View report page

23
possess, would not he subject and sensitive to public criticism, would
not possess the same ease of access to its benefits, and would savour of
charity.
Control.—A dispensary might be run under the sole control of the
municipality, or under that of the municipality plus certain co-opted representatives
from bodies interested in its work and management. The Astor
Committee say with respect to this, that "the Committee are of opinion . . . .
that the bodies legally responsible for the establishment and maintenance of
the tuberculosis dispensary should be the Councils, but they suggest that
arrangements should be made whereby, in view of payments that would be
made by Insurance Committees towards the expenses incurred in connection
with the dispensary in respect of the Committee's patients, the Councils
might agree to be guided, in matters appertaining to the staffing and internal
management of the dispensary, by the advice of a consultative committee
consisting of members of the two bodies appointed by the respective parties
in some agreed proportion. Voluntary bodies of an approved character
specially interested in tuberculosis might suitably be given representation on
this consultative committee." Nevertheless, as the sanitary authority is the
bod}- primarily concerned in the administration of the public health laws of
this country, it is self-evident that they must occupy the most important
position in any scheme which is not only curative, but also educational and
preventive.
From these extracts from the Astor Report, it will be seen that the second
resolution of the joint meeting of representatives of the Islington Health
League, the Islington Provisional Insurance Committee, and the Islington
and St. Pancras Branch of the British Medical Association is worthy of your
careful consideration.
It is embodied in a letter from Sir Victor Horsley, who presided at the
meeting, which is as follows :—
25, Cavendish Square, W.
9th November, 1912.
To the Chairman and Members of the
Public Health Committee.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am instructed by the Provisional Committee, composed of members of
the Borough Council,* the District Insurance Committee, the Medical Profession
of the Borough, the Islington Health League, and the Central Fund
for the establishment of Tuberculosis Dispensaries, to request you to lay
before your Public Health Committee the following resolutions passed at a
* These gentlemen were present in their capacity as members of the District Insurance (Committee
and the Islington Health League, and not as representatives of the Borough Council.—