53

nevertheless, sickness is. It is no creation of God, but a

creation of sin ; and in that world or state where there is nosin " the inhabitant shall not s:ty, I am sick."

CHEATSIDE, MERCERS CHAPEL.—Rev. Arthur Veysey,Chaplain to the Company, on

" Dives and Lazarus." Collec-tion £13.

ENFIELD.—BAKER STREET CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.-Rev. S. J. Smith, B.A. " The Unique Physician, Jesus

Christ; " " The Recovered Patients." Collection ;B5 10s.

I FERNSEAD ROAD, W.—TRINITY WESLEYAN CHAPEL.—Rev. W. K. Bevan. Collection £5 16s.GREAT PORTLAND STREET, ST. PAUL’S.—Rev. H. Bick-

erstetll Ottley, Vicar of Horsham. Ecclesiasticus xxxviii. 1.Collection £39 10s.HARROW ROAD, WESLEYAN CHAPEL, SUTHERLAND GAR-

DENS.—Rev. Joseph Olphert. St. Luke x. 25 (morning) ; St.of £4). Mark vi. 56 (evening). Collections £19 10s. (an increase

IsLINGTON, AGRICULTURAL HALL.-Rev. Dr. Thain David-son, to congregation of upwards of 2000 persons. Psalm

xli. 1.

HOSPITALS WEEK MEETINGS.

MEETING AT KENSINGTON TOWN HALL.

THE third district meeting was held at the Town Hall, Ken-sington, on Wednesday afternoon. The chair was taken bythe Duke of Norfolk, who was supported by Lord Cadogan,Mr. W. H. Smith, M.P., Sir Sydney Waterlow, M.P., SirWilliam Mac Cormac, Rev. Dr. Finch, and Mr. H. C.Burdett. Letters of apology were read from the Dean ofWestminster, Lord Hartington, Canon Fleming, the Hon. F.Fortescue, and others.

The DUKE OF NORFOLK, in opening the proceedings, said allpresent must know the importance of the work which they weremet to put forward, and also that it had not heretofore met withthe success which its importance deserved, and therefore thosewho had energetically undertaken to foster its operations hadthought it well to make a great effort to stir up public opinionthroughout the metropolis in support of the hospitals. It was- a,n unfortunate occurrence that the week which had been chosenfor the advocacy of this crusade should coincide with a week inwhich the whole country was taken up with preparations forthe forthcoming elections ; but this ought to stir them up tobe more eager to support the cause of the sick poor of Londonrather than to forget them at this crisis (hear, hear). Through-out the country men were doing their best to forward one<cause which they believed to be the best for the people atlarge, but they might be quite sure that whatever mistakesindividuals or parties might make in political warfare, theywould make no mistake at all in doing the best to succourthe sick poor. It was a cause they would always have beforethem, for do what they might by generous assistance, and how-ever progressive the science might be which it was their objectto foster and extend, they might be quite sure that the pleadingsof suffering humanity would never be silenced. But while they"could not take away from them that melancholy and con-tinuous appeal, they could at all events draw great good from’those evils by showing to those who suffered that they were- not forgotten in their sufferings. He urged them to do every-thing they could in support of this great cause, to determinenever to forget its importance, and the lamentable fact that itthad not hitherto met with that support which it so richly- deserved. ,

Mr. W. H. SMITH, M.P., moved the first resolution :That this meeting pledges itself to use every endeavour toarouse the inhabitants of this district of London to the im-

portance of maintaining the hospitals and medical charitiesin the utmost efficiency; and, in furtherance of this object,it urges the clergy and ministers of religion to make anearnest appeal to the people to so increase their contributions.on Hospital Sunday as to secure that the whole sum collectedshall.not be less than &pound;80,000." He said the concludingparagraph of the resolution was a measure of the magnitudeof the effort which would be required next Sunday. Hespoke of the necessity of arousing the attention of the publicof London to this great want, because a vast number of theinhabitants of the metropolis, who were in comparatively easycircumstances, were unaware of the great necessity and wantexisting at their doors, and were not capable of being broughtto realize their duty under the circumstances in which they

were placed (hear, hear). A double appeal was made-anappeal to those who were present, and also an appeal to theclergy of that prosperous and wealthy district, to use the

