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33
influence of kind treatment in the hospital, and in one way or
another the truth sooner or later leaks out.
It has been with no slight regret that I have felt myself obliged to
refer again, and at such great length, to this vexed question of the
hospital: but so long as the establishment is assailed, I have no
choice. It is necessary that your Vestry and the public should, from
time to time, be informed how the matter really stands : otherwise
judgment might go by default. The accusers of the hospital have
recently applied to the Local Government Board for an enquiry, and
for my part, I should not be sorry to see their request granted,
as it would probably have the effect of putting an end to an agitation
which is useless and, at the same time, injurious to the district.
THE HAMPSTEAD SMALL-POX HOSPITAL CASE.
This important case has now reached the House of Lords : but it is
doubtful whether it will be argued during the current session. Meanwhile
the hospital is closed—a matter of the less moment as the
remaining hospitals are more than sufficient for the number of patients
requiring to be admitted. Whatever the issue of the Managers'
appeal against the adverse verdict, the consequences will be important
to the public in a sanitary point of view. Should it go against the
Managers, it is more than probable an attempt will be made to close
Fulham Hospital, amongst others, though with little prospect of success,
the circumstances of the two hospitals, qua situation and surroundings,
being so different. Be this as it may, there can he no doubt it would
be for the general good that the Managers should succeed, as otherwise
they could hardly carry on their work within the Metropolis : and it
is notorious that the further patients are taken from their homes, the
greater is the danger incurred in their removal—the less the prospect
of their recovery. It would follow that many cases which, under existing
arrangements go into hospitals, would, in less favourable circumstances,
be kept at home, to the increase of danger of the spread of infectious
diseases among the community.
HOSPITAL ACCOMMODATION FOR OASES OF
INFECTIOUS DISEASE.
In an "addendum" to my last annual report, I referred to sect. 15
of the "Poor Law Act, 1879," as an attempt by the late Government