WHITWAR

FESTIVAL DINNER

IN AID of the funds of the North-Eastern Hospital for Children a festival was held on Tuesday, May 15, at the Grocers' Hall.
In the unavoidable absence of H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught, the chair was occupied by Sir Marcus Samuel. The following is a list of the guests:-

Anderson Dr. F. H.
Anderson, Miss E.
Arakawa, Mr. & Mrs. M.
Barnewall, Sir R., Bt.
Bateman, Dr.
Best Miss
Blyth, Sir J., Bt.
Brooks, Mr & Mrs. W.
Brown, Mr. & Mrs.
Burdett, Sir H. C., K.C.B.
Cecil, Col. L. W., M.V.O.
Clapham, P. A.
Cole, J. J.
Cox, H.
Craig, Miss.
Deed, H. M.
Deed, Mr. & Mrs. Martin
Dimsdale, Sir J. & Lady
Dolgorouki, Prince & Princess Alexis
Drew, D.
Flannery, Sir F., Bt.
Fremlin, Mr. & Mrs. W.
Fry, Capt. & Mrs.
Fry, H. R.
Fry, Mr. & Mrs. J.
Fry, Mr. & Mrs. J. D.
Gibbs, F. A.
Gibbs, Miss C. E.
Gibson, Mr. & Mrs. A.
Glenton Kerr, T.
Gould, Mr. & Mrs. D.
Gray, Dr. A.
Gurney, Dr & Mrs. T.
Hackney, Mayor & Mayoress of
Hall, Councillor
Hepburn, Mr. & Mrs. H. T.
Hoare, H. N.
Holder, H.
Holder, Miss
Holder, Mr. & Mrs. H.
Isaacs, Rev. & Mrs H.
Johnson, Sir W. & Lady
Joseph, A. D.
Joseph, Miss
Joseph, Mr. & Mrs. J. A.
Laffan, Rev. & Mrs. R. S. de Courey
Lawry, Mr. & Mrs. W.
Lawton, J. B.
Lay, C. V.
Leighton, Mr. & Mrs. A. G.
Lewis, Capt. & Mrs.
Lovegrove, H.
Lovegrove, Miss
Low, A.
Lyle, A.
Mann, T. H.
Manvers, Earl
Mappin, J. N.
McIlwraith, Mrs.
Meller, Mr. & Mrs. J.
Meyer, Mr. & Mrs. C.
Miller, Dr. & Mrs. M.
Mond, Mrs. A.
Morcom, Rev. & Mrs. W.
Mummery, Mr. & Mrs. P. L.
Nishino, G.
Parkinson, Dr. J. P.
Port, Mr. & Mrs. C.
Raynes, Mrs.
Richardson, Mr. & Mrs. H. D.
Russell, Mr. & Mrs. T. J.
Samuel, Rev. I.
Schuster, Mr. & Mrs. F.
Selkirk, Countess of
Singer, Mr. & Mrs. D.
Small, Mr.
Smith, Mr. & Mrs. G. S.
Smith, Mr. & Mrs. W. J.
Soar, Mr.
Spurgeon, A.
Stilwell, R.
Swainson, J. M. G.
Taylor, Dr. & Mrs. J.
Thomerson, Mr. & Mrs. C.
Thompson, Mr. & Mrs. C.
Thorp, Miss
Touch, G. A.
Wagner, H.
Walker, Mr. & Mrs. P.
Wink, Mr. & Mrs. W.
Winter, Mr. & Mrs. M.
Woolf, A. H. Sidney
Woolf, Miss B. Sidney

Following the usual loyal toasts,

The Chairman, after expressing regret at the absence of the Duke of Connaught, said: The Hospital was founded in 1867 by two Quaker ladies - Miss Mary E. Phillips and her sister, Mrs. Ellen Fox, who were at that time engaged in missionary work in Bethnal-green and neighbouring districts. Miss Phillips is still an active member of the Ladies Samaritan Committee. Her sister, Mrs. Fox, died some years ago. The Hospital was commenced in a small way in Virginia-row, Bethnal Green, but larger premises soon had to be take to meet the extensive demand upon its ministrations which at once arose. It was moved to Hackney-road in the following year, and 10 beds were then provided. Various improvements continued to be made year after year, until at length in 1872 it was moved to its present site in the Hackney-road at the corner of Goldsmith's-row. A building specially constructed for the purpose was then erected and opened by H.R.H. the Duchess of Connaught in 1880. Fifty-seven beds were provided by this building, and with this accommodation the Hospital continued to work for the ensuing 23 years.

