§ BARON HENRY DE WORMSasked the President of the Local Government Board, Whether, seeing that the small-pox epidemic is very much on the increase in Greenwich and other parts of the Metropolis, and that the hospitals of the Asylums Board are overcrowded and incapable of dealing with the emergency, any, and what, steps will be taken by the Local Government Board to secure extra accommodation for smallpox patients whose confinement in crowded dwellings must tend greatly to increase the spread of the epidemic?
§ MR. DODSONSir, the Board have been earnestly pressing both upon the Guardians and the Vestries and District 1823 Boards the necessity of supplementing the hospital accommodation for small-pox patients at the disposal of the Asylums Board, and I am glad to state that in several instances effect has been given to the Board's representations. At the same time, there is no doubt of the need for further provision for the isolation of these cases, and the Board are endeavouring to secure it; but it is scarcely necessary to state that the subject is one of great perplexity and difficulty.
§ MR. DAWSONasked, whether there was any arrangement with the London hospitals for a convalescent home for the isolation of patients during the earlier progress of their recovery, which was the most dangerous period for the spread of the infection?
§ MR. DODSONsaid, that no steps had been taken in that direction.
§ MR. DAWSONgave Notice that he would on another occasion ask the right hon. Gentleman what were his intentions in regard to this subject.