§ MR. LITTLE (Whitehaven)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether the Harrow Local Board requested the Local Government Board to sanction a loan for the purpose of erecting an Isolation Hospital for Infectious Diseases on the 7th December last; whether an inquiry was held on the 5th of April in this year; whether any communication has yet been made to the Harrow Local Board as to the result of the said inquiry; and what is the cause of the delay; and are similar delays common when like applications are made?
§ MR. H. H. FOWLERThe Local Board have been informed of the suggestions which have been made with regard to the proposed hospital by the Inspectors by whom the inquiry was held, and that, subject to such suggestions being satisfactorily met, the loan applied for will be sanctioned by the Local Government Board. The facts as to the date of the application and of the inquiry are as stated. The inquiry was one which it was necessary should be held by two Inspectors of the Department, an Engineering and a Medical Inspector, and the arrangements with regard to the large number of Provisional Order inquiries, and the visitation of the ports by the Medical Inspectors in connection with precautions against cholera, occasioned in this case an exceptional delay which is regretted.