The requirements of Medical and Surgical Science, as is well known, made enormous strides in the path of progress during this period. Methods of hospital construction, as a consequence of the great changes in medical and surgical ideas, are now fundamentally different in several important particulars to what they were in even so recent a time as 1880. The population of some of the neighbouring districts had in the meantime greatly increased, and a great change had taken place, and is still going on in the district of Hackney, which has a population of 225,000. Parts of this borough, formerly the suburban home of prosperous business men, are rapidly becoming purely working-class districts. The process has been going on for many years, and the demands upon the Hospital (which is the only Institution of its special kind in the immediate neighbourhood) correspondingly increase as the change progresses. Bethnal-green and Shoreditch have for many years held as many inhabitants as can well be got into them. Bethnal-green, according to the census returns of 1901, has a population of just under 130,000, being about 171 persons to the acre. Over 23.5 percent of the inhabitants live in one-room tenements; 24 percent in two-room tenements; and 12.5 percent in three-room tenements. The death-rate among the infants aged less than 12 months in Bethnal-green in 1904 was 157, the corresponding rate for the whole of London being 144. This is the borough in which the Hospital is situated. The other side of Goldsmiths-row, however, is in Shoreditch, another extremely poor neighbourhood. This borough has a population of 118,000, 35 percent of which is classed as artizans. The density of the population in the borough is nearly the same as that of Bethnal-green - viz., 172 per acre. These are the districts immediately surrounding the Hospital, but the Institution, of course, also serves the other adjoining neighbourhoods, such as Whitechapel, Spitalfields, and Bow, besides the great populous districts to the North - Walthamstow, Tottenham, Enfield etc.

Its claim to be The only Hospital for Children Conveniently Situated for a population of over half-a-million is well founded. With this great population to deal with it is not surprising to find that the necessity for the enlargement of the Hospital had long been felt before it was found possible to consider the question as a practical measure. It was not, in fact, until 1901 that the committee found themselves in a position to commence the new buildings. In 1899 the present Bishop of London, who was then Bishop of Stepney, took the matter up, and obtained a donation of £2,000 from the fund placed at the disposal of the Bishop of London under the will of Mr. W. Marriott. The money was granted on the condition that within two years an architects certificate should be produced showing that the £2,000 had been expended on the new building, the money not being paid until this condition should be fulfilled. This was, of course, of great value in spurring all concerned on to action, and other contributions were soon forthcoming; but it was not until 1901 that sufficient funds could be got together to justify the commencement of the building. In that year I had the pleasure of taking the chair at a dinner in aid of the building fund, and the result of that effort was that a sum of £4,000 was then collected, and this, with other money which the committee had accumulated, enabled the contract to be made for the new building which now stands in the Hackney-road. An extension of the time had to be obtained with regard to the Bishop of London's £2,000 but the committee were finally able to fulfil the conditions before the close of 1901. The building thus commenced was completed in September, 1903. At first 57 beds were placed in the new wards, making a total altogether, with those in the old building, of 114. It has since been found that more beds could be added without unduly reducing the cubic space per bed, and at the present time The Hospital can boast of 125 Beds, the increase being partially due also to improvements in the old wards, which have resulted in more space becoming available. The committee have so far spent £48,500 on this first portion of the building scheme, and the debt resulting from this expenditure is £8,200. The Goldsmiths' Company, having recently made a grant of £250 towards this debt, it may now be said to be that much less, and it is hoped that the result of this appeal will be, if not to wipe it off entirely, at any rate to greatly reduce it. The money has been borrowed at four percent interest on a mortgage on the Hospital buildings, and the interest is a serious burden upon the slender resources of the Charity. It should be explained that the expenditure above-mentioned includes £5,000 paid in 1898 for a large site adjoining the Hospital which it was necessary to secure for future development. The committee have had the valuable support of King Edward's Hospital Fund in carrying out this important scheme, towards the cost of which the Fund has so far contributed £4,750. In addition to this assistance, the King's Fund has since 1899 given an annual subscription of £500 towards the maintenance, which fact should induce many persons - no matter whether they contribute to the King's Fund, or not - to follow this example and become annual subscribers to the Hospital. The Hospital has been working under great disadvantages as regards cost of maintenance for many years owing to the absence of accommodation for the nursing staff adjoining the Hospital, and also to the fact that it has hitherto had to put all its washing out. For the past 10 years it has been necessary to rent premises for the nurses, and since the enlargement no houses nearer than about a mile from the Hospital could be obtained suitable for the purpose. The committee had long felt that better and more conveniently situated accommodation ought to be provided for the nurses, both on account of the comfort and happiness of these hard-worked and most devoted servants of the Hospital, and on account of the considerable saving in maintenance expenditure to be brought about by having them in the Institution's own premises adjoining the field of their duties.

