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I quote the only two that have come, so far, to
my knowledge. A town C, with a population of
47,898, had 670 cases and 9 deaths. A town D,
with a population of 32,490, had 324 cases and
10 deaths. This was in 1906. I have no information
as to whether these towns have the
advantage of an Isolation Hospital, but it may
be taken for granted they have; nevertheless we
may, I consider, fairly assume that our Hospital has
been to some extent the means of saving us from a
far larger number of cases than we otherwise should
have had. Last year at this time the question of an
enlargement or not of the Tolworth Hospital was
still sub judice, and I referred to the subject in
my Report then about to be issued, pointing out thatthough
the hospital did not afford beds in the proportion
that was generally accepted as a basis for
the population to be served, viz., one bed per thousand
of the population, yet as we were at that time, and
still are, I apprehend, in the position of being able
to dispose of our surplus cases in the neighbouring
hospitals at a cost per case less, certainly not more,
than we are paying at Tolworth, I could not see the
necessity for incurring so large an expenditure, the
more so as we could not hope to make an addition
sufficient to cope with outbreaks. However, I considered
the matter was mainly one of finance, and
that if any addition was to be made, it should be a
sine qua non that two or more single-bedded
observation wards should be provided. Since then
the Joint Board has decided to proceed with the
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