§ 2.35 p.m.
§ LORD AMULREEMy Lords, I beg to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they can confirm a report appearing in the Press of 18th March that the British hospital for British residents, in Paris, is closing down owing to the refusal of the Treasury to grant facilities to Sir Bernard Docker to provide the money required for its continuance.]
THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE MARQUESS OF READING)My Lords, the answer to the noble Lord's question is, No. As a matter of strict accuracy, the report of the statement by Sir Bernard and Lady Docker published in The Times of March 18 last alleged not refusal but delay on the part of the Treasury as the ground for withdrawing their offer.
The position is that the Hertford Hospital was closed to patients last year. At that time the difference between regular income and expenditure which had to be met by donations or out of capital had risen from £15,000 in 1948 to £26,000 in 1951, and out of a normal complement of 50 to 60 beds, only an average of between 21 and 25 were occupied. Last autumn the Charity Commissioners prepared a scheme whereby £30,000 was to be raised from endow-merits for the modernisation of the Hospital, which was founded in 1871. At the same time, Sir Bernard and Lady Docker offered a sum of £30,000, not towards the support of the existing Hospital but for the construction of a new 1074 "Docker Wing" of ten beds for fully paying patients.
Although remittances for the continuance of British charitable works abroad are normally approved without difficulty, remittances for capital expenditure on new developments must obviously be carefully scrutinised; and one of the points upon which the Treasury would need to be satisfied is that the new works, either alone or in conjunction with existing works, will constitute a viable proposition. It was upon this aspect of the scheme that the Treasury felt obliged to obtain fuller information than had been received when Sir Bernard and Lady Docker's offer was withdrawn. I understand that at a meeting of the Hospital Committee on March 31, the Chairman was requested to work out a fresh scheme calculated to ensure the continued existence of the Hospital.
My right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer would be prepared to consider sympathetically the remittance both of the capital sum needed for the cost of the new wing and of such future sums as would be required for maintenance of the Hospital as a whole, if he could receive satisfactory assurances that the Hospital's income from fees and donations would be adequate for its future needs.
§ LORD AMULREEMy Lords, I should like to thank the noble Marquess for the full explanation he has given me of the present state of affairs at the Hertford Hospital in Paris.
§ EARL JOWITTMy Lords, I should like to say that here there is a strong case. I hope that the noble Marquess will realise that there is a certain element of prestige involved in this matter. This hospital has a long and most honourable tradition, and to my mind it would not be anything but a grave misfortune if the hospital had to close down through lack of funds. I gather that that, too, is the view of the Government.
THE MARQUESS OF READINGMy Lords, I appreciate the point regarding prestige which the noble and learned Earl has raised and, as I have said, the Chancellor of the Exchequer is prepared to consider the situation. At the same time, the noble Earl will realise (and I am not in any way prejudging the matter) that it is a serious question, which has to be 1075 considered: whether in the present conditions and with the decrease of the British population in Paris, there is a case to be made for viable hospital on these lines.