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tion of wages when in residence in a sanatorium is the greatest obstacle
to their usefulness to the bulk of the working classes. There is no doubt
that the system which provides for the detection of early cases, which
enables a man to continue his work during his treatment, because his case
has not progressed too far, and which supervises his home arrangements
during his treatment, is the one best adapted at least expense to discover
the sources and origins of tuberculosis in the daily lives of the people.
For this reason such a system presents the most favourable prospects
for establishing such an amount of control over the disease in its various
manifestations, as may in future lead to its practical disappearance as a
cause of illness, suffering, and death.
As regards the powers of Metropolitan Borough Councils to establish
and maintain anti-tuberculosis dispensaries, the Local Government Board
in a letter to the Town Clerk of Bermondsey, dated 15th December, 1910,
states that "the Board are advised that the provisions of Section 75 of
the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, would empower a sanitary
authority (Borough Council) to provide an out-patient hospital or
dispensary at which any inhabitant of the district suffering from tuberculosis
would be received for medical treatment and advice." Section 75
of the Act also enables two or more sanitary authorities to combine in
providing such an out-patient hospital or dispensary.