§ CAPTAIN FENWICK (Durham, Houghton-le-Spring)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether, taking into consideration the desire of Local Authorities to build hospitals of iron lined with felt, in order to cope with sudden outbreaks of small-pox and other infectious diseases, he will sanction Local Authorities borrowing money to erect such buildings, provided the plans are approved by the architect of the Local Government Board, even if it is thought necessary to make the term of years in which the loan is to be paid back a shorter one than is now the custom?
§ *THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. H. H. FOWLER,) Wolverhampton, E.The Local Government Board are continually pressing Sanitary Authorities to provide for their districts proper hospital accommodation of a permanent character for the treatment of cases of infectious diseases ordinarily current in this country, and they are always prepared to entertain applications for sanction to loans in respect of such hospitals. It too frequently happens, however, that a Sanitary Authority does not provide any hospital accommodation until there is a serious outbreak of infectious disease, and then an iron building is hurriedly put up. These buildings can only be regarded as emergency hospitals, and it is very rarely that they are found to be adapted or adaptable except for the temporary requirements of the district, and it is not the practice of the Board to sanction a loan in these cases.