§ MR. CLELAND (Glasgow, Bridgeton)To ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that a hospital called the Southern Hospital has been erected near Carshalton, in Surrey, by the Metropolitan Asylums Board, that the hospital was finished at the end of 1906, at a cost of more than £180000 for expenses of erection, and that it is standing entirely unused at considerable expense of maintenance and danger of deterioration; whether there are any medical purposes to which it could be applied for the alleviation of infectious diseases; and, if so, whether he will direct the Metropolitan Asylums Board to find some use for this institution.
§ (Answered by Mr. John Burns.) I am aware that the managers have erected this hospital for fever cases and that it is not at present used for that purpose. The question of its use for other purposes has not been lost sight of, either by the managers or by the Local Government Board, and will be again considered as soon as circumstances permit; but until the existing prevalence of fever has abated it is thought desirable that the accommodation afforded by this hospital should be held in reserve. Meanwhile I am assured that the managers are carefully 111 maintaining the building in. proper order and repair. I shall continue to give attention to the matter.