great influence which undoubtedly they possessed, and, asa rule, worthily exercised, to bring before their people one ofthe most pressing Christian duties which it was possible forhuman beings to be called upon to discharge. What was itthey were asked to do P It was to take the best means intheir power to secure that their neighbours and fellow-subjects should have the best possible attention and relief intime of sickness, when they were unable to help themselves.The hospital was the sick-room in the home of the poor man;it was that which he could not provide for himself, and as hecould not provide it for himself, it was the duty of others inbetter positions in life to do it for him. He knew there werepersons who said that this was a duty which might fitly beundertaken by the State, and not a duty which fell uponindividuals. He should be exceedingly sorry if that were atall a common feeling. No greater misfortune could happento the cultivation of the science of medicine, to the trainingof the future doctors and surgeons, than that the voluntaryhospital should cease to maintain the position which it hadheld in the metropolis and throughout England during the pasthalf-century (cheers). However excellent a public institutionmight be which was maintained by taxes or rates, there wassomething wanting in it which was found in a voluntaryhospital-the personal interest, sympathy, and care-the deepanxiety to relieve suffering. There was a Christian feelingpervading the work of the voluntary hospital day by day-thedesire of self-sacrifice, the pleasure of doing good; and how-ever excellent a rate-supported institution might be, everyonethere was paid to do his duty, and they could not find theamount of self-devotion and earnestness in the work, whichwas found in those who devoted themselves to doing good forthe love of it (applause). On that account it would be a verygreat misfortune indeed if one after another of these nationalinstitutions must be closed because those who possessed themoney had not the consciousness that it was their duty toassist those who devoted themselves to this work. Lookingto the great benefits which the hospitals conferred uponsociety at large, he urged their claims upon all those whohad it in their power to aid in their support.

Sir SYDNEY WATERLOW said: Having as Lord Mayor in1873 established the Hospital Sunday Fund in London, andhaving been vice-president ever since that period, it was verygratifying to him to find that from year to year publicinterest in the movement continued to be enlisted to a

larger and larger extent. In the beginning they had nodoubt many difficulties to contend with ; but thirteen yearshad satisfied the public that if they had the means they couldnot do better than contribute to the Hospital Sunday Fund,and for this reason, that no grant was made to any hospitalor to any dispensary until the accounts of the past threeyears had been sent in to the committee, and so carefullyanalysed and dissected as to enable the committee to deter-mine not only that they needed help, but that they deservedit, because they did their work well (applause). The grantsrecommended by the committee were always made upon thebasis of the needs of the institution. One grelt point in

54

favour of this fund was, that whether by annual subscriptions,or dinners, or any of the other various methods adopted, in nocase was the collection made at such a small cost. The whole ofthe money contributed, with the exception of three per cent.,which was the cost of collection, went direct to the funds ofthe hospitals and dispensaries. They had no rent, rates, ortaxes to pay, for through the kindness of each successiveLord Mayor they were able to carry on the whole of thebusiness at the Mansion House. They had collected on anaverage during the last thirteen years between &pound;28,000 and&pound;30,000 on Hospital Sunday, from about 1500 congregations ;but that was not anything like the sum they ought to collect orwould collect if the question was fairly and clearly understoodby the public of that great metropolis (applause). &pound;34,000only enabled them to contribute about one-eighth of what wasabsolutely necessary for carrying on these hospitals and dis-pensaries. The number of patients coming to the Londonhospitals continually increased, not merely in proportion tothe ratio of the population, but as they increased the facilityof communication between the metropolis and large towns inthe country districts, patients who could not be as efficientlyand carefully dealt with in the country were continually sentup to London in larger and larger numbers. He hoped,therefore, that all provincial visitors to London, of whomthere were so many at this time of the year, would give acontribution in recognition of the use made of the Londonhospitals by the country people. He called attention to astatement in the Dail ,y Telegraph that morning, challeng-ing the idea that all the great London hospitals-Guy’s, St.Thomas’s, and Bartholomew’s-were in debt. As treasurer ofSt. Bartholomew’s, he was happy to state that it was not indebt ; but all these hospitals had been seriously crippled, andall the others, without exception, were actually in debt,owing to the serious diminution of their incomes, and in manycases hospitals had had to draw very largely upon their capital.He was very glad these meetings were being held, and feltsure that it was only necessary to bring the facts before thepublic, and to make them clearly understand the facts of thecase, in order to secure a very largely increased support. Headded that none of the funds collected on Hospital Sundaywould go to Bartholomew’s, St. Thomas’s, or Guy’s. Thosehospitals had not yet applied to be on the fund, though thetime might come when they would have to do so.The resolution was unanimously agreed to.The EARL OF CADOGAN moved: "That this meeting regrets

to learn that the expenditure of the hospitals and medicalcharities of this district in the year 1885 exceeded the chari-table income by &pound;20.000, and pledges itself to increased exer-tion with the view of preventing any like deficiency during theyear." He said that hospitals really covered nearly all theaims and objects of really true charity. It had been said that

poverty leads to sickness, and that was no doubt true ; but itwas also equally true that sickness itself very often led to po-verty. By the means of hospitals those who, if their sicknesshad not been cured, would have been plunged into want andmisery, were saved to live lives of usefulness and to be able tosupport their families. That being so, and the advantage ofhospitals being so patent to all, how was it that even in thatdistrict the expenditure had so largely exceeded the income ?That question required an answer, and the best answerwhich could be given would be that year by year they shouldendeavour to supply that want, until at last it should befound that the annual income of these charities was equalto their expenditure.

