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34
The matter first came under our consideration when we were reviewing the
estimates of expenditure and income for the year 1911-12 (inasmuch as the estimate
of the Public Health Committee included a sum of £650 to cover the cost of the
experiment for the year), but at that time we were not in a position fully to consider
the financial aspect involved in the proposal, and we therefore amended the estimate
of that Committee by transferring the amount to "Contingencies," increasing such
item by an additional sum of £650, in order that when we had had an opportunity
of further considering the matter we should be in a position, if satisfied with the
financial aspect, to submit the necessary estimate to the Council.
We deemed it necessary to proceed cautiously in the matter, having regard to
the fact that the proposal of the Public Health Committee constitutes a quite new
and additional feature of the Council's work, and notwithstanding that it was the
intention of the Public Health Committee to try the treatment as an experiment'
we felt that the Council, having once entered upon such an undertaking, it would
be well nigh impossible for them, having regard to the nature of the disease and the
lengthy treatment required in order to benefit most of its victims, to discontinue
paying for the treatment, whilst in addition we felt the expenditure would eventually
increase to such a sum as would inflict a heavy burden upon the ratepayers
of the Borough. In this connexion, we considered as to whether treatment of such
a disease as consumption was one which should be a charge upon the national exchequer
or a central body, such, for instance, as the Metropolitan Asylums Board, or
whether it should be borne by local sanitary authorities. If either the first or second
course were adopted, the charge for such treatment would be more equitably borne,
whilst if the last mentioned obtained, each sanitary authority would have to bear
the whole of the charges for its particular area, and this would press more heavily
upon some Boroughs than upon others. We may mention that we are advised there
are some 2,500 cases of consumption in the Borough, and that we are therefore in
sympathy with the object which the Public Health Committee have in view.
At our meeting on the day of the date of this report we were favoured with
the presence of the Chairman (Alderman Boustred) and Vice-Chairman (Councillor
Evans) of the Public Health Committee, who very fully explained the views of that
Committee to us. We gave the matter very lengthy consideration, and as the result,
by a majority, we did not see our way to submit the necessary estimate to the Council
as suggested by the Public Health Committee.
Inasmuch as the proposal involves a crucial question of policy, we submit the
matter to the Council for their decision.
We may state that, in the event of the Council deciding that it is advisable
to undertake the cost of maintenance of the sanatorium treatment of consumptives