1098

Altogether 1095 patients were admitted during the year andthe expenditure amounted to £1815. There was a balanceon the year’s working of £456, but there is still a debt of£1376 to defray the cost of extensions which were made afew years ago. The home is usually closed during thewinter months but during the past winter it was kept openfor the reception of children from the Cardiff Infirmary andthe experiment was sufficiently successful to warrant a

repetition next winter when children will also be sent fromthe Newport Hospital and a few adults will be admittedfrom these institutions.

Cardiff Infirmary.Dr. Thomas Wallace has been appointed honorary con-

sulting surgeon to the Cardiff Infirmary upon the expirationof his term of office as honorary surgeon. Dr. Wallace hasbeen connected with the infirmary for nearly 27 years.

Extension of the Boro?ig7t of Cardiff.The corporation of Cardiff is again considering the

question of the extension of the borough boundaries. Thearea of the borough is at present 6373 acres, or about threetimes the size it was at the middle of the nineteenthcentury. On the Llandaff side and on the Roath side of thetown a large population is gathered outside the borough anddifficulties in connexion with sewerage and other mattershave arisen which can be most successfully overcome byincluding the districts in question in the borough.

Brixham Health Report.Mr. G. Blacker Elliott, the medical officer of health of

the Brixham urban district, reports a birth-rate in the townduring 1904 of 26’ 6 per 1000 and a death-rate of 14 - 6 per1000. The zymotic death-rate was 2 2 per 1000. Mr.Elliott very properly urges the district council to provide anisolation hospital and a steam disinfector, with neither ofwhich can a popular watering-place afford to dispense.

Conference on Vagrancy at Hereford.At a conference of members of the Poor-law unions in the

county of Hereford, held on April llth, a decision was cometo which should have the effect of discovering among theoccupants of the tramp wards the men who are desirous ofworking if work can be found for them. Notice is to be

given to the employers of labour in the unions concernedthat upon application by them the workhouse master willsend them when possible a man who may appear suitablefor the work required of him. It was also decided by theconference, which was presided over by Sir John Cotterill,the lord lieutenant of the county, that each unionshould adopt uniform treatment in respect to those who

applied for admission to the tramp wards. The necessityfor taking some steps in the matter is emphasised by thefact that in the Hereford union, which has a population of34,000, or more than one-third that of the whole county,8633 tramps came to the workhouse during the past year,compared with 3385 in 1896, although the population of theunion has not appreciably increased within the two periods.

The Administration of the Midwives Act in Herefordshire.The Herefordshire county council has delegated its powers

under the Midwives Act to a committee consisting of fivemembers of the county council, Dr. Paul M. Chapman, Mr.Edgar F. Morris, and two ladies, one of whom is the matronof the Herefordshire General Hospital. The committee has

adopted the unusual course of recommending the appoint-ment of a person-presumably a woman-who shall act inthe dual capacity of a supervisor of midwives in the countyand superintendent of the nurses employed by the countynursing association. There is no county medical officer ofhealth in Herefordshire.

Hereford County Asylum.The number of patients in the Hereford County and City

Asylum is reported to be 528, which number includes 50 fromthe borough of Cardiff. The charge for the maintenance ofpauper patients chargeable to unions within the county hasbeen reduced to 8s. 9d. per week per patient. The salary ofthe medical superintendent, Mr. C. S. Morrison, has beenincreased from £500 to £600 per annum.

Taunton Isolation Hospital.At the meeting of the Taunton town council held on

April llth the isolation hospital committee reported that ithad decided to make a charge to patients or parents of patientswho were admitted into the hospital and who might beconsidered in a position to pay for treatment. The amount i

claimed would be at the rate ot one guinea per week tor anadult and half a guinea for a child. A considerable dis-cussion arose over the report, the opinion being expressedthat it was unwise to make any charge to patients, as inother towns people were encouraged to send cases ofinfectious diseases to the isolation hospitals and in otherboroughs such fees had been abolished. Eventually it wasdecided to refer the matter to the committee.April 17th.

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IRELAND.(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Tlee Candidature of Dr. Leonard Kidd as a DirectRepresentative.

AT a meeting of the Ulster Medical Society held onApril 13th, a letter having been read from Dr. LeonardKidd with reference to the Direct Representation for Irelandon the General Medical Council, it was decided, after a longdiscussion, to take no action at present in the matter. Thequestion will come up again for discussion as a number ofmembers of the society have signed a requisition for a specialmeeting to discuss the whole question of the representationof Ireland on the General Medical Council.

The -Veopes7tore Nuisance on Belfast Lough.At a meeting of the Castlereagh district council, held’on

April 14th, a letter was read from the Local GovernmentBoard stating that it had decided to make a provisionalorder forming a united district for the purpose of abatingthe nuisance on Belfast Lough of which complaint had beenso bitterly made. A joint board, consisting of the corpora-tion of Belfast, the Castlereagh rural district council, andthe Holywood urban district council, is to be constituted forthe united district and the expenses incurred in purifyingthe foreshore are to be defrayed by these bodies in the propor-tion of Belfast 85 per cent. and Castlereagh and Holywoodeach 7-2L per cent.

The -Drink Bill in Belfast.From the figures published in Dr. Dawson Burns’s annual

report for last year it would appear that in Belfast, with anestimated population of 358,693, the expenditure on drinkwas in 1904 £1,126,893, a sum almost equalling its valuation.This sum is only 30,000 short of the total amount spent inthe whole of Ireland on poor relief and medical charities and47,000 less than the entire sum spent on primary education.This amount would pay the whole of the sum spent by thepublic health committee and leave a balance to discharge the

liability in respect of the free libraries and technical educa-tion. Dublin spent in drink in 1904 £1,190,897.

Down District Asylum.Mr. M. J. Nolan, resident medical superintendent of Down

District Asylum, was on April 15th, in recognition of hisadmirable administrative capacity and of his services in

promoting in every department the improvement and re-

organisation of the institution, made the recipient of a

congratulatory address and gold watch, while his wifewas presented with a silver salver. Lord de Ros, K.P.,K.C.V.O. (chairman of the asylum board of management),who presided, bore his own testimony to the improve-ment which had taken place in every department of theinstitution under Mr. Nolan’s regime, while the Right Hon.Thomas Andrews, D.L. (chairman of the Down countycouncil), laid stress on the fact that in connexion with allappointments Mr. Nolan excluded all political and sectarianconsiderations and invariably recommended the best personfor the position.April 17th.

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PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Amendments to the Workmen’s Compensation Act.THE Journal Officiel of April 2nd has just published various

clauses amending the law of 1898 which deals with accidentsto workmen. The following are the principal clauses affect-ing the medical profession. The employer is liable for allmedical fees, for the cost of drugs and appliances, and forthe funeral expenses, but these last are not to exceed100 francs. The injured workman has the right to choose his