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for two stations only, at a cost of £5,000 a year, was substituted in the Bill; but the Committee
had not been able to obtain any proper estimate of the cost of such a service. The motion to
reinsert the clauses was also opposed by Earl Beauchamp on behalf of the Government; it being
the opinion of the Home Office that the scheme had not yet received that mature consideration
which it ought to have before the power sought was given to the County Council. The Secretary of
State, moreover, believed it would be better to follow the line of developing the resources already
existing in London, than, by a revolutionary change, to inaugurate an entirely new system. The
Home Office, it was stated, would be anxious, in co-operation with all other bodies which took an
interest in the subject, to do what they could to improve the ambulance service in London.
The Secretary of State, it was understood, would summon a conference representing the
County Council, the Metropolitan Police, and the Home Office, to consider what should be done.
No reference was subsequently made, in the course of debate, to the Metropolitan Asylums Board,
with its vast and unequalled experience; the body which the Council represented in their petition
to the Houses of Parliament, to be the best qualified for dealing with the matter in a satisfactory
manner. Meantime, the Corporation went forward with their scheme for the City, having decided
to provide two stations, and motor ambulances.
Towards the end of the year the promised Committee was appointed; the members of
it being Sir Kenelm Digby (Chairman), representing the Home Office and the Metropolitan
Police, Sir William Collins, M.P., M.D., representing the County Council, and the Earl of Stamford,
who, as a former manager and member of the Ambulance Committee, may be held to represent the
Metropolitan Asylums Board. The reference to the Committee, is, "to inquire as to the provision
made for dealing with cases of accident and sudden illness occurring in streets and public places
within the Metropolis, and to report." The inquiry had not been opened at the close of the year.
THE AMBULANCE SERVICE OF THE METROPOLITAN ASYLUMS BOARD.
Extension of the Board's ambulance service to the transport of non-infectious patients.—At
a meeting of the Asylums Board, on 27th October, the Ambulance Committee were instructed to—
"Report fully (a) what action, if any, they had taken under the resolution of 28th November,
1903,* authorising the extension of the ambulance service to include the transport of medical,
surgical and mental cases, upon the necessary legal authority being obtained; and (b) whether
it was with their approval, or authority, that the Commissioner of Police has issued Instruction
No. 26 of the Police Orders, dated 12th June, 1906, which states that the Board's ambulance
service is available within the County of London, for the general convenience of the public
requiring urgent treatment at hospitals and other places, in cases of serious injury or illness,
other than an infectious disease."
The Committee, on December 8th, presented a report, under the above heading, which, as
regards (a), is an interesting resume of the Board's proceedings in regard to the matter, to which I
need not now make particular reference, having kept the Council informed on the subject, from
time to time, in the monthly reports.
The Committee explained that—
"As they had no reason to anticipate any other than a favourable reply to the Managers'
first application [in December, 1903] to the Local Government Board, for permission to deal with
the removal to hospital, or elsewhere, of non-infectious patients, and having regard to the fact
that a majority of the Metropolitan Borough Councils, Boards of Guardians, and authorities of
General Hospitals, had expressed themselves in favour of this work being undertaken by the
Managers, they had permitted, and were permitting, the non-infectious cases of the classes
before mentioned to be conveyed by the Managers' ambulances, upon the terms [payment of a
small fee] laid down in the Board's resolution of the 28th November, 1903.†
The Committee stated the amount of this work carried out in 1904 and 1905, as mentioned
in their reports for those years, adding that—
"In anticipation of the [Local Government Board's] sanction they had not hesitated to set
apart, at all stations, ambulances for this special work, and to employ them for the conveyance
of urgent cases at any hour of the day or night."
*The resolution referred to was as follows:—"That, in the opinion of the Managers, it is desirable and practicable
to extend the operations of their ambulance service so as to include the transport of medical, surgical, and mental cases, for
which application may, from time to time, be made by any authority or person within the Metropolis; provided that such
extension of the ambulance service shall not be held to include the removal of cases of street accident, nor of patients to and
from the several lunatic asylums under the control of the London County Council, unless by special sanction of the Ambulance
Committee, or, in emergency, of the Chairman of that Committee, or the Clerk to the Board.
"That, upon the necessary legal authority being obtained for the Managers by the Local Government Board, the
work be immediately undertaken, and a charge of 7s. 6d. made in respect of each removal, and, in addition, a mileage of 1s. 6d
beyond the boundary of the Metropolis."
The proviso in the first paragraph of the resolution was introduced, no doubt, because it was known that the County
Council were taking steps with a view to the establishment of a Street Accident Service.