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patients, were applied for immediately on arrival and have been
in constant use ever since in spite of the inclement weather'.
One was lent to an ex-service man and one to a civilian, and
both have been much appreciated.
The Care-Committee has again done much useful work
on the social and financial side of the Tuberculosis scheme. As
considerable difficulty was experienced in finding a voluntary
Secretary, and as the many changes gave rise to much disturbance,
the Council decided to appoint an official Secretary to
carry out the duties under the supervision of the administrative
Tuberculosis Officer. The matter was still under discussion at
the end of the year.
There are living in the Borough 123 tuberculous ex-service
men, who attend at the Dispensary at regular intervals in order
to keep under observation and who are given preferential treatment
in the matter of institutional treatment and training under
the Ministry of Pensions.
Their pensions eliminate much of the financial strain
experienced by the civilian tuberculous patients and lead one to
wish that a complete pension scheme could be established for
all adult sufferers from tuberculosis, who are rarely able to
maintain themselves and their families by regular work. A
pension scheme of this kind would enable one to solve some
of the difficult problems which present themselves, and of which
the following is one example : —
A man aged 45, who has worked as a baker all his
life and who has a wife and two young children to
support, is found to be tuberculous. Baking is a trade
bad for his health and the fact of his being tuberculous
is bad for the community. If he gives up his work,
he and his family are faced with starvation. Could
one offer him a pension on condition that he ceased
work, one would not hesitate to do so: and both the
man and the community would be the gainers.
The following statistics have been compiled in order to