§ MR. GODDARDsaid, he wished to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council, Whether his attention has been directed to a paragraph emanating from the British Medical Journal, headed "The Dead among the Living," and to inquire whether it is in their power to enforce upon the London vestries the fulfilment of that Clause in the Sanitary Act with reference to providing Parish Mortuaries for the use of the poor inhabitants of the metropolis, which both the interests of the public health as well as the cause of suffering humanity, so urgently demands?
§ LORD ROBERT MONTAGUsaid, in reply, that no doubt the British Medical Journal was a publication of considerable influence and authority; but his attention 517 had not been directed to the paragraph or article in question. It was, however, perfectly optional with the London vestries whether they enforced the clauses of the Sanitary Act or not, for the Government had, under the Act of 1866, no power over them.