§ COLONEL NOLAN (Galway, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if the Local Government Board has lately issued any instructions to rural Boards of Guardians with respect to the course to be adopted in case cholera should break out; if the Local Government Board possesses any temporary hospitals or huts which can be at once furnished on an outburst of cholera to any locality; and has it made any provisions for an immediate supply of nurses for first cases?
§ MR. ASQUITH (who replied)said: The Local Government Board have issued full instructions to all Sanitary Authorities, including Boards of Guardians, as to the course to be adopted in case cholera should break out in Ireland; and during the present year the Board have been in frequent communication with Sanitary Authorities on the subject, both by correspondence and by personal 464 conference between the Authorities and the Board's Inspectors. It is believed the Authorities are now fully alive to their duties and responsibilities in the matter. The Board have no hospitals or huts which could be furnished for the use of Local Authorities, but they have prepared plans and specifications for an inexpensive form of temporary hospital, particulars of which have been communicated to the Authorities, and will be found in the Board's last Annual Report lately presented to Parliament. I may also observe that an Act has been passed this Session enabling Sanitary Authorities to take possesion of land for the erection of cholera hospitals. With regard to the last paragraph of the question, it is the duty of the Local Authorities to provide nurses; and the Board, through their Medical Inspectors, as well as by a recent Circular Letter, have impressed upon the Local Authorities the importance of this matter, and pointed out how the object in view can be attained.