should there not be a discretionary
power vested somewhere to relax any provision which, in particular cases,
might be found harsh or inapplicable? This power might be given to a
central office, or to local boards of health. Any suggestion of this
kind is liable to objections; and the truth is, that to introduce
sanitary provisions into a state of things not prepared for them, must at
first be a matter cumbered with difficulties; but, as Lord Lyndhurst has
said, "a difficulty is a thing to be overcome." Mr. Carlyle has pointed
out what a wonderful production a soldier is, still more a body of them,
and all the apparatus by which they are kept in working order. And, as
he goes on to argue, governments could not exist if this human fighting
machine were not in good keeping, and, therefore, it is well cared for at
all times. Now if governments did but perceive the importance of some
regulation for the dwellings of the poor, if they looked at it only as a
matter of finance (for, eventually, the state pays for all disease and
distress), it is probable they would put their shoulders to the wheel,
and get it out of the difficulty, at least as far as their fair share of
the matter goes.

Again, the more difficulty there is in legislating on this subject, and
especially if it can be shown that there is difficulty connected with it
of a kind almost insuperable by mere legislative efforts, the more there
remains for private individuals to do. I cannot believe but that human
ingenuity, in some form or other, will be able to surmount the evil in
question. The difference of expense in building a row of small cottages,
back to back, which it will be hard to ventilate, and which must be
without the most obvious household requisites, and that of building a row
of cottages each of which shall have a yard at the back, will be about 22
per cent. upon the outlay. Where one would cost 100 pounds, which is a
good price for the lowest class cottages, the other would cost 122
pounds. This calculation is independent of the cost of the additional
land which would be required. It is melancholy to think that this 22
pounds, a