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the Gore Farm Estate, comprising some 135 acres at Darenth, is
always available upon emergency for the erection of huts, tents,
&c., equal to any probable demand for accommodation. The
Managers proposed to erect on this site a permanent hospital,
to contain ultimately one thousand beds, mainly for convalescent
patients. The plans were formally approved by the Local
Government Board in July, 1884, and it was anticipated that
by this time the hospital would have been built. But the Board
seeing reason for changing their views, opposed the scheme for
building a permanent hospital, being willing however to sanction
the necessary expenditure for the construction of wooden huts,
which they considered to be well suited for the purpose. The
Managers, on the other hand, adhered to their opinion that
wood is an objectionable material for the construction of a
small-pox hospital. But this was not the only ground of difference
between the two Authorities, for while the Board desired
that a permanent hospital should be erected on the site of the
North and South Camps, the Managers had decisively condemned
that site as unsuitable, and chosen another, higher up, described
as the "plateau site," in a secure and sheltered position, which
they considered in every way preferable. Owing to these
differences no steps were taken towards the erection of the
hospital in 1887, but at the meeting of the Managers, held
September 24, a communication was read intimating that the
Board would not further press their objections to the plateau
site, and giving consent to the use of brick in the construction
of the so-called "hut-hospital." The differences being thus
happily composed, it is not necessary to refer to them any further
than to mention that in my monthly reports I summarised the
correspondence, as it proceeded, and the reports of subcommittees
appointed by the Managers. Fortunately, moreover,
owing to the almost absolute freedom of the metropolis
from small-pox, there has been no need hitherto for the proposed
hospital, which is to contain accommodation for six
hundred convalescing small-pox patients, with administrative
building capable of serving one thousand