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In the rapidly urbanizing Indian cities, large buildings are being built demolishing old buildings often with historic, cultural and architectural merit bringing the conflict between development and conservation. In Kolkata, the authority has taken a unilateral decision to construct high-rise buildings demolishing a hundred-year old Bow Barracks housing complex. The purpose of this paper is to present a research study that empirically explored the appropriateness of the policy decision and a recommendation for appropriate development based on the research result.

The design of the research is formulated on the survey method that encompasses observation, interview and collection of data through questionnaire, and survey, documentation and testing of architecture. All findings are analysed; research question and hypothesis are tested with validation.

The research has found that the old housing is of cultural heritage and use value, and the inhabitants are a very special community in Kolkata. The new development proposal in terms of space generation and cost involvement over the benefit of conserving the existing housing is not beneficial. Therefore, the decision of the local body, in terms of value for money, architecture, culture, heritage and sustainability is not proper.

Such a research exploring the benefit between development and conservation for choice of appropriate path of development in managing the development of a city in global south stands for its uniqueness.

That ice‐creams prepared with dirty materials and under dirty conditions will themselves be dirty is a proposition which, to the merely ordinary mind, appears to be sufficiently obvious without the institution of a series of elaborate and highly “scientific” experiments to attempt to prove it. But, to the mind of the bacteriological medicine‐man, it is by microbic culture alone that anything that is dirty can be scientifically proved to be so. Not long ago, it having been observed that the itinerant vendor of ice‐creams was in the habit of rinsing his glasses, and, some say, of washing himself—although this is doubtful—in a pail of water attached to his barrow, samples of the liquor contained by such pails were duly obtained, and were solemnly submitted to a well‐known bacteriologist for bacteriological examination. After the interval necessary for the carrying out of the bacterial rites required, the eminent expert's report was published, and it may be admitted that after a cautious study of the same the conclusion seems justifiable that the pail waters were dirty, although it may well be doubted that an allegation to this effect, based on the report, would have stood the test of cross‐examination. It is true that our old and valued friend the Bacillus coli communis was reported as present, but his reputation as an awful example and as a producer of evil has been so much damaged that no one but a dangerous bacteriologist would think of hanging a dog—or even an ice‐cream vendor—on the evidence afforded by his presence. A further illustration of bacteriological trop de zèle is afforded by the recent prosecutions of some vendors of ice‐cream, whose commodities were reported to contain “millions of microbes,” including, of course, the in‐evitable and ubiquitous Bacillus coli very “communis.” To institute a prosecution under the Sale of Food and Drugs Act upon the evidence yielded by a bacteriological examination of ice‐cream is a proceeding which is foredoomed, and rightly foredoomed, to failure. The only conceivable ground upon which such a prosecution could be undertaken is the allegation that the “millions of microbes ” make the ice‐cream injurious to health. Inas‐much as not one of these millions can be proved beyond the possibility of doubt to be injurious, in the present state of knowledge; and as millions of microbes exist in everything everywhere, the breakdown of such a case must be a foregone conclusion. Moreover, a glance at the Act will show that, under existing circumstances at any rate, samples cannot be submitted to public analysts for bacteriological examination—with which, in fact, the Act has nothing to do—even if such examinations yielded results upon which it would be possible to found action. In order to prevent the sale of foul and unwholesome or actual disease‐creating ice‐cream, the proper course is to control the premises where such articles are prepared; while, at the same time, the sale of such materials should also be checked by the methods employed under the Public Health Act in dealing with decomposed and polluted articles of food. In this, no doubt, the aid of the public analyst may sometimes be sought as one of the scientific advisers of the authority taking action, but not officially in his capacity as public analyst under the Adulteration Act. And in those cases in which such advice is sought it may be hoped that it will be based, as indeed it can be based, upon something more practical, tangible and certain than the nebulous results of a bacteriological test.

