If canvassing is not prohibited, a list of the members of the town council, with their addresses, should then be procured, to whom printed copies of the application and testimonials should be sent, accompanied by an autograph letter asking that the application and testimonials should be read.
This should be followed up (if possible, immediately), by a journey to the town and a personal visit to each member of the council or corporation, not necessarily for the purpose of soliciting a vote, but with a view to making the acquaintance of the members of the corporation and to identify the applicant with his testimonials; and in these visits great tact and patience are necessary. It is also of importance to seek and obtain all the outside influence that is possible, in order to bear upon the members of the corporation, by means of letters of introduction, and informal testimonials as to eligibility for the appointment, and personal character and position, &c.
Canvassing on behalf of oneself is extremely unpleasant and harrassing work; but wrong as the system may appear to be, it is not easy to see how, in municipal government, any other method can be adopted, and the visit of the candidate to each member gives the latter an opportunity of asking him questions and satisfying himself as to his qualifications, and thus he will not feel he is acting blindly when he gives his vote in favour of that candidate whom he thinks, after a personal interview, the most suitable for the appointment.
[3] This seems to be an undue interference with the control which a surveyor should always have over his men.
[4] “A person shall not be appointed Medical Officer of Health under this Act unless he is a legally qualified medical practitioner” (38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, sec. 191).
[5] Vide ‘Calendar of the Sanitary Institution of Great Britain for the year 1880.’
CHAPTER III.
THE SURVEYOR’S DUTIES.
It will be observed on reference to the [list] of the duties of the surveyor, given in the preceding chapter, that the first on the list is as follows:—