Sir WILLIAM: VIAC CoRMac seconded the resolution, andsaid he was in some sense an outsider, because he belongedto one of those great hospitals (St. Thomas’s) which were out-side the sphere of the operations of this fund. Sir SydneyWaterlow had told them, with regard to St. Thomas’s,that it was restricted in the usefulness it might otherwisebe doing, by the diminution of its income in recent years.It was quite true that these great hospitals had sufferedwith the others. Nothing more astonishing had come outin the inquiry that had resulted from the institution ojthese meetings, than the fact of the very limited number olpersons who subscribed to the London hospitals. Therewere some hundreds of them, and yet, as he was informed

but one person in every hundred was a subscriberto these charitable institutions. Surely there must besome reason for this that was not apparent on

the surface. He could scarcely imagine that anyoneunderstanding and knowing something of the work donein those institutions could hesitate to respond to the callwhich had now been made upon them. In the hospitalto which he belonged there was a large number of bedsoccupied by sick and sorely suffering persons, but not merelywere the beds occupied, but every day and every weekhundreds upon hundreds came to that and other hospitalswith many ailments, for which they could be treated as out-patients. The benefits of the out-patient department wereperhaps not sufficiently realised, but they were not less greatthan the work done within the hospital wards themselves. Ofone thing he was sure, namely, that hospitals were a necessityof their social organization. They would never be able to dowithout them, and if the community at large did not supportthem, then the State must step in and do it. That no doubtwould be a disaster. He knew from personal experience whatthe rate and State supported hospitals were in France, Germany,and Austria, and he could assure them that the sympathy thereafforded was not the same kind of sympathy with that givenin the voluntary hospitals of this country. Patients in foreignhospitals were looked upon in some instances as subjects forscientific consideration; whereas, as had been truly said bya speaker at one of the former meetings, each one of thepatients in an English hospital, was regarded as everyone couldwish to be regarded if in a similar condition, and nothing wasdone that would not be freely done to those who might bevery near and dear to the attending physicians and surgeonsthemselves.The resolution was adopted.On the motion of Mr. H. C. Burdett, seconded by the Rev.Dr. Finch, a cordial vote of thanks was accorded to the

speakers and to the Duke of Norfolk for presiding, and theproceedings terminated.

MEETING AT ST. ANDREW’S HALL,NEWMAN-STREET.

THE fourth District meeting was held at St. Andrew’sHall, Newman-street, on Thursday evening, the 24th ult.,under the presidency of the Earl of Northbrook, who wassupported by Lord C. Beresford, M.P., Mr. Bauman, M.P.,Mr. Seager Hunt, M.P., Sir Julian Goldsmid, Bart., M.P.,Sir Risdon Bennett, F.R.S., Mr. J. McMillan, Mr. H. C.

Burdett, Rev. Dr. Finch, Mr. R. N. Custance, &c. Therewas a very good attendance, including many tradesmen andworking men.Lord NORTHBROOK, in stating the objects of the meeting,

claimed that no provision could be made by any man,however wealthy he might be, with respect to accidents, atall approaching that made in the hospitals, and the samething might be said with regard to the vast majority of thepopulation in reference to disease. There had been 59,000 in-patients, and 941,000 out-patients, treated in those institu-tions in the course of the last year (applause), and the cost ofdealing with this vast mass of human misery was &pound;490,000.The annual income, he was sorry to say, was only .6450,000,leaving a deficit of .640,000 on the year 1885 alone; andan additional sum of &pound;40,000, making &pound;80,000 in all, wasrequired to place these institutions in a thoroughly satis-factory and efficient condition. So that, although theymight congratulate themselves on the large developmentand great efficiency of these hospitals, they must also lookin the face the necessity for increasing the amount of annualcontribution, in order to maintain that efficiency. It wasfor that object that this movement had been inaugurated,and it was one which must commend itself to all who tookan interest in their fellow-creatures. No doubt just nowtimes were hard on everybody, and he did not know thatthose interested in hospitals had any real cause to complainof the manner in which the middle classes of the countryhelped to support them. It was not their wish to throwblame upon any one class; what they wanted was to callthe attention of everyone to the necessity of hospitals, and