§ BARON HENRY DE WORMSasked the President of the Local Government Board, Whether it is a fact that the smallpox hospital ships now moored off Greenwich are so close to the shore that there is great danger of their causing the epidemic to spread to the adjoining districts; that before they were placed in their present positions, thereby greatly impeding the free use and value of the wharves in front of which they are moored, no notice was given to the owners of those wharves; and that, owing to the serious inconvenience caused by the presence of these ships to the free navigation of the River Thames, the Thames Conservancy Board and the Metropolitan District Asylum Board of Managers were and are in favour of their being moored lower down the river; if so, whether any steps are to be taken to remove these vessels from their present positions, and thus to obviate the danger of the epidemic spreading among the numerous workmen employed in the various shipbuilding and other yards abutting on the shore?
§ MR. DODSONSir, I cannot admit that it is a fact that these ships are so close to the shore that there is great danger of their spreading small-pox to the adjoining districts; in fact, I was distinctly advised by one of the Medical Inspectors, who has had great experience in these epidemics, that no such danger need be apprehended. No direct notice was given to the owners of the wharves in front of which the ships were moored; but the preparations for their removal were publicly known for some time before the ships were placed there, and no objections were made against the course proposed. I am not aware of any serious inconvenience to the navigation; and, so far from the Thames Conservancy Board objecting to the position, the spot was adopted on their suggestion. The Metropolitan Asylum Managers did propose to place the ships much lower down the river, 1203 but not for the reason suggested. I was, however, advised that acute cases could not without serious risk and danger be removed to such a distance; and, therefore, the ships were moored off Greenwich, close by the spot where the Dreadnought hospital ship lay on a previous occasion, and, as far as we are aware, without any ill effect. With respect to the removal of the vessels, it is only intended that they shall remain there during the pressure of the present epidemic.
§ BARON HENRY DE WORMSasked whether the right hon. Gentleman would state the distance which the ships were from the shore, and whether he was aware that the sewage passed into the river there?
§ MR. DODSONNot having measured it, I should not like to say what the distance is; but I have been on board the ships myself.