Parliamentary Intelligence
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752 Africa (55 as in-patients and 20 as out-patients). Her late Majesty Queen Victoria had, only a few days before her death, been graciously pleased to express her gratification at the special facilities that had been arranged for receiving the soldiers’ wives, and Her Majesty Queen Alexandra had -also expressed her great pleasure that these arrangements had been made. The expenditure for the year had been £871 in excess of the income, and the chairman made an urgent appeal for additional support to enable the committee to meet the increased expenditure caused by the larger hospital and the increase in the number of patients and by the rise in prices of many articles of hospital con- -sumption. ______________ Parliamentary Intelligence. NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS. Proposed Exemption of Hospitals from Local Rates. MR. LAWSON WALTON has introduced in the House of Commons a Bill providing for the exemption of hospitals from local rates. The place obtained for the order for its second reading is not one which offers much hope of the measure being discussed. Hours of Labour in Shops. The question of the hours of labour in shops is to be inquired into by a Select Committee of the House of Lords on which the Prime Minister, the Bishop of Winchester, Lord Avebury, and other peers will serve. HOUSE OF LORDS. THURSDAY, FEB. 28TH. Ambulance Wagons and Hospital Tents. Lord RIBBLESDALE called the attention of the House to the suggestions - made by the South African Hospitals Commission with regard to ambulance wagons and hospital tents and asked the Government whether any steps had been taken or were contemplated for giving effect to them.-Lord RAGLAN (Under Secretary of State for War) replied that changes were in contemplation in the pattern both of the ambulance wagons and of the hospital tents, and experiments were now being made, but it was extremely difficult to find the ideal tent or the ideal wagon ; and at present it was undesirable to put a stop to inquiry and experiment. The War Office was anxious to benefit by the experience of officers who had been in South Africa, some of whom were not yet home; but up to the present the following steps had been taken: In -July last a new pattern ambulance was built to the specification of the Royal Army Medical Corps and was sent down to Aldershot for experi- ment and report. The wagon was 1 cwt. lighter than the old pattern and it carried more men The old pattern carried 12 men seated or four -seated and two on stretchers. The new pattern carried 14 seated or six seated and four on stretchers The War Office had obtained as much ’information as possible about the ambulances in use in foreign armies. especially about the Austrian ambulance, of which many favourable reports had been received. This type had been sent to Aldershot for report and would then be sent to Woolwich, where the officials would confer with officers of the Royal Army Medical Corps and of the trans- port department who had recently returned trom South Africa. The ’question of tents was much complicated by the question of climate. The tortoise-tents were at first reported on very favourably from South Africa, but recent reports were not so good. It was not the ideal tent in bad weather ; and another, more satisfactory, seemed to have been - found. Trials of many kinds of tents were made last summer and autumn. Although there was unusual pressure at the War Office no time would be lost in remedying any defects which could be dealt ,with immediately. ’ HOUSE OF COMMONS. THURSDAY, FEB. 28TH. Woodstock Hospital still Being Used. Mr. ARTHUR STANLEY asked whether Woodstock Hospital, Cape Town, ’was still being used for enteric fever patients, and whether, in view of the smells which were acknowledged to exist at Woodstock, any steps had been taken to find another and more suitable site in the neighbourhood of Cape Town.-Lord STANLEY replied that the hospital was still being used for enteric fever patients. Many improvements had recently been made in the hospital and the senior medical officer in charge now described everything as satisfactory. The only change contemplated was the removal of the drainage outfall. The Small-pox Epidemic in Glasgow. ; Mr; THOMAS BAYLEY asked the Lord Advocate if he would institute an inquiry into the outbreak of small-pox in Glasgow in a manner similar to that in which the Local Government Board had granted inquiries on the occasions of recent outbreaks in England ; and if he would extend such inquiry into the sanitary con- ditions of the city and its water- supply.