View report page

75
Charing Cross. Detailed particulars of the scheme were given as regards the description of premises
to be used for the stations, the kind of motor ambulance to be adopted, the stand-posts for
the "calls" (not more than a quarter of a mile from any place within the area of the three mile
radius), the staff required, and the cost of the service, the estimated capital cost and the annual
cost. The recommendation made was—
"That the scheme for the establishment of an ambulance service for London to deal
with street accidents within a three mile radius of Charing Cross, and providing for (1)
the erection and maintenance of a principal ambulance station and seven district stations,
(2) motor ambulances worked by electricity, and (3) a method of giving calls by means
of street call-posts fitted with telephones, be approved."
The scheme was confessedly tentative, it not being proposed to embark on any heavy
capital expenditure in connection with the erection or adaptation of buildings, which for the most
part were to be rented, until experience should have been gained of the working of the scheme.
The Finance Committee of the County Council reported adversely to the recommendation
of the General Purposes Committee; their criticism of the scheme being "based purely on financial
grounds, and without regard to the need of such a service or the merits of the scheme." But on
25th July, the Council adopted the report, and decided to apply to Parliament for powers to
establish an ambulance service. Their general approval to the scheme, however, was qualified by
an instruction to the Committee to report further upon the questions raised by the Finance Committee.
Subsequently, the General Purposes Committee presented a further report, stating that they
had "arrived at the conclusion that it is desirable that a less expensive scheme should be in the
first instance established;" viz., two Stations, one north and one south of the river; the latter in
Lambeth, near St. Thomas's Hospital; "near Charing Cross" being indicated as the site of the
second station.
The estimated cost of providing this service was stated to be £5,200 (including an initial
outlay of £2,200); an amount which " must not be regarded as other than approximate," but which
the Committee "believe" will "cover the cost of the initial expenditure for, and the equipment of,
the two Stations, and the expenditure for the first year." The Finance Committee, in a report
dated 13th December, observed, with reference to this proposal, that" there can be little doubt
that, should the scheme be found successful, its extension must be anticipated."
The formal recommendation of the General Purposes Committee was—
"That an experimental scheme for the establishment of an ambulance service to deal
with street accidents, and providing for (1) two ambulance Stations, (2) motor appliances
and wheeled litters, and (3) a method of giving calls by means of street call-posts fitted
with telephones, be approved."
The recommendation was adopted, without discussion, at the meeting of the Council on
December 19th, and clauses were inserted in the General Powers Bill for 1906, with a view to the
Council obtaining the necessary authority.
The scheme is obviously inadequate; but the Committee are not "without hope that the
Council may receive the co-operation and assistance of various voluntary associations interested
in the provision of an adequate ambulance service." Be this as it may, they think that the two
stations, " together with one which (they) understand the City Corporation proposes to establish
within the City of London, would render ambulance services available for the zone in which
street accidents are most frequent."
The City Scheme— Reference having been made to the City, it may be mentioned that the
street ambulance question had for some time engaged the attention of the Corporation. It formed
the subject of a report—" Horse Ambulance System in the City of London "—by the Commissioner
of Police, to the Police Committee, dated 24th February, 1904. The Committee, on 30th March,
1905, in a report to the Court of Common Council, outlined a scheme for giving effect to the
Commissioners views, and appended thereto the opinions of many distinguished medical and
other authorities who had attended them as a deputation of the Metropolitan Street Ambulance