Reports for the year 1889 of the statistical committee and the medical superintendents of the infectious hospitals and imbecile asylums, also of the ambulance & training ship "Exmouth" committees (4th year of issue) / Metropolitan Asylums Board.

  • Metropolitan Asylums Board (London, England). Statistical Committee.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reports for the year 1889 of the statistical committee and the medical superintendents of the infectious hospitals and imbecile asylums, also of