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16
TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH COMMITTEE.
Gentlemen,
In reference to the letter from the Metropolitan Asylums
Board as to the reception into their hospitals of cases of Small-pox
from Leyton, in which they point out that in the case of an
epidemic of that disease they could not, assuming what is most
likely, that the epidemic affected London and Leyton simultaneously,
undertake to provide accommodation for more than a sporadic
case or two, I may be permitted to refer to a paragraph in my
Annual Report of 1909.
"This arrangement (arrangement with the Metropolitan
Asylums Board for the reception of Small-pox cases from Leyton),
however, is terminable at short notice The. Metropolitan Asylums
Board refuse to enter into any lengthy agreement, and state it
is not their practice to do so. This refusal to enter into such an
agreement is to be regretted, for in the event of an epidemic of
Small-pox, in which we in common with London might be
involved, we might be left to shift for ourselves at the very time
we most required hospital accommodation."
The matter was discussed by this Committee, and it was
thought that the refusal of the Metropolitan Asylums Board to
enter into an agreement was a mere technicality, and that we
were amply secured.
That such is not the case the present letter sufficiently
emphasises, and I cannot too strongly urge the Council to make
immediate provision to insure the protection of the inhabitants