§ MR. T. W. RUSSELL (Tyrone, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that, in dealing with special hospitals for smallpox patients, the Local Government Board insist upon the buildings being at least a quarter of a mile from any dwelling-house, that being the striking distance of the contagion upon which the English authorities act; and, whether he is aware that at Perdysburn, County Down, where the Corporation of the city of Belfast propose to erect a temporary smallpox hospital, there are inhabited houses, a dairy, and a national school within the radius as prescribed in England; whether the sanction of the Local Government Board is required, or has been given, for the erection of this building; and, is he aware that the city of Belfast, although a seaport, is without any smallpox or isolation hospital.
THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. WYNUHAM,) DoverThe requirement pointed out in the first paragraph is insisted upon by the English Local Government Board only in the case of smallpox hospitals provided out of loans sanctioned by it. The sanction of the Irish Department is not required, unless in the event of an application for a loan. If such an application be made, the Board will consider the question in all its bearings. The Board of Guardians maintain an isolation hospital in Belfast in which smallpox cases are treated.