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726 is at present under investigation, but it is thought that either petrol or benzine had been discharged into the sewer at some point and that one or other of these fluids vaporised in the sewer and escaped at the scene of occurrence. Girgenti Inebriate Home. The Glasgow corporation’s report on the Girgenti Inebriate Home has been prepared’ for transmission to the Secretary for Scotland. It is pointed out in the report that no patients have been admitted since March 7th, 1907, in accordance with the recommendation ; and of the 131 patients dealt with during and up to the end of 1907 there remained in the institution at the end of 1908 19 patients. 20 had been transferred to the State Inebriate Reformatory at Perth, five were discharged unfit for treatment, three escaped from the reformatory, three escaped from guardians, three died, and 78 were discharged at the expiry of sentence. During the year eight patients were allowed out on licence under the charge of suitable guardians. Of these, four relapsed and were taken back to the reformatory, while the others gave general satisfac- tion to their guardians. Of the patients discharged during 1908, one discharged on Feb. 1st has been eight times con- victed since discharge, one discharged on March 18th has been convicted five times, and one discharged on August 23rd has been convicted six times. Five have not been convicted since discharge, and against other five there is one conviction each. On the whole not a hopeful report. Legacies to Aberdeen Hospitals. By the will of the late Miss Anna Thomson, Plaidy Cottage, Turriff, the following sums are left to Aberdeen hospitals :- L100 to the Royal Infirmary, L50 to the Blind Asylum, L50 to the Sick Children’s Hospital, and L50 to the Hospital for Incurables. Miss Thomson directs that the residue of her estate is to be divided between the same institutions. Alarming Fire at a Decndee Hospital. On the evening of Feb. 27th a fire broke out in the Royal Victoria Hospital for Incurables, Balgay, Dundee, which resulted in the complete destruction of the boiler house and laundry of the hospital. Naturally there was great excitement in the institution, especially among the patients, while among the spectators gathered to view the conflagration all sorts of alarming rumours as to the safety of the invalids were rife. The damage is estimated at between 9400 and f:500.: Royal Aberdeen Sick Children’s Hospital : Annual Report. The report of the Royal Aberdeen Sick Children’s Hospital for the year 1908 states that during the year 2537 cases have been treated, compared with 2547 in the previous year. The average stay of each in-patient was 35 days, compared with 33 in 1907. In addition 49 convalescent children were sent from the hospital to the Eidda Home, which adjunct con- tinues to be of indispensable aid in the working of the hospital. The ordinary expenditure for the 12 months was .E2888 and the ordinary income was .S1892. During the year L600 were received from the trustees of the late Mr. John Fyfe, granite merchant, for the permanent endowment of a cot, to be known as the Barbara Fyfe " cot; and f:600 from the late Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Rae of Whitehall- road, Aberdeen, for the permanent endowment of a cot, to be named the "Forbes-Rae" " cot. March 2nd. IRELAND. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.) " Clancy’s Act and the Housing for the Working Classes. THE housing of the poor, which is a chronic scandal in Dublin, has had public attention directed to it vigorously. At the opening of the Crown business last week the Recorder of Dublin, after congratulating the grand jury on the com- parative immunity from crime, proceeded to indicate the true method of preventing it. "I I venture, however, even at the risk of tiresome reiteration, to direct attention to the imperative claim of our toiling poor to decent and healthy housing. Our slums are, no doubt, a baneful heritage, but if any true spirit of civism is to be found in this capital of our country it is time that the cry of the wretched toiler should no longer be stifled in the welter of worthless discussion and I contention. There are nearly 25,000 families in our midst living in single rooms. Let every citizen who regards the honour of his city or his civic obligation consider what the continuance of this state of affairs means : a new genera- tion growing up in filthy squalor and in hopeless misery, ready recruits to crime, to disease, to intemperance, and vice. I earnestly appeal to you, and through you to the citizens, to force attention to those dread miseries of disease, of crime, and of drink." At a corporation meeting on the following day the subjoined motion was proposed by Alderman Dr. J. C. McWalter :- That the law agent and city treasurer be requested to report whether dwellings for the working classes can now be advantageously erected in some suitable streets between Ormond Quay and Britain-street under Clancy’s Act (Housing for the Working Classes, 1909), and whether it is desirable to re-borrow the sums now due by this corporation for work- men’s dwellings purposes under the most favourable terms of the new Act. A heated discussion followed, during which one member asked the very delicate question, " Would it not be well if the town clerk informed the Recorder that the biggest slum- owners of this city are members of this council ? " Alderman ’Kelly emphasised the financial difficulty of dealing with the question-over £300, 000 had been spent in providing dwell- ings for the poor-" an enormous burden "-and £ 1, 000,000 would be required to deal with the whole question. Meanwhile, it is very satisfactory to record that Drogheda has just decided to take advantage of the Housing for the Working Classes Act which became law in course of the last Parliamentary session. The town clerk has been directed to apply for a loan of 15,000, and the engineer instructed to make proper preparation of the neces- sary plans. To the credit of the Drogheda corporation it must be noted that during the past ten years they expended about £ 5000 in this direction, having built 42 houses for the accommodation of the working poor and their families. Time upon time their own sanitary officers kept them informed of the urgency of the want of providing sanitary lodgings on a larger scale ; but the rate of interest and other conditions of the requisite loan prevented the council from undertaking a more extended scheme for meeting a necessity which was so repeatedly pressed upon them. The recent Act has furnished the wished-for facility of escape from a very painful difficulty. 31-ortality in Trish Towns. The last death-rate return for Dublin was 27’ 5 per 1000, which is reducible to 25’8 by exclusion of the names of persons who had been admitted from without the Dublin registration area. Of the 211 deaths registered in the city 58 were of persons under four years of age-including 25 infants under one year; and 63 were of persons over 60 years of age-including 44 over 70 years, of whom eight were octogenarians and four nonogenarians. With regard to causes of death there were 42 from the various forms of tuberculous disease-including 28 from phthisis. The infectious fevers registered four deaths from measles, two from diphtheria, and one from scarlet fever; there were also two from whooping-cough. The February return for Belfast shows a death-rate of 17’ 9, with the zymotic death- rate 0-6, and that from chest affections 6’ 4. The highest death-rate of any Irish town is that of Waterford, where it has reached the ominous figure of 40 per 1000 ; in Galway and Sligo-also seaport towns-it exceeds 38 in the last returns ; in Newry and in Tralee it is 37. The Wexford rate in these returns had fallen from 33 (in each of the two previous weeks) to 14. On the other hand, no deaths were returned from Clonmel; while in Portadown it was but 5 per 1000, and in each of three other towns-Drogheda, Londonderry, and Lurgan- it was 8. In the other 17 principal town districts the rate exceeded 10 per 1000 ; in 12 of these the rate was over 20, while in seven it exceeded 30. So that it is very evident that our rural practitioners have had their hands pretty full-at least a large proportion of them-during the past weeks of an exceptionally dry and cold February. The Belfast Maternity Hospital. At the annual meeting of the friends and supporters of this old charity on Feb. 23rd, the 115th yearly report showed that 488 intern patients were treated during 1908 (an increase of 110 over the previous year). There were 416 extern cases. The total number of deaths was eight. There were 162 extern’ gynaecological cases. Financially there was an increase- in subscriptions of £36, and the year ended with a balance in hand of £522.
