344

<the Tivid, additional, for Devonport Dockyard ; Edward B.Pickthorn to the Vernon; John A. L. Campbell to the Stork;and James G. Towler to the Sharpshooter.

ARMY MEDICAL RESERVE OF OFFICERS.

Surgeon-Lieutenant David L, Anderson, lst Banff Volun-teer Artillery, to be Surgeon-Captain.

VOLUNTEER CORPS.

Royal Engineers : lst Sussex: Surgeon - LieutenantA. H. Croucher, M.D., to be Surgeon-Captain. Ri,fle :2nd (Berwickshire) Volunteer Battalion the King’s OwnScottish Borderers : David Robertson Dobie, M.D., to be

Surgeon - Lieutenant. 2nd Volunteer Battalion the East tiLancashire Regiment: Charles Edward Reading Bucknill, ai

gent., to be Surgeon-Lieutenant. CADET BATTALIONS.

lst Cadet Battalion the Buffs (East Kent Regiment) : Acting-Surgeon C. W. Scott, M.B., resigns his appointment.

,

THE LATE SURGEON-MAJOR MANSER. rE

The esteem in which Dr. Manser, who fell a victim to the A

.plague and a sacrifice to duty, was held in India is evidenced by the appreciative obituary notices in the Indian papers"brought us this week by the mail. The Bombay liGazette says : "It is not too much to say that by Dr. tiManser’s death Western India loses a medical man of D

exceptional talent, and the Government a most competent b.and trusted medical officer." a

DEATHS IN THE SERVICES. n

Surgeon-Major T. W. Wilson (retired), Bengal Medical Service, on the 15th inst. at South Kensington. Thedeceased officer was eighty-four years of age. e

Information has been received notifying the departure i from the West Indies of the s.s. Atrato, with twelve invalids from Jamaica and Barbados for the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley. r

Brigade-Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel J. Arnott, M.D., hasbeen granted a distinguished service reward of &pound;100 per annum. ‘

The distribution of prizes in connexion with the Volun- i

teer Medical Staff Corps will be made at Calthorpe-street, W.C., by the Countess of Albemarle, on Saturday, Feb. 6th, sat 7 A.M. The prize distribution will be followed by a dance. :=============rr===r===

BRITISH MEDICAL BENEVOLENT FUND.-Theannual general meeting of subscribers to this fund was heldon the 14th inst. at the residence of the treasurer, Sir W. H.Broadbent, Bart. The chair was taken by Sir James Paget,Bart., the President of the Fund. The financial statementand the report of the committee were submitted, and fromthem it appeared that subscriptions of &pound;1185 9s. 8d. and dona-tions of R36519s. 6d., making together &pound;1551 9s. 2d., had beenreceived. The income from investments (all made accordingto the Trust Acts) amounted to f:2086. The amount dis-tributed in grants was &pound;1464 15s., and 107 annuitants hadreceived f:2114 6s. 8d. The distribution had been made by thehonorary financial secretary through the London and CountyBank, chiefly in monthly instalments, a mode which thecommittee find to be more and more desirable. Fivenew annuitants of &pound;20 each had been elected to fillvacancies caused by death, and grants had been madeto 159 applicants in sums varying from &pound;5 to &pound;20.Four legacies had been received during the year-viz. :from the executors of the late Mr. Tanton, f’.1953 6s. 2d. ;from the executors of the late Dr. Fearnside, E300 ; fromthe executors of the late Mr. D. Rees Thomas, &pound;50 ; and fromthe executors of the late Miss Hawes, &pound;90. The last of thesehad, by desire of the testator, been devoted to the Grant Department. This year the accounts had been exhaustivelyaudited by a chartered accountant and the working expenseshad been satisfactorily small. The committee had receivedwith regret the resignation of Dr. Robinson and Mr. S. G.Sloman, who hid for many years acted as hon. localsecretaries for Eastbourne and Farnham respectively, andwho had daring that time been invaluable fiiends to thecharity. Mr. R. E. W. Brewer had undertaken the honorarylocal secretaryship for Newport, Monmouthshire. Votes ofthanks were passed by acclamation to the treasurer andhonorary secretaries, to the auditors, and to the honorarychartered accountant and to the medical press, and a verycordial vote of thanks to Sir James Paget, the chairman,for the great interest which he has always manifested in the- welfare of the fund.