The Food Bill has emerged from the Grand Committee on Trade, and will shortly be submitted, as amended, to the House of Commons. Whatever further amendments may be introduced, the Bill, when passed into law, will but afford one more example of the impotence of repressive legislation in regard to the production and distribution of adulterated and inferior products. We do not say that the making of such laws and their enforcement are not of the highest importance in the interests of the community; their administration—feeble and inadequate as it must necessarily be—produces a valuable deterrent effect, and tends to educate public opinion and to improve commercial morality. But we say that by the very nature of those laws their working can result only in the exposure of a small portion of that which is bad without affording any indications as to that which is good, and that it is by the Control System alone that the problem can be solved. This fact has been recognised abroad, and is rapidly being recognised here. The system of Permanent Analytical Control was under discussion at the International Congress of Applied Chemistry, held at Brussels in 1894, and at the International Congress of Hygiene at Budapest in 1895, and the facts and explanations put forward have resulted in the introduction of the system into various countries. The establishment of this system in any country must be regarded as the most practical and effective method of ensuring the supply of good and genuine articles, and affords the only means through which public confidence can be ensured.

SEPTEMBER, as always, sees us contemplating our activities for the winter months. Exigencies of publishing compel us to write these notes a short time before that month begins, and our contemplation of things this year is coloured by the now rather remote possibility that September may bring the invasion that has been the shadow ahead for a year or more. To plan in a twilight time, as it were, is more than ordinarily difficult, and yet it is a commonsense and correct course to go on, not as if nothing could happen, but to the full extent of our means as they exist. Otherwise general paralysis would occur every time our statesmen warned us of possible attacks. There is no fear of such premature paralysis, however, as our people only want to be up and doing “with a heart for any date.”

This article explores the case of the Queensland's reformatory for boys through the years 1871–1919 to analyse how the institution negotiated the complex, and at times competing, goals of reforming, educating and punishing its inmate population.

The article relies on documentary evidence, including archival material produced by the institution and newspaper records published between 1865, when the legislation allowing the institution to be created was passed, to 1919, when the institution ceased to be known as a “reformatory”.

This research demonstrates that, despite considerable changes during the studied period, the overarching goal of reforming criminal and potentially criminal young people continuously relied on achieving a balance between reformative techniques such as religious instruction and work placements, providing a useful education and punishing offenders. It also demonstrates that, despite efforts to achieve this balance, the institution was often described as unsuccessful.

Due to the paucity of available archival evidence, there is still relatively little known about how the reformatories of late-19th- and early-20th-century Australia attempted to carry out programmes of moral reformation. This paper contributes to the field through an analysis of an institution which faced unusual challenges as a result of a complex inmate population.

A report on this subject has recently been issued by the Local Government Board. It owes its origin to the interest—unfortunately brief—that was aroused some two years ago, when certain allegations were made concerning the methods in vogue on the other side of the Atlantic for, the preparation of meat products intended to be placed on the English market, and has been drawn up by Dr. A. W. J. MACFADDEN. The report is based on the results obtained by Public Analysts throughout the country, who, in the performance of their official duties, were called upon to examine various samples of canned meat sent out by the United States packing houses; on certain statements made by trade representatives to Dr. MACFADDEN; and, finally, on the results of some analyses of canned meats made by Mr. ELLIS RICHARDS, F.I.C., at the request of the Board. The figures must be regarded as representative of the state of affairs then and now. By far the greater quantity of canned meat that reaches this country and is consumed therein is imported from the United States, and hence, almost of necessity, any criticisms that are made regarding this part of our food supply resolve themselves into criticisms of the Federal Meat Inspection law of the United States and the way in which it is applied by the officials there. The conclusion that Dr. MACFADDEN draws as to the efficacy of this law so far as it regards ourselves is one that was expressed in this journal in May last. He observes that “our position, so far as safeguards provided by American law are concerned, is apparently much as it was before the enactments came into force,” that “so far as the use of preservatives is concerned, the new law has not affected the conditions under which the canned meat trade has been conducted with this country in past years,” and that “the onus of protecting their inhabitants in this respect continues to rest, in the first place, with the Governments of the foreign countries themselves.” The first two statements are sufficiently damning, and the corollary is, of course, obvious. The difficulties must be tackled from this side, but the entire absence, up to the present, of all official standards renders the task of the Public Analyst and the other municipal officials who are jointly concerned with him as regards the health of the districts with which they are connected, a most difficult one, and the business of the unscrupulous “poisoner for dividends,” to use an American phrase, correspondingly easy. We go a little farther than Dr. MACFADDEN, and say that the new law does not protect us even with regard to the general wholesomeness of these products. As late as January last the Inspecting Officer of the Manchester Port Sanitary Authority had occasion to draw attention to the unsatisfactory nature of certain canned goods that were imported direct from America. The examination of a consignment of 1,200 six‐pound tins of canned meat showed that 157 tins were blown, and that 156 tins were of doubtful quality. It follows that in this single instance 1,800 pounds of garbage were exported to this country from the United States, the new law notwithstanding.

