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57
the Table at page 26. It is probable, moreover, that in the event
of a severe epidemic, the demands on the hospitals would be more
pressing than ever, as a result of the passing of the Infectious
Disease (Notification) Act, 1889. Few cases now escape notification,
and the more cases notified the greater the number of sick
persons requiring isolation in hospital. It is well, therefore, that the
Managers are now convinced that a new fever hospital for about
400 patients is indispensable for the relief of the Eastern Hospital,
and since the close of the official year they have sealed a provisional
contract (subject to the approval of the Local Government
Board) for the purchase, at £12,000, of 15 acres of land at
Stamford Hill, in the north of London, whereon to erect the proposed
new fever hospital. The site is stated to be " in all respects
suitable for the erection of a hospital, being, as it is, ample in
area, of a convenient shape, and readily accessible by main
thoroughfares from those districts of the Metropolis which the
proposed hospital is intended to serve." It measures 850 by 800
feet, and is about a quarter of a mile from St. Anne's Station on
the Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway, Midland
Company. So far, so good. But in my view the Metropolis will
not be fully equipped for meeting all emergencies without the provision
of another hospital for convalescent fever and diphtheria
cases south of the river.
NORTHERN CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL.
It has already been shewn (page 52) what good use the
Managers of the Asylums Board made of the Gore Farm Hospital
at the crisis of the scarlet fever epidemic in the autumn. The
accommodation at the Northern Hospital for Convalescents had
proved insufficient, and it was well that, owing to the freedom of
the Metropolis from small-pox, it was possible to utilize the
Darenth Hospital. The Northern Hospital has not yet attained
its full dimensions; but the Managers have resolved, with the
approval of the Local Government Board, to make provision for
future enlargement, by providing additional accommodation for