Correspondence."Audi alteram partem."

"A CENTRAL HOSPITAL BOARD FORLONDON."

To the Editors of THE LANCET.

SIRS, -At the meeting summoned by the Charity Organisa-.on Society on Monday it was noteworthy that, although themendments were rejected, only a very small minority of theundreds present voted for the original resolution. TheLttef was so framed that it was almost impossible to argue inavour of altering it without getting out of order. Surelyvery step, the earlier as well as the later ones, in forming a;entral Hospital Board should be taken by a committee ofepresentatives duly elected by the institutions concerned.Lt present we have a general committee of 168 individuals,irho no doubt represent all kinds of excellent qualities, butvho can only be said to represent the hospitals in the veryimited sense in which a sample is representative. Organisa-ion by pseudo-representation and semi-self-elected bodiesias already done mischief enough to our hospitals. They)ear . the same relation to a duly elected body thatm icicle does to a piece of sculpture. The formernay assume a beautiful form and it may not, even

when its material is absolutely clear and crystalline.At best it has no market value. Sculpture may be uglyenough, too, but if a man has modelled it himself it generallypleases him. It is of no use to tell us that " nothing is yetinally settled," that " there will be time," &c. Evil has tooe checked in the inception. They can seldom be stoppedafterwards. What confidence can reasonably be felt in amethod of proceeding which has produced a scheme of repre-sentation with peculiarities of which the following are

specimens ? A general hospital of from 150 to 200 beds, if it iswise enough not to start a new medical school, is to have onerepresentative-i. e., as many as a private house recentlymade into a small "hospital" for private ends. If it doesstart a school it will have four representatives, as many asthe London Hospital with its 800 beds. A respectablehospital such as the Blackfriars Skin Hospital will have norepresentative. If it chose to call its large out-patientdepartment a "dispensary "it would have one representative.The representatives of the general practitioners are to be

elected by the local branches of the British Medical Asso-ciation, to which thousands of practitioners do not belong,and to which hundreds of consultants do. And so on; I

only stop from fear of trespassing on your space. Why donot those who wish to see a Central Board established pro-ceed as follows :-(a) Give ample notice (not five days) of ameeting at some central place-e.g., King’s College;(b) invite the board of management and the medical staff ofevery hospital and public dispensary, small or great, to electand send one representative ; exclude all others from the

meetings, except as reporters or spectators; (c) put to themeeting the simple primary question of "board" or "noboard; and (d) if an affirmative be voted discuss schemesor a scheme of constitution for the new board-i.e., of dis-tribution of representation. I annex what seems to me tobe at least a logical one. ’

I think it would be time to discuss the matter with out-siders when we are agreed among ourselves. And we shouldthen be in a position to show practically the gratitude weundoubtedly owe to Mr. Loch and his friends for taking theinitiative. I remain, Sirs, yours faithfully,Jan. 26th, 1896. C. B. KEETLEY.

Scheme of Representation.1. In distributing representation some ’simple principle should be

adhered to. 2. The representation should increase with the number ofbeds in each hospital, the former in an arithmetical and the latter in ageometrical progression.

Hospitals with 50 beds to have representatives ... 1" 150 (= 50 + 50 x 2) " ...... 2" 250 (= 50 + 50 x 22) " ...... 3,, 450 ,, (= 50 + 50 x 23) " ...... 4

Hospitals with less than fifty to be psrmitted to group themselves intheir own way, one representative being given to each group with notless than fifty beds.

Dispensaries to be represented if with a certain income.General practitioners to select their own machinery of election.Paragraphs 2, i., ii., vi., vii., ix., and x. (pp. 6 and 7) of the Charity

Organisation Society’s scheme to be referred for consideration by theboard as above constituted.