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Charges.
When Rateable Value does not
exceed £2o a year £0 5 0 per week
Exceeding ,£20 and below £30 0 10 0 ,, ,,
,, £30 ,, £40 0 15 0 ,, ,,
,, £40 ,, £50 1 1 0 ,, ,,
,, £50 ,, £100 2 2 0 ,, ,,
,, £100 ,, ... 3 3 0 ,, ,,
No charge beyond £1 is. a week will be made
for Servants sent by their Employers.
The law on the subject is laid down in
section 132 of the Public Health Act of 1875 as
follows:- "Any expense incurred by a Local
"Authority in maintaining in a Hospital.
"a patient who is not a pauper shall be deemed
"to be a debt due from such patient to the Local
"Authority, and may be recovered from him at
"any time within six months after his discharge
"from such Hospital ... or from his Estate
"in the event of his dying in such Hospital."
The word "may" here used seems to give
the Local Authority the opportunity of exercising
a wise discretion in recovering these charges, and
it is no doubt the case that in several instances
these have been remitted altogether. But it should
be borne in mind that the chief object of an Isolation
Hospital is not primarily to provide better treatment
and nursing for the infectious sick than can be obtained
for them in their own homes, for if such alone
were the chief object the ratepayers might equally
be called upon to provide general Hospitals. The
main object of these Hospitals is based on the
fact that a person suffering from an infectious
disease within the meaning of the Act is a source
of danger to other people, and should be isolated
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