Mr. Austin, the secretary to the Health of Towns Association, came down in the autumn of 1846 to make an inspection of the city, and report upon the works and alterations necessary to be undertaken for the purpose of securing the greatest possible amount of health and comfort to the inhabitants. Mr. Austin presented his report to the City Commissioners in December, 1846, and so able and informative was it deemed that it was ordered, on the motion of Mr. Pierpoint, to be printed for general circulation; and a sum of £20 was afterwards voted him by the same body. Mr. Austin estimated the gross cost of drainage for the entire city, proper water supply to every house, baths and washhouses, conversion of soil for agricultural purposes, at £74,000; he believed a revenue of £19,000 per annum might be derived from such works when carried into full efficiency; the interest and expenses of management he set down at £11,650. Some parties, unconnected with either of the two governing bodies in the city, this year gave notice of their intention to apply to Parliament for a “City Improvement Act,” in which powers would be taken to carry out all those alterations which were felt to be so necessary for the good ordering of the town; but this project was soon abandoned, and the City Commissioners declared that, if Parliament did not that year introduce a general act, they would themselves apply for an extension of powers to enable them to carry out needful sanitary improvements. At a dinner given to Captain Candler, in February, 1847, Lord Lyttelton strongly pressed upon the Mayor, and citizens of Worcester generally, the desirability of at once carrying out the suggestions of Mr. Austin’s report in their integrity. The Government having introduced the Public Health Act into Parliament, in the spring of 1847, petitions in its favour were forwarded from Worcester, one of which was signed by 700 of the working classes. The principal difference between the measure as introduced by the Whig and Conservative Governments was, that the one proposed by the latter placed the “centralising” power in the hands of the Home Secretary, instead of the Central Board, and would have constituted new local bodies for working out the act, instead of placing it in the hands of the Town Councils, which the Whigs did on principle.