SIR WALTER FOSTER (Derbyshire, Ilkeston)To ask the President of the Local Government Board whether any hospital has been erected by the Asylums Board for the treatment of poor law children affected with ringworm; and, if so, will he state the number of cases at present in the hospital and the number that have been treated there each year, the cost of the building, and the annual expenditure for the maintenance of the institution.
(Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) The Metropolitan Asylums Board have two establishments for the reception and treatment of poor law children suffering from ringworm—one at Sutton, Surrey, and the other at Witham, Essex. They were purchased from the Managers of the South Metropolitan School District for £99,307 (viz.: the Sutton establishment for £88,261 and the other for £11,046). In addition, an expenditure of £13,650 was authorised in 1902 in respect of the provision of a laundry at Sutton. The number of children in these schools on the 13th inst. was:—Sutton,419; Witham, 143; Total, 562. The total number of children admitted into the Sutton school from 26th February, 1903 (the date of opening) to the end of that year was 618. In the case of the other school, which was opened on 12th February, 1901, 316 children were admitted up to the end of 1902, and during 1903, 69 were admitted. The expenditure for the maintenance of the Witham school for the year ended Michaelmas, 1903, was £5,004, and in the case of the other school for the half year ending on that date £6,995.
† See (4) Debates, cxxvi., 688.