§ MR. D. N. NICOL (Argyll)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate, as representing the Secretary for Scotland whether he is aware that the Mid Argyll District Committee of the County Council of Argyll, in resolving to provide an infectious diseases hospital for the landward part of the district, selected, with the approval of the Local Government Board, a site adjoining to and only accessible through the Burgh of Lochgilphead and in the centre of a population exceeding 2,300; and whether, as four equally suitable and more favourably isolated sites were also obtainable in the vicinity of the burgh, he will meet the wishes of the ratepayers and institute an independent Inquiry, in order if possible to have the hospital (still unbuilt) erected on a site further away from the centre of population?
§ *THE LORD ADVOCATEI am informed that several sites had been selected by the Mid Argyll District Committee. Sir Henry Littlejohn, Medical Officer to the Local Government Board, visited the locality, heard parties on the spot, and, after careful personal inspection, recommended the site which is now the subject of complaint. The matter was subsequently brought before the Secretary for Scotland, who, after full reconsideration, saw no sufficient reason to dissent from the view expressed by the Medical Officer; under these circumstances he regrets that he is unable to comply with the suggestion of my hon. Friend to institute further inquiry. The site, I am informed, is an isolated one, and was selected not only for its special advantages as a hospital site, but also with reference to the requirements of the burgh and landward districts.