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point, however, is not altogether free from doubt, and it is the intention
of the Board to introduce into Parliament a Bill which shall make it
clear that the Managers can deal with cases of Diphtheria. In the
meantime, if the Managers determine to admit such cases into any
Hospital under their control, the Board, with the view of removing
any difficulty with the Auditor, would be prepared, on application from
the Managers, to sanction any expenditure incurred in the treatment of
such cases which, in the opinion of the Auditor, was not open to question
otherwise than on the ground above referred to.
I am, &c.,
(Signei) S. B. TBOVIS,
Assistant Secretary.
W. F. Jebb, Esq."
The Asylums Board lost no time in giving effect to the
o o
implied consent of the Local Government Board to the admittance
of cases of diphtheria. The General Purposes Committee
reported, on the 23rd October, that they had that day instructed
the Committees for the Eastern, the Western, the NorthWestern,
and the South-Eastern Hospitals to "forthwith take
the necessary steps for the reception and treatment of 50 cases
(or thereabouts) of Diphtheria, in the first instance, into each
of those Hospitals and had at the same time " instructed the
Ambulance Committee to make the necessary arrangements for
the distribution and removal to the Managers' Hospitals of
cases of Diphtheria arising in the several Parishes and Unions
comprised in the Metropolitan District."
On the 30th October, moreover, the Clerk to the Managers
was instructed to address a circular letter to the several Boards
of Guardians, forwarding a copy of the Local Government
Board's letter, and " intimating that under the circumstances
the Managers are now prepared to take into their Hospitals
patients duly certified to be suffering from Diphtheria." A
cony of this circular letter and enclosure was also forwarded to
the several Sanitary Authorities in the Metropolis.
It may be here mentioned that the cases of diphtheria are
treated in wards set apart for the purpose, and that up to the