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36
of the necessary equipment, furniture, etc., for the Hospital, and
the determination and selection of the necessary staff would
occupy the Medical Superintendent for a period of not less than
twelve months. The Committee also desired to benefit by the
experience and advice of the Medical Superintendent during the
construction of the Hospital, and to permit him to exercise supervision
in regard to the many details involved.
The Foundation Stone was laid on June 20th, 1934, by Mr.
(now Sir Laurence) L. G. Brock, C.B., Chairman of the Board of
Control. The ceremony was attended by the Worshipful the
Mayors of East Ham and Southend-on-Sea (Alderman W. W.
Bagot, J.P., and Councillor H. E. Frith, J.P.), and by Aldermen
and Councillors of both Authorities.
The Chairman of the Joint Committee (Councillor H. B.
Harper, J.P.) presided at the luncheon which followed the stonelaying
and was supported by all the members of the Joint Visiting
Committee. Councillor Harper outlined the work of the Committee
since its inception, the many difficulties with which they
had to contend, and the progress attained. He expressed the
thanks of the Committee for the help afforded to them by the
Chairman (Sir George Wyatt Trustcott, Bart., J.P.) and Members
of the Mental Hospital Committee of the Corporation of London.
Councillor Harper stated that from the time they formulated
the plans and submitted them to the Board, these were dealt with
in a most expeditious manner. The urgent need and acute position,
particularly of East Ham, justified that, and they had to
thank Mr. Brock for the solution of their difficulties. The Committee
were satisfied that in planning the Hospital they would
obtain everything that human sympathy and medical skill could
devise. The Mental Hospitals of the future were going to be
hospitals for the treatment of patients with the object of restoring
them to health, and not merely barracks for the housing of these
unfortunate people.
In reply thereto, Mr. L. G. Brock enunciated at some length
modern scientific thought, and the principles underlying care
and treatment. He stated that it was a very large, a very vital
and important service, that everything in this Hospital had been