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anything else , the Commission's "Report'' and Hall's sub s equent protest
underlined the sharp distinction existing between the old ways of
thought and the new ideas in sanitary science . It remained for the
Executive authority to make the choice: if it were not to be labelled
an anachronism in government , it must concede to Hall.
By the winter of 1858 the force and momentum of Hall's attack
on the poor conditions in Hobarton were increasing; his pen was never
idle; his style was Jprecise, decisive and convincing ; he knew he spoke
the truth and he spoke it with authority. He corresponded with the
Municipal Council concerning the inadequacies and dangers of the water
supply; 1 4
on the occasion of the Queen 's Birthday, he contributed a long
article to the Daily News on English vital statistics, which he compared
to those of Tasmania; 15 he also contributed another article, 00n the
Excessive Mortality in Tasmania in the first quarter of 1858" , to the
July number of the Australian Medical Journal . 16 In addition, he
assisted in the establishment of a Servants ' Home and , aided by five other
doctors, addressed a petition to the House of Assembly, protesting that
the proposed site of the new cemetery - on part of the Domain - was not
suitable and would be prejudicial to the Public Health , and recommending
the site proposed by Denison near Cornelian Bay. 1 7 From time to time ,
he wrote to the press to urge the council to improve the sewage and
drainage which was still so defective that he was ab le to write on
August 20, 1858 ,
As a medical man , I need scarcely advert to the sanitary
importance of a free and thorough drainage of a city like
Hobart Town, where in many localities masses of inhabitants
are huddled together, closely packed in crowded habitations ,
with no means of drainage whatever, and who are consequently
compelled to cast a vast quantity of filth either into their
yards or into the streets to the imminent peril of the
population by the propogation of sickness from the foul
miasma thus pestilentially generated. 18
On June 1, 1858, Hall ended his long, close association ,dth
his friend and ally Miller, who ceased pub lication of the Daily ews .
It had been a fruitful partnership .
Fortunately the Mercury was
sympathetically inclined and stepped into the breach.
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1 5
Daily News, May 14 , 1858 .
Daily News, May 24, 1858.
16 A.M.J., July , 1858 , pp . 165-178.
17 H.A.P., 1859/32.
18 Mercury, August 20, 1858.