The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-21 00:00:00

from each regiment, battalion, ship, and division of
the fleet.

This portion of the ceremony being terminated,
the drums and trumpets sounded to prayers. After
another chant Field-chaplain Thielen advanced to
the foundation-stone and delivered the consecration
sermon, taking for his text Ps. 1, v. 14—" Offer
unto God thanksgiving ; and pay thy vows unto
the Most High." When the blessing was spoken
fifty guns were again fired, while the whole assembly
joined in singing " Now let all praise God." The
troops thereupon again presented arms and formed
for the march past, which took place in the chesnut
avenue before the King, and at its conclusion the
Royal party returned to the capital.

The St, Giles's Union and the Poor Law

Board.

Yesterday Mr. Farnall, the Poor Law Board Commis-
sioner, continued and concluded the inquiry into the case of
Richard Gibson, the pauper inmate of the above union,
whose death a coroner's jury had stated had been greatly
accelerated by the neglect the said Richard Gibson received
at the hands of the whole of the officials connected with
St. Giles's workhouse.
Mr. Bennett, the medical resident officer, was now re-
called. He was examined on the second day's sitting of the
inquiry, and his evidence was then interrupted in order
that Dr. Craig should be examined. On that occasion he
stated that Gibson went from the body of the house into
No. 47 ward of the infirmary, on Oct. 27th, with a bad leg,
and was then able to help himself. On Dec. 17th deceased
passed from his care to Dr. Craig's, witness having been
attacked by typhus fever, and Dr. Craig had charge of the
deceased until his death on Feb. 10. Gibson was not bed-
ridden while under witness's care, but could walk about,
and was under treatment for skin disease. Mr. Bennett now
said—The statement made by Dr. Craig yesterday that I
told him not to keep the books is hardly correct. I think
the fact is he found that I had not kept them and he did not
keep them. I do not think any conversation took place on
the matter, and it should be remembered he only acted for
me while I was away ill. The reason I did not keep the
book according to the form prescribed by the Poor Law
Board is that I thought the cards would do as well.
Mr. FARNALL here asked Mr. Robinson, the vestry clerk,
if the Poor-law Board had not issued regulations for the
governance of this workhouse, and which had been after-
wards withdrawn under peculiar circumstances.
Mr. Robinson replied that the Poor-law Board had twice
c,-,- —z-r-ouse rules and regulations which had
been successfully resisted in the Court of Queen's Bench.
Mr. FARNALL—Then, in point of fact, the rules and regu-
lations of the Poor-law Board have been twice refined to
suit this house, or the authorities of this parish. The court
of law decided, I suppose, that the local Act superseded the
rules of the Poor-law Board where the guardians did not
care to act up to them.
Mr. Robinson assented that it was so.
Mr. FARNALL went on to say that he believed many
parishes acted under a local Act, and that where such local
Acts existed the rules of the Poor-law Board and the Act
Parliament often clashed together. There was in this
parish a double authority, the vestry and the Board of
Guardians ; the vestrymen were elected by the ratepayers,
and the guardians were elected by the vestrymen from their
own body.
Mr. Bennett resumed—l have had nothing to do with
the rules of the Poor-law Board, and I really do not know
what the rules and regulations of the Poor-law Board are
with regard to my duties as medical officer, so I cannot say
whether or not I have carried out my duties in coinci-
dence with those rules. I heard the report of the
policeman Manners with regard to the state in which he
found Gibson, and I cannot say that it was intentionally
exaggerated. If he had gone into the ward and seen Gib-
son himself, with no one to point him out, he would not
have noticed anything wrong. The report Manners made
is substantially correct, for Gibson was very dirty. It is the
nurse's duty to see that the patients are kept clean. I
do not think the master had anything to do with this. We
consider the nurses are under the matron. I can say that
the present master is the first master who ever, as a matter
of duty, has gone into the wards of the infirmary. He has
been here since 1859, so that the rules and regulations of the
Poor Law Board ordering the masters of workhouses to
inspect the infirmaries was not acted up to until that time.
I saw Gibson the day before he died, when he was brought
from 47 ward to 42. He was being washed when I saw
him. I saw his shirt, and it certainly was very dirty. It
had excrement and corruption upon it. When I saw the
shirt I did not notice any vermin upon it ; but I was not
close enough to see vermin. I saw Gibson's body the
Tuesday after death, and then there were vermin upon it.
Some had crawled down as far as the chest from the head.
Vermin may be generated after death both in rich and poor,
in certain forms of disease. I believe the patients get all
the food that is served out to them. I have heard Mrs. El-
som say that she has been several dinners short, but that
is her own fault ; she ought to have gone to the kitchen.
A Guardian here said he wished Mr. Farnall to ask
whether the 42 cases of typhus fever referred to as having
been in the infirmary of the workhouse at one time were
brought in, or had been generated in the house.
The question was asked, and the answer was that the eases
were brought in.
The Guardian then requested Mr. Farnall to ask for some
returns showing the percentages of deaths in those treated
in the Fever Hospital as compared with the same of those
treated in the infirmary of the workhouse.
Mr. FARNALL—Why do you want to have this ?
The Guardian—Just to show how successfully the fever
cases have been treated.
Mr. FARNALL—What will you get by that ? You are now
sending fever cases away from here to the Fever Hospital,
and what will it benefit you to show that you are sending
them to where you say they are less successfully treated?
The Guardian—Well, we are sending them away now
because we have no room for them.
Mr. EutNALL—Well, I only hope that when you have
room you will not keep them here.
The Guardian—But our treatment has been very good.
Mr. FARNALL—But you find that you have had people
catch it here. Your two doctors, your matron, your nurses
and patients—that is all against your keeping the fever
cases in this house.
The Guardian—But our average percentage of deaths
has been only 61, while the Fever Hospital is about 15.
Mr. FARNALL then referred to a written comparative re-
turn of the cases in the Fever Hospital during several years
with those in the infirmary. This showed that the num-
bers in the Fever Hospital during the years 1861,1862, and
1863 were respectively 86, 1,778, and 1,267, and the mor-
tality, decucting the deaths 48 hours after admission, was
15.8, 17.3, and 12.5. There was no return for 1864 from the
hospital. The infirmary return showed that in 1861 there
were 24 cases andan average mortality of 16.6 ; in 1862, 359
cases and mortality of 7.5; in 1863, 141 cases and a mortality
of 7.1; and in 1864, 346 cases with a mortality of 12.13.
M'Gee made some remarks to the effect that he believed
more died of typhus in the infirmary than was supposed.
The remark was not noticed at the time.
Mr. FARNALL, addressing the directors of the poor, said
—You must remember that the Fever Hospital is the place
for fever, and the workhouses are the domiciles for the
poor, and you should not bring fever into your workhouse
among the poor. I can only advise you not to bring fever
into the workhouse, and I do most earnestly advise you not
to do so. I can assure you that the workhouses of London
have become the homes for the sick poor. They are filled
from the top to the bottom with the aged, sick, and infirm,
for the system of giving outdoor relief has so operated as
to keep out of the workhouse nearly all the able-bodied
poor. There is a certain class of women who come into
the workhouse to be delivered, and this class and that large
class of persons who only come into the workhouse to end
their days form the inmates of all the workhouses, and it
does seem to me to show a want of judgment to bring fever
cases among these people. We have the Fever Hospital,
where you can have your cases taken in at a merely nominal
charge—at something like a shilling a day—and this can
only be done by the assistance of the charitable public. I
cannot see why, under these circumstances, you should wish
to keep the fever cases here.

