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131
sometimes be treated at their homes under suitable sanitary conditions,
or continue treatment at home after a short stay in a
Sanatorium.''
It is certain that there is a large population essentially of
the Dispensary class within half-a-mile radius of the extreme
southerly border of Stoke Newington (Matthias Road); and if a
Dispensary were established in Matthias Road or its immediate
neighbourhood, it would draw upon dwellers not only in Stoke
Newington but also in Islington, and to a less extent in Hackney.
I, therefore, approached the Medical Officers of Health of Islington
and Hackney to ascertain to what extent they would be prepared
to co-operate in such provision. The suggestion, however, was
not favourably entertained by the neighbouring Medical Officers
of Health, mainly on the grounds that it would prejudice the
establishment of similar provisions in other localities within these
Boroughs where they were more needed. Since Stoke Newington
could not maintain a fully staffed Dispensary of its own, because
we have not enough of the poorer class population within our
borders to sufficiently employ such a Dispensary, the possibility
of the adoption of a scheme which falls short of the complete
provision has been considered.
The Departmental Committee appointed by the Government
advised, and the Local Government Board has endorsed the
principle, that Local Sanitary Authorities should organise a
scheme for dealing with Tuberculosis in the population generally,
and both the Committee and the Local Government Board have
indicated the methods by which this can be pursued. It is
obvious that the project of dealing with Consumption on both
the preventative and curative side, on anything approaching a
useful scale, would entail a cost which would represent a considerable
increase upon the local rates. But this difficulty has been
partly met, so far as the provision of Institutions is concerned, by a
Government grant of one and a-half million pounds and by the
Chancellor's undertaking to provide a further sum to meet half