THE EARL OF CARNARVONsaid, he desired to call the attention of the noble Earl the President of the Council to a subject which had been brought under the notice of the House by a noble Marquess (the Marquess Townshend) a few evenings ago—he referred to the statement with regard to the Strand Union Workhouse. He would not now say anything as to the management of the workhouse, but it was admitted beyond question that the sick wards are small and crowded; and as if to aggravate the matter, a large carpet-beating establishment had been sanctioned under the windows of the sick wards, which was most injurious to the health of those who occupied them. In summer there was no alternative but either to close the windows and suffocate the patients, or to open the windows and to poison them with clouds of dust. His noble Friend, in answer to the noble Marquess, was reported to have said that no complaint of this discreditable state of things had been made by the doctors attached to the workhouse. Now he was informed that complaints had been made over and over again by the doctor who attended the workhouse to the Board of Guardians, and he believed that communications had passed on the subject between the guardians and the Poor Law Board. The late Mr. Wakley, on one occasion when holding an inquest there, was 1869 so struck by the bad construction of the buildings that he remonstrated on the subject. The President of the Council had also said that 300 feet of air was the allowance for each person; but he believed that the Poor Law Board required 300 cubic feet of air for each able-bodied person in the dormitories, and that for each person in the sick wards 500 cubic feet was the minimum. Now, he was of opinion that even 500 cubic feet was not sufficient for the necessities of the case. The Military Hospital Commission laid down that 1,200 feet of air was the least that should be allowed, and of course military hospitals were generally better situated than workhouse hospitals. The eminent doctors and surgeons who lately signed a memorandum, which the noble Earl might have seen, on the subject of workhouse infirmaries, had stated that in their opinion not less than 1,000 feet of air was necessary. If he recollected rightly, 900 feet of air was allowed to the convict in his cell. All that would go to show that the allowance of 500 feet was far below the mark, and yet he felt bound to say that in the vast majority of the London workhouses the space allowed was far below that minimum. He believed in the Strand Union there were only two wards which contained more, while the far greater number had even less.
§ EARL GRANVILLEthanked his noble Friend for having given him an opportunity of correcting an inaccuracy in connection with this matter. The doctors had never made any representation to the Poor Law Board on the subject in question, but the communication to which he had referred had come from the Board of Guardians, As to the number of cubic feet, his answer was given with regard to the casual wards, to which he understood the question applied, and not to the sick wards. The Poor Law Board required 300 cubic feet for the casual wards; and they added that they required more for the sick wards, without, however, specifying how much more. It would be satisfactory to the noble Earl to hear that a short time ago the Medical Inspector of the Poor Law Board and the architect were desired to make a round of the workhouses in order to make an inspection and report upon this subject.
§ House adjourned at a quarter before Six o'clock, till To morrow, half past Ten o'clock.