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49
" In this memorial it was proposed—
"'(a) That an Order of the Local Government Board be obtained to make Section
"5 of the Metropolitan Poor Act, 1867, applicable to the case of 'poor persons'
" suffering from pulmonary phthisis (consumption); and, if necessary,
"'(6) That an Act be obtained to make the provisions of Section 80 of the Public
"Health (London) Act, 1891, applicable to pulmonary phthisis (consumption), as if such
" disease were therein mentioned as well as ' fever or smallpox or diphtheria.'
"With the object of ascertaining, in the first instance, the views of the Local Government
Board, of the several Metropolitan City and Borough Councils, Boards of Guardians,
and Sick Asylum Districts, and of the administrative bodies of the hospitals for consumptives
at Brompton and Victoria Park and in the City Road, upon this most important
subject, we gave directions at our meeting on the 8th May last, for a copy of the memorial,
together with a copy of the speeches delivered in support thereof by Dr. T. Orme Dudfield,
Sir William Broadbent, Bart., Sir Edmund Hay Currie, and others, to be forwarded to
these authorities. We at the same time directed that the Boards of Guardians should also
be asked to inform the Managers what steps (if any) they had taken to deal with tuberculous
cases in their infirmaries, and with what results.
"The Local Government Board have since replied, in a letter dated 27th June last, to
the effect that whilst they were then 'obtaining information on the whole subject,' they
were not 'in a position to express an opinion on the question as to whether the Managers
should undertake the new duties suggested.'
"In the absence of any authoritative expression of opinion by the Local Government
Board, and as the result of our consideration of the question in all its bearings, we
recommend—
"' That the Managers do forward to the Local Government Board a copy of the
"memorial addressed to the Managers by the Metropolitan Branch of the Incorporated
"Society of Medical Officers of Health on the 15th April, 1905. . . on the subject
"of the provision of hospital accom modation for the treatment and isolation of patients
" suffering from pulmonary phthisis;
"'That the Local Government Board be further informed that, having regard to
"the uncertainty which prevails as to the probable number of patients who would come
"under the scheme referred to in the memorial, and to the great prospective cost to
"the ratepayers of the Metropolis, the Managers will be glad to receive the judgment
" of the Local Government Board upon the prayer of the memorial referred to.' "
The report was adopted.
It need hardly be pointed out that, after all the efforts made during the last four years,
the matter has advanced not a whit beyond the stage attained in November, 1903, when
the Managers, having been urged by many influential authorities, including the Metropolitan
Branch of the Society of Medical Officers of Health, to undertake the treatment of persons
suffering from consumption, passed a resolution to the effect—
"That the matter is one of such vital and far reaching importance to the community
at large, and the proposal one which, if adopted by the Managers, would entail so considerable
an extension of their duties and responsibilities, and so large an increase in
their expenditure, as to call for some authoritative expression of opinion by the chief health
authority of the country, viz., the Local Government Board, before the Managers are
asked to take any definite action in the matter, or to make any further enquiries in
regard thereto. .”
It is now obvious that nothing in the way of initiative is to be expected from the Managers:
it remains, therefore, to be seen what action the Local Government Board under the new
President, will take in regard to this matter, so vital to the interests of the community, and
especially of the working classes.