The Severe Drain on the Income caused by the heavy expenditure on laundry had been frequently brought before them in their endeavours to reduce the cost per bed, and it was therefore with a sense of great relief that they were last year able to commence both these buildings. The trustees of the estate of the late Mr. A. O. Crooke first brought this next stop forward within the range of practical poliitics by making a grant of £3,000 towards the cost of a Nurses' Home. Then the Ladies' Association, recently formed under the presidency of H.R.H. Princess Henry of Battenberg, came forward and arranged a luncheon, at which the Lord Mayor kindly presided, at the Mansion-house, in aid of the Hospital in May last year. This resulted in about £5,000 being added to the funds, and the committee were then able to see their way to putting in hand this long-cherished project.

The new Nurses' Home and the laundry are now both nearly finished, and are expected to be ready for occupation at the end of next month. The total cost of the two buildings will be, roughly, £12,000, including all furniture, machinery, and fittings, and also including arrangements for concentrating the whole of the heating and hot water systems in the laundry boilers, thus effecting considerable economies. The committee had nearly the whole of the money in hand before the contracts were made, but they will still need about £2,000 to entirely cover the outlay. I feel sure that no one will cavil at this expenditure. That nurses should be comfortably housed and that the cost of upkeep should be brought down to as low a figure as may be consistent with efficiency no one will deny, and the committee are to be commended for their energetic action in the matter.

Further Buildings are Greatly Needed to make the Hospital able to cope still more successfully than it does at present with the large numbers of children with which it is called upon to deal. The hospital greatly needs a new out-patient department, but nothing can be done until the money can be found. It needs quarantine wards in a separate building for the isolation of suspected cases of infection; it needs a ward for whooping cough cases, and new wards for urgent cases of diphtheria to replace the present temporary arrangement. It needs a new mortuary and post-modem room, and the medical committee recently recommended that it should establish a milk dispensary. All this must of course be postponed until the money is forthcoming, but it should be borne in mind that the urgent necessity exists for the carrying out of the entire scheme. Surely there are plenty of men in these Islands any one of whom could at once provide the money required to complete the scheme had they the mind to do so. It is not a large sum that is required - £40,000 would, I believe, cover it all - and it seems a great pity that this noble institution should be compelled to go on struggling on in its with disease and death inadequately equipped for the fray when so (comparatively) small a sum would bring it up-to-date in every department and make every part of it in keeping with the new wards. In the ordinary course it must be many years before the scheme can be finished, but I cannot think that so excellent a work will be allowed to be delayed for very long for the want of some rich public-spirited person to find the money.