In an article on “Scientific Societies and Alien Enemies,” which appeared in the May issue of The British Food Journal, we expressed the hope that every British Scientific and Technical Society would take immediate steps to expel all foreign members who are to be numbered among the enemies of Great Britain and her Allies, and that each Society should pay special attention to the necessity of purging itself particularly from any existing German taint. Having stated that we were waiting to learn what had been done, or is to be done in this matter by such bodies as The Chemical Society, The Institute of Chemistry, The Society of Chemical Industry and the Royal Society— mentioning only a few of the institutions in whose lists of members the names of enemy aliens appear—we took occasion to point out that the Chemical Society and the Society of Chemical Industry, especially, were probably in need of drastic purification. Since that article was written it appears that the Council of the Chemical Society has taken the matter into consideration and, in this connection, we have been requested to publish two letters addressed to the President of the Society by one of its Fellows together with the President's reply. We comply with the request in view of the facts that the points raised by this correspondence are of public importance and that their application extends far beyond the mere question of a controversy within the narrow circle of a particular scientific body. COLONEL CASSAL, to whom we are indebted for supplying us with copies of the letters referred to, makes the following caustic remarks, with which we fully agree, in a covering letter:—“It will perhaps hardly be credited, but the fact remains, that the Council of the Chemical Society of London, one of the oldest scientific bodies in this country, which, on that account, if, unfortunately, at present, on no other, may possibly be thought to be entitled to some sort of public respect— has refused to take the necessary steps to bring about the immediate expulsion of the alien‐enemy members of the Society, among whom it is practically certain that there are several persons who are acting as expert advisers to the German Government in regard to the use, by their hordes of criminals, of corrosive fluids and poisonous gases in contravention of the universally recognised laws of honourable warfare. It will be seen that in its futile endeavour to find an excuse for its failure to discharge a plain duty the Council has hopelessly stultified itself, and there can be no doubt that the vast majority of the Fellows of the Society will repudiate the ludicrous and self‐condemnatory resolution which, at one and the same time, brings contempt on the Society and ridicule on the Council.”

Focuses on Roscher′s generalities in the financial realm. Roscher postulated a secular decline in interest rates and an evolution of credit towards increasingly productive applications. Although Roscher′s theories were plausible, questions whether he got his causes and effects right. If not, of what use was his historical methodology as a predictive quasi‐science? Points out that Roscher, like his contemporaries, failed to anticipate the proliferation of war debt and other public debt, consumer debt, corporate takeover financing and other non‐productive uses of credit. Concludes by comparing Roscher′s ideas with those of his contemporaries, and analysing the reasons why plausible economic forecasts failed to anticipate the experience of the twentieth century.

Outlines the development of English brickwork from 1485 to 1914, highlighting the many external influences that were underpinning the styles and practices of the various periods, such as developments in materials, craft skills and practices, and the change in architecture.

THE enlarged scale and more varied content of this year's Business Efficiency Exhibition recalls the importance of the office in modern business. So, too, do those vast, austere rectangular boxes whose modular construction makes them so depressingly alike. Those in London and other major cities can be matched exactly in Frankfurt or Brussels, Milan or Montreal. This is a natural consequence of the tendency for the number of manual workers to decline and of clerical ones to increase.