The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-29 00:00:00

ST. 7HO.2IIAS'S HOSPITAL.

It will hardly be believed that the exploded
scheme for removing St. Thomas's Hospital into the
country has been revived. A Court of Governors
has been convoked by special summons to decide
upon the site, and there is too much reason to fear
that counsels most adverse to the interests of the
charity may be allowed to prevail. Nothing short
of a vigorous protest on the part of the public will
save this noble institution from being lost to the
metropolis and transferred to Wandsworth. The
objections to such a proceeding are so patent that
we are almost ashamed to repeat them. It would
take from the poor of Southwark and Lambeth a
house of refuge at their very doors, ever open to
them in time of sickness or in case of accident, and
would substitute for it a country hospital at a dis-
tance
of five or six miles. It would effectually
deprive the institution of the services of the eminent
physicians and surgeons who have hitherto attended
its wards gratuitously, but who could not spare
time from their private practice for a daily journey
to the Surrey Hills. It would for ever break up the
great medical school which was the pride of old
St. Thomas's, and which could not possibly follow
it to a suburban site. All this mischief would be
done for the sake of what ? We are really at a loss
for an appropriate word, for we are unable to attri-
bute so much influence to a mere crotchet, and un-
willing to introduce so gross an idea as that of a
job. All that we can say is that the only gainers by
the arrangement now contemplated will be the
owners of land at Wandsworth. Whether this fact
has any connexion with the project remains to be
explained, but how the project will be made to suc-
ceed, unless stoutly resisted, we now propose to
show.
There is a prevalent impression that there cannot
be much amiss in the management of most great
concerns, especially those which are of a charitable
nature. Every now and then the collapse of some
highly respectable company, or the disclosures eli-
cited by some royal or parliamentary commission,
shake tliis comfortable belief, but it seldom fails to
regain its credit after a very short time. When we
read of a court of governors meeting regularly and
approving the minutes of committees and sub-
committees, we recognise the machinery of popular
administration, and have no reason to doubt that
it works well. We sa3 to ourselves that there must
surely be some active and bustling members on
these councils who devote themselves to asking
pertinent questions and checking complicated
accounts, and who would never let an important
resolution be hurried through without due debate.
It is perhaps as well that this amiable confidence
should prevail so generally, for without it business
would be a much less easy-going affair than it is,
but the initiated few know that it rests on a vulgar
error.- The more complicated a system of manage-
ment, the less knowledge, and therefore the less
poWer of control, is possessed by the nominal
Managers, and the more absolute is the
influence of
any office: who has the key to all its mysteries.
imber of independent judgments
Instead of a 1:!- , and as many independent
having been exercise'., the decisions of such
wills having concurred -d that the strings
bodies, it will generally be foua_ • -iduals. Now,
have been pulled by one or two inch...
this is exactly the state of things at St. _Thomas's
seed,
Hospital. There is a Court of Governors, int.,
partly composed of Aldermen and Common Council- ,
men, partly of members qualified by subscriptions of
£5O and upwards, but these so-called " Governors"
govern but in name. They have reports read to
them by another less august but stili exalted coun-
cil, called the " Grand Committee," and or course
they " approve " them, for the form of signifyLlz
disapproval, if there be one, would probably be too
undignified to be thought of for a moment. The
" Grand Committee," in its turn, rarely acts, but
to " approve" the proceedings of its " sub-com-
mittee, ' and thus this imposing hierarchy of func-
tionaries shrinks into a very snug little coterie.
We read in history of certain ambassadors, charged
with a mission to a great barbarian chief, who were
made to pass through successive tents, each more
gorgeous than the last, till they were ushered into
the presence of the mighty potentate himself, en-
circled by his guards and surrounded by all
the pomp of nomad magnificence. A different
reception, we suspect, would await any one who
should desire an interview with the ruling powers
of St. Thomas's Hospital. He would be relegated
from the Council Chamber of the Aldermen and
their brother Governers to that of the " Grand
Committee," and from this to the private room of
the sub-committee where he would, probably, find
a party of two or three gentlemen, with a very off-
hand way of settling hospital affairs and a very
good understanding with each other. We need not
carry our analysis further. The most simple-minded
of our readers will readily conceive the facility with
which any plan might obtain the " approval' of a
treasurer and two colleagues ; after which the rati-
fication by the higher authorities would be little
more than a formality.
We are thus enabled to underste.nd, and to mate
allowances for, the strange want of economy
the
has been shown, in more than one instance,is
ibncorae
nominal Governors of the Hospital.ooo which
tsince the
has increased from £12,000 to £3asm,
beginning of this century, removal. was
ount of relief
actually given, at the time
yet
htheelate
little more than it had beenofbtefore the funds were
tripled. The circumstances attending that removal

are too well known. The Governors claimed as
compensation the exorbitant sum of £750,000. The
Charing-cross Railway Company offered them terms
equivalent tc £400,000; and, after a litigation
which absorbed little less than £25,000, £296,000
were awarded by the arbitrator. Having insisted
upon the whole of their premises being taken, instead
of the corner, which was all that the ompany
wanted, they thrust themselves into such a position
that the building had to be evacuated almost be-
fore temporary accommodation could be procured
elsewhere. But for the loud expression of public
indignation it is probable that the charity would
have been in abeyance for some years. However,
a makeshift hospital was fitted up in the hall for-
merly tenanted by Mr. Spurgeon, and, though 500
beds have been reduced to 200, and complaints have
arisen about the restriction of the relief to out-
patients, the poor inhabiting the districts south of
the Thames still had access to it. Of this benefit it
is now proposed to rob them—that is, if the Go-
vernors can be induced to be parties to such a pro-
-ding. Of course, if it seems good to the respon-
csrb-ie
ti:istees of this great institution so to act, no
power but
1,1-:tt of an application to the Court of
Chancery can res::ain them. What we can do, and
nted in a corner. We
have not shrunk from doing, is to take care that
such things are not tranaa.
warn those who will meet to to deliberate on
the fate of the Hospital that they al" e about to deal
with public interests under the eye of the public.
Times.