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66
Kensington Borough Council as to the desirability of the unused
accommodation provided by the Metropolitan Asylums Board for
small-pox at Dartford being utilised for the treatment of persons
suffering from consumption; and further, that the cost of the
provision and of the administration of such treatment be a charge
upon the Metropolis generally. The resolution was laid before the
Local Government Board. Owing to lack of unanimity among the
Metropolitan Boroughs, the Metropolitan Asylums Board wrote in
January adjourning the whole question for 12 months. Subsequently
the Board decided that the proposal involved so considerable an
extension of the duties and responsibilities of the Board, and so
large an increase in their expenditure, as to call for some authoritative
expression of opinion by the Local Government Board before
any definite action could be taken. I understand that the Managers
of the Metropolitan Asylums Board are still awaiting the decision
of the Local Government Board.

In the first quarter of the year there were 84 deaths; in the
second, 53; in the third, 52; and in the fourth 62.
The number of males is, as usual, much in excess of the females.
This fact is probably accounted for by the greater degree of
exposure of men, not only to infection but to all the disadvantages
of occupation, inclement weather, exhaustion, fatigue, etc. Men
run the risks of infection in workshops, public-houses, and-public
places much more than do women; and their work also frequently