Mr. Bennett was then cross-examined by different guar-
dians, and ho stated, in answer to different questions—We
wore compelled in 1863 to keep smallpox cases here, as the
hospital was full, and our percentage of deaths was very
low. The typhus fever was not generated in No. 47 ward.
The nurse caught it, but she was about the house. I con-

sidered Gibson's case was one more for nursing than for
active medical treatment. With respect to Gibson having
two dinners occasionally, T• do not think that did him any
harm ; but Ido think the gin ho had did. When he went

under Dr. Craig's treatment he had a very extensive ulcer
on the left leg ; but it had been so reduced that it was only
of a small size when he died. The patients having more diet
than was ordered would sometimes do harm, as it misled
the doctor.

Mr. Farnall remarked that Gibson's extra dinners, which
he bought, did him no harm.
In answer to Mr. Farnall, Mr. Bennett said that he could
state most distinctly that ho could have any medical com-
forts for the sick poor which he chose to apply for.
A Guardian (to Mr. Bennett)—How did you first hear of
Gsbson having gin given him the Sunday night before he
died ?

M‘Gee—lt would not have been known at all but for me.
I was seen by the paid nurse, Mrs. Bison; writing on the
back of Gibson's card, and she ran at me and took the card
away. When the card was seen by Mr. Bennett I was
called on for an explanation, and I told him. My object in
writing that was to prevent any other poor fellow from
falling into the hands of drunken nurses.

Mr. Farnall—How are the spirits brought into the
house ?

Mr. Bennett—Well, the Roman Catholics and other Dis-

senters go out on Sundays, and then bring these things in.
Mr. FAus,us,—ln many of the workhouses I know the
people aro searched, and so they should be hero.
M'Gee said—l wantto ask Mr. Bennett if a person comes
into the infirmary with one disease and catches the fever, if

his death is not put down to the disease with which hecam e

[n. There have been many I could name who have gone

into the infirmary with a disease like mine, for instance,