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72
THE METROPOLITAN ASYLUMS BOARD.
The work of the Asylums Board has of late years assumed
increased importance in relation to the work of the sanitary
authorities, by reason of legislation which has conferred
power on the Managers to discharge for the metropolis, as
a whole, the functions which, under the provisions of the
repealed Sanitary Act, 1866, formerly devolved upon the
Vestries and District Boards in their several districts. The
Board are now the central authority for providing hospital
accommodation, and an ambulance service, by land and water,
for the infectious sick, by warrant of law, as they previously
had been in fact; for it is well-known that legislation has
these many years, followed in the steps of the Managers'
practice in regard to all that concerns the removal of the sick
and their admittance to hospital. The ambulance arrangements
leave nothing to desire; the accommodation for the
sick, moreover, was always sufficient until within the last
few years; but the increased and increasing disposition of
the public to make use of the hospitals, which dates from the
scarlet fever epidemic of 1887, together with the enlarged
demands on the resources of the Managers consequent on
compulsory notification of infectious disease, have given rise
to difficulties to which reference has frequently been made in
these reports. Happily, the steps taken by the Managers,
with the approval of the Local Government Board, encourage
the belief that at no distant time the provision of accommodation
will be equal to the demand. The work of the Board
is summarised in three reports, issued annually, by the
Chairman (Sir E. H. Galsworthy), by the Statistical Committee,
and by the Ambulance Committee. These reports,
which have great interest for all who are concerned in the
sanitary government of London, and the several sanitary
districts thereof, had not been published when this report went
to press. I am, therefore, unable to follow my former practice
of summarising their contents for the information of your
Vestry.