Eventually the Hospital must be provided with a Country Branch and Convalescent Home, and although the committee can do nothing under the circumstances in such a matter at present, they are able to look with great hope to their prospects in this respect, because the editor of "Little Folks" has taken it up and has entered upon the task of collecting sufficient finds to provide a "Little Folks" Home, which is to be a Country Branch and Convalescent Home exclusively for the use of the North-Eastern Hospital for Children. The readers of "Little Folks" have during the past six years contributed £3,000 to the Hospital for the naming of a ward in the new building the "Little Folks" ward. The money was contributed entirely by the readers of the magazine, and was mostly made up of collections of under £1. Having completed this task, the children were eager for some more work of the same kind, and they have responded with alacrity to the editor's suggestion that they should provide a Country Branch and Convalescent Home for the children of our Hospital. The collection is going forward, and no doubt in the course of a few years it will be found possible to take some steps towards the carrying out of this splendid scheme. One of the chief features of the Hospital is the great care which has been taken to give the children as much fresh air as is possible. At the time the Hackney-road building was designed - viz., nearly six years ago - the fresh-air cult had not developed anything like the vigour which it now possesses, and even medical men did not fully realise what would be required in the way of providing facilities for open-air treatment in the hospitals in 1906, but the staff of the Hospital had some idea of what was coming, for they recommended that large balconies should be provided for each ward.

These Balconies have Proved to be an Inestimable Boon, and many of the children practically live out on them in suitable weather. Owing to the generosity of a member of the committee - whose name I am not allowed to disclose - who is bearing the whole of the expense involved, balconies are now being fitted to the old wards, and the children will greatly benefit by this improvement. With regard to maintenance, it is a fact that this Hospital has one of the smallest endowments of any institution of its size in London. Its income from invested property is only £250 a year, while its expenditure is £11,000. It has a system of receiving small payments from patients, and these bring in about £700 a year, so that its assured may be said to be £950. The whole of the rest of the money has to be obtained from the public. It will be seen that the Hospital is in great need of additional support. This year things have gone very badly in regard to contributions, a marked falling off as compared with previous years being painfully noticeable, and at the present time the Hospital has an overdraft in its general fund of over £1,600. The committee are asking for £5,000 in order to cover this, and to obtain funds for carrying on the work in a business-like manner, free from debt, during the ensuing summer and autumn months. Last your the number of children admitted to the wards was 1,609; those who received treatment in the out-patient department numbered 27,733, while the number of attendances in the out-patient department was 75,637. Included in these out-patient figures there is.

A Large Number of Accident and Emergency Cases. The Hospital has always to be ready to receive such cases, as they are brought at all hours to its doors. There is an excellent accident and casualty room just inside the main entrance in the Hackney-road, which is always kept ready for any emergency. A very important feature of the work of this Hospital is the system of inquiry and of relief for necessitous cases which is in force. A trained lady almoner is employed for the double duty of investigating cases with a view to preventing abuse and to provide relief for the necessitous through the Samaritan Fund, which is administered by the Ladies' Committee, and by means of cooperation with other charitable agencies. The result of the investigations thus carried on is that very few cases are found which would not be suitable for charitable relief. On the other hand, a vast amount of poverty is brought to light, and there is no doubt that very excellent work could be done in hospitals if a careful system of almoning could be adopted in every institution and arrangements made for general cooperation in the matter between all the hospitals in order to prevent overlapping. All this god work can only be carried on if sufficient support is obtained. What is wanted in the first place is a substantial sum to clear off the debt, make up arrears in regard to maintenance, and to provide a sum in hand to go on with - £13,000 will do this. Then we want a substantial increase in the annual subscriptions. Last year these amounted to £2,337. In the absence of a large amount of regular annual support, it is of course, very difficult to carry on a great work of this kind without the constant recurrence of serious difficulties, and therefore, after we have got our £13,000, we want promises to pay again year after year so as to make a solid business basis on which the Hospital may work secure from the distracting monetary troubles which now besets is hardworking committee.

During the evening, Mr. T. Glenton-Kerr, the secretary announced subscriptions amounting to £2,885.

Account of the Festival Dinner, May 1906

FESTIVAL DINNER

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