§ MR. T. W. RUSSELL (Tyrone, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that it is proposed to erect a smallpox hospital for Belfast within the asylum grounds at Purdysburn, County Down; that there is an industrial and agricultural population in the immediate neighbourhood, and that objection has been taken to the erection of the hospital; and if he can state what the medical officers of the Irish Local Government Board have decided to be the striking distance of smallpox contagion; and if the asylum itself and the homes of the people are outside the distance.
§ MR. WYNDHAMThe site of the temporary smallpox hospital is on lands acquired by the Belfast Corporation for Asylum purposes, but which were subsequently allocated to hospital purposes by the City of Belfast (Hospitals) Act of 1898. The site is 300 yards from the nearest dwelling houses. Some objections have been received by the Corporation to the erection of the hospital. Neither the Local Government Board nor their Inspectors have prescribed any fixed limit as the striking distance of smallpox contagion.
§ MR. T. W. RUSSELLIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the striking distance of smallpox is clearly laid down 1392 by the English Local Government Board, and will he state whether two national schools and a large number of cottages are, in this case, within that striking distance?
§ MR. WYNDHAMI am not responsible for the Local Government Board of England, but, on the facts before me, it seems to me the only alternative would have been to continue the hospital at the workhouse, in the centre of a thick population.
§ MR. T. W. RUSSELLMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman, seeing that considerable alarm exists in the locality, whether he will inquire as to the rules adopted by the Local Government Board in England in similar cases.
§ MR. WYNDHAMYes, Sir. I shall be very glad to do that, if my hon. friend will direct my attention to the facts.