-The LORD ADVOCATE: I am informed by the Local Government Board for Scotland that there does not seem to them to be any reason at present for instituting an inquiry into the sanitary condition of Glasgow and its water-supply. The reference to the practice of the English Local Government Board is, I am informed by that Board, rather misleading. That Board usually send one of their medical inspectors to a district where small-pox is epidemic, in order that he may assist the local authorities with his advice and experience, but the Board have not on -any recent occasion held an inquiry into an outbreak of small-pox. FRIDAY, MARCH 1ST. . Lead and Arsenic Poisoning. I Mr. COGHILL asked the Home Secretary whether his attention had been called t,j the evidence given before the Arsenical Poisoning Com- mission as to the similarity of the symptoms of poisoning from arseni- cised beer and from: plumbism, and that Professor Oliver and Professor Thorpe had reported that beer was largely taken in the Staffordshire potteries as an antidote to plumbism ; and whether many of the reported cases of plumbism in the last four months of 1900 were cases of arsenical poisoning.-Mr. RITCHIE: Having made inquiries into this matter I find that during the last four months of 1900 three cases reported as cases of plumbism were considered by the medical inspector of factories and workshops to be really cases of arsenical poisoning and were excluded from the returns of lead poisoning. The cases are always carefully scrutinised for mistakes in reporting, and there is no reason to think that there were any other such cases not detected.-Mr. CoGHILL: Was complaint made of the beer supplied by the local brewers during these months ?-Mr. RITCHIE : I have received no such complaint. The London Water Question. Mr. WALTER LONG, in reply to Dr. MACNAMARA, said that he had no power to require the water companies to pay the oosb of the public inquiry into the proposed new regulations. He might add, he said, that if he possessed the power he should not consider that it ought to be exercised in this case. MONDAY, MARCH 4TH. , No. 8 General Hospital. Mr. BURDETT-COUTTS asked the Secretary of State for War whether he was aware that No. 8 General Hospital, one of the two largest hospitals at Bloemfontein, had remained on the same site for over 10 months, the ground being thoroughly infected with enteric poison in consequence of the number of enteric fever cases treated there during and since the epidemic of last year; whether, in view of the increased rate of mortality from enteric fever in South Africa, immediate inquiry would be made as to why this hospital camp, in accordance with recognised principles of sanitation, should not have been long since moved to an entirely new site; and whether he could give the number of enteric fever cases admitted to this hospital and the number of enteric fever deaths in it during each of the six months ending Jan. 31st.-Mr. BRODRICK: I am informed that this hospital has remained on the same site for 10 months, but there appears to be no reason for anxiety, as the site has been reported to be perfect and the sanitary reports up to Jan. 18th state that the general sanitary conditions were good. The figures of this hospital are as follows :—viz., August-admissions 220, deaths three ; September-admissions 154, deaths none; October- admissions 26, deaths one ; November-admissions 49, deaths five ; December-admissions 61, deaths three; January to 25th-admissions 93, deaths 12. The admissions in January are mostly of transfers from out-stations. The type of enteric fever is reported in January as severe, many of the cases being practically hopeless from the first. If any doubt is found to exist as to the sanitary condition I will under- take that the situation shall be changed. Civil Practitioners in South Africa. Mr. BURDETT-COUTTS asked the Secretary of State for War if he would state with regard to the last 50 civilian surgeons and physicians engaged by the Royal Army Medical Staff Corps for employment in South Africa the length of time for which each had been legally qualified before being sent out.-Mr. BRODRICK replied : 10 were qualified in 1901, 10 in 1900, and nine in 1899; the remaining 21 have been qualified for varying periods going back as far as 1876. TUESDAY, MARCH 5TH. Pneumonia on Board the Britannia. Captain PRETYMAN (Civil Lord of the Admiralty) said, in reply to questions on this subject, that it was true that two cadets and one of the instructors of the Britannia had recently died from complications following upon pneumonia and on Sunday last there were 16 cadets ill, two seriously. The cause of the large amount of pulmonary disease was the prevailing epidemic of influenza of a severe type. The hospital was by no means full. The cadets had been granted three weeks’ leave and the ship would be thoroughly purified and dis- infected while the cadets were away. Lead-poisoning among LTouse-painters. Mr. COGHILL asked the Home Secretary whether his attention had been called to the death of Richard Edwards, a house painter of 33, Pinnox-street, Tunstall, caused, as a coroner’s jury found, by lead- poisoning ; and whether he proposed to introduce any legislation for the protection of house-painters from lead-poisoning.-Mr. RITCHIE : I have inquired into the case and find that it does not come within any Act which I have to administer, and I do not see my way to proposing any such legislation as is suggested. Plague at the Cape. Sir WALTER FOSTER asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he could state the number of cases of plague that had occurred at Cape Town, according to his latest advices, distinguishing the number of Europeans and the number of natives attacked; whether at the time of the outbreak of the malady the authorities at Cape Town had an adequate supply of Haffkinine (prophylactic vaccine) and of Yersin’s curative serum for dealing with an outbreak, and whether a supply of these materials had since been sent out; and whether he would lay upon the table any reports received from Dr. Edington or Professor Simpson on the relation of the disease in rats to that in human beings. -Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: My information is not complete, but, as stated in the telegraphic bulletins which have been supplied by the Cape Government and published, there was a total of 20 cases for the week ending Feb. 16th and 29 cases remaining under treatment at that date. On Feb. 23rd there were 21 cases remaining under treatment. So far as I am aware there has been one European case. As to the second part of the question I have no information ; the matter is one for the respon- sible Government of the Cape Colony. As to the third part, I have not seen these reports which I understand are being prepared for the information of the Cape Government, and I am not aware that they have been published by that Government.
Transcript of Parliamentary Intelligence
752
Africa (55 as in-patients and 20 as out-patients). Her lateMajesty Queen Victoria had, only a few days before herdeath, been graciously pleased to express her gratificationat the special facilities that had been arranged for receivingthe soldiers’ wives, and Her Majesty Queen Alexandra had-also expressed her great pleasure that these arrangementshad been made. The expenditure for the year had been£871 in excess of the income, and the chairman made anurgent appeal for additional support to enable the committeeto meet the increased expenditure caused by the largerhospital and the increase in the number of patients andby the rise in prices of many articles of hospital con-
-sumption. ______________
Parliamentary Intelligence.NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
Proposed Exemption of Hospitals from Local Rates.MR. LAWSON WALTON has introduced in the House of Commons a
Bill providing for the exemption of hospitals from local rates. The
place obtained for the order for its second reading is not one whichoffers much hope of the measure being discussed.
Hours of Labour in Shops.The question of the hours of labour in shops is to be inquired into by
a Select Committee of the House of Lords on which the Prime Minister,the Bishop of Winchester, Lord Avebury, and other peers will serve.
HOUSE OF LORDS.
THURSDAY, FEB. 28TH.Ambulance Wagons and Hospital Tents.
Lord RIBBLESDALE called the attention of the House to the suggestions- made by the South African Hospitals Commission with regard toambulance wagons and hospital tents and asked the Governmentwhether any steps had been taken or were contemplated for giving effectto them.-Lord RAGLAN (Under Secretary of State for War) replied thatchanges were in contemplation in the pattern both of the ambulancewagons and of the hospital tents, and experiments were now beingmade, but it was extremely difficult to find the ideal tent or the idealwagon ; and at present it was undesirable to put a stop to inquiry andexperiment. The War Office was anxious to benefit by the experienceof officers who had been in South Africa, some of whom were not yethome; but up to the present the following steps had been taken: In-July last a new pattern ambulance was built to the specification of theRoyal Army Medical Corps and was sent down to Aldershot for experi-ment and report. The wagon was 1 cwt. lighter than the old patternand it carried more men The old pattern carried 12 men seated or four-seated and two on stretchers. The new pattern carried 14 seated or sixseated and four on stretchers The War Office had obtained as much’information as possible about the ambulances in use in foreign armies.especially about the Austrian ambulance, of which many favourablereports had been received. This type had been sent to Aldershot forreport and would then be sent to Woolwich, where the officials wouldconfer with officers of the Royal Army Medical Corps and of the trans-port department who had recently returned trom South Africa. The’question of tents was much complicated by the question of climate.The tortoise-tents were at first reported on very favourably from SouthAfrica, but recent reports were not so good. It was not the ideal tentin bad weather ; and another, more satisfactory, seemed to have been- found. Trials of many kinds of tents were made last summer andautumn. Although there was unusual pressure at the War Office notime would be lost in remedying any defects which could be dealt,with immediately.
’
HOUSE OF COMMONS.
THURSDAY, FEB. 28TH.Woodstock Hospital still Being Used.
Mr. ARTHUR STANLEY asked whether Woodstock Hospital, Cape Town,’was still being used for enteric fever patients, and whether, in view of thesmells which were acknowledged to exist at Woodstock, any steps hadbeen taken to find another and more suitable site in the neighbourhoodof Cape Town.-Lord STANLEY replied that the hospital was still beingused for enteric fever patients. Many improvements had recently beenmade in the hospital and the senior medical officer in charge nowdescribed everything as satisfactory. The only change contemplatedwas the removal of the drainage outfall.
The Small-pox Epidemic in Glasgow. - ;Mr; THOMAS BAYLEY asked the Lord Advocate if he would institute
an inquiry into the outbreak of small-pox in Glasgow in a mannersimilar to that in which the Local Government Board had grantedinquiries on the occasions of recent outbreaks in England ;and if he would extend such inquiry into the sanitary con-
ditions of the city and its water- supply.-The LORD ADVOCATE:I am informed by the Local Government Board for Scotlandthat there does not seem to them to be any reason at present forinstituting an inquiry into the sanitary condition of Glasgow and itswater-supply. The reference to the practice of the English LocalGovernment Board is, I am informed by that Board, rather misleading.That Board usually send one of their medical inspectors to a districtwhere small-pox is epidemic, in order that he may assist the localauthorities with his advice and experience, but the Board have not on-any recent occasion held an inquiry into an outbreak of small-pox.
FRIDAY, MARCH 1ST.
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Lead and Arsenic Poisoning.I Mr. COGHILL asked the Home Secretary whether his attention hadbeen called t,j the evidence given before the Arsenical Poisoning Com-mission as to the similarity of the symptoms of poisoning from arseni-cised beer and from: plumbism, and that Professor Oliver and ProfessorThorpe had reported that beer was largely taken in the Staffordshirepotteries as an antidote to plumbism ; and whether many of the reportedcases of plumbism in the last four months of 1900 were cases ofarsenical poisoning.-Mr. RITCHIE: Having made inquiries into thismatter I find that during the last four months of 1900 three casesreported as cases of plumbism were considered by the medicalinspector of factories and workshops to be really cases of arsenicalpoisoning and were excluded from the returns of lead poisoning. Thecases are always carefully scrutinised for mistakes in reporting, andthere is no reason to think that there were any other such cases notdetected.-Mr. CoGHILL: Was complaint made of the beer suppliedby the local brewers during these months ?-Mr. RITCHIE : I havereceived no such complaint.
The London Water Question.Mr. WALTER LONG, in reply to Dr. MACNAMARA, said that he had no
power to require the water companies to pay the oosb of the publicinquiry into the proposed new regulations. He might add, he said,that if he possessed the power he should not consider that it ought tobe exercised in this case.
MONDAY, MARCH 4TH.
,
No. 8 General Hospital.Mr. BURDETT-COUTTS asked the Secretary of State for War whether
he was aware that No. 8 General Hospital, one of the two largesthospitals at Bloemfontein, had remained on the same site for over 10months, the ground being thoroughly infected with enteric poison inconsequence of the number of enteric fever cases treated there during andsince the epidemic of last year; whether, in view of the increased rate ofmortality from enteric fever in South Africa, immediate inquiry wouldbe made as to why this hospital camp, in accordance with recognisedprinciples of sanitation, should not have been long since moved toan entirely new site; and whether he could give the number ofenteric fever cases admitted to this hospital and the number of entericfever deaths in it during each of the six months ending Jan. 31st.-Mr.BRODRICK: I am informed that this hospital has remained on the samesite for 10 months, but there appears to be no reason for anxiety, as thesite has been reported to be perfect and the sanitary reports up toJan. 18th state that the general sanitary conditions were good. Thefigures of this hospital are as follows :—viz., August-admissions 220,deaths three ; September-admissions 154, deaths none; October-admissions 26, deaths one ; November-admissions 49, deaths five ;December-admissions 61, deaths three; January to 25th-admissions93, deaths 12. The admissions in January are mostly of transfers fromout-stations. The type of enteric fever is reported in January as
severe, many of the cases being practically hopeless from the first. Ifany doubt is found to exist as to the sanitary condition I will under-take that the situation shall be changed.
Civil Practitioners in South Africa.Mr. BURDETT-COUTTS asked the Secretary of State for War if he
would state with regard to the last 50 civilian surgeons and physiciansengaged by the Royal Army Medical Staff Corps for employment inSouth Africa the length of time for which each had been legallyqualified before being sent out.-Mr. BRODRICK replied : 10 were
qualified in 1901, 10 in 1900, and nine in 1899; the remaining 21 havebeen qualified for varying periods going back as far as 1876.
TUESDAY, MARCH 5TH.Pneumonia on Board the Britannia.
Captain PRETYMAN (Civil Lord of the Admiralty) said, in reply toquestions on this subject, that it was true that two cadets and one ofthe instructors of the Britannia had recently died from complicationsfollowing upon pneumonia and on Sunday last there were 16 cadets ill,two seriously. The cause of the large amount of pulmonary diseasewas the prevailing epidemic of influenza of a severe type. Thehospital was by no means full. The cadets had been granted threeweeks’ leave and the ship would be thoroughly purified and dis-infected while the cadets were away.
Lead-poisoning among LTouse-painters.Mr. COGHILL asked the Home Secretary whether his attention had
been called to the death of Richard Edwards, a house painter of33, Pinnox-street, Tunstall, caused, as a coroner’s jury found, by lead-poisoning ; and whether he proposed to introduce any legislation forthe protection of house-painters from lead-poisoning.-Mr. RITCHIE :I have inquired into the case and find that it does not come within anyAct which I have to administer, and I do not see my way to proposingany such legislation as is suggested.
Plague at the Cape.Sir WALTER FOSTER asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies
whether he could state the number of cases of plague that hadoccurred at Cape Town, according to his latest advices, distinguishingthe number of Europeans and the number of natives attacked; whetherat the time of the outbreak of the malady the authorities at Cape Townhad an adequate supply of Haffkinine (prophylactic vaccine) and ofYersin’s curative serum for dealing with an outbreak, and whether asupply of these materials had since been sent out; and whether he wouldlay upon the table any reports received from Dr. Edington or ProfessorSimpson on the relation of the disease in rats to that in human beings.-Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: My information is not complete, but, as statedin the telegraphic bulletins which have been supplied by the CapeGovernment and published, there was a total of 20 cases for the weekending Feb. 16th and 29 cases remaining under treatment at that date.On Feb. 23rd there were 21 cases remaining under treatment. So far as Iam aware there has been one European case. As to the second part ofthe question I have no information ; the matter is one for the respon-sible Government of the Cape Colony. As to the third part, I havenot seen these reports which I understand are being prepared for theinformation of the Cape Government, and I am not aware that theyhave been published by that Government.
