14 HOSPITAL ACCOMMODATION, 



The necessity for the immediate establishment of a hospital 

 for chronic cases, &c., may be recognized upon the following 

 grounds : — 



Firstly. That an asylum or poor-house is only suited for the 

 reception of a certain proportion of the patients who do not 

 require to be treated in a general hospital ; and that to send the 

 others to a poor-house, even if they are willing to go, has a 

 demoralizing influence. 



Secondly. That it is in the highest degree desirable to make 

 the proportion of patients to be treated in the general hospital 

 as small as possible ; and that it is impossible to attain this end 

 unless a suitable institution exists to which they can have the 

 option of going, and where it can be felt they will have the care 

 and treatment required, 



Thirdly. That the present surplus accommodation at the Liver- 

 pool Asylum will it is evident be soon required to meet the 

 demands of the steady increase of paupers, and that a certain 

 proportion of temporary invalids will always exist in such an 

 establishment, for whom the hospital wards will be required. 



Fourthly. That experience shows it is undesirable to establish 

 convalescent wards in a general hospital, where a certain number 

 of men will always be found to remain who would return home to 

 work rather than be sent away from Sydney. 



A Chronic Hospital should be placed upon a healthy site, at a 

 certain distance from town. If upon the line of railway, it 

 should not be nearer than Homebush or more distant than Pros- 

 pect. If upon the high ground of the North Shore, it need not 

 be so distant. If too far away, it would be beyond effective 

 supervision, and the distance would be inconvenient to the 

 patients ; if too near, the beneficial influence of change would 

 be less upon the invalids. 



It should possess ample grounds, and be built in pavilions of 

 simple construction. A small amount of administrative accomo- 

 dation would be required, and it should be conducted upon the 

 most economical principles. 



Accommodation would in the first instance be required for 300 

 beds for men and 100 for women, of whom I imagine the Asylums 

 would at once contribute at this time about 230 men and thirty 

 women. 



Such a hospital could be enlarged from time to time as further 

 accommodation was required ; but whatever scheme is adopted in 

 regard to the central General Hospitals, this, the Chronic 

 Hospital, should be erected at once. 



In IS 70, 1 drew the attention of Grovernment to the fact 

 that the Victoria Barracks were unoccupied, that a hospital for 

 chronic cases was much required, and that the barracks were 

 suited to the purpose. If these buildings were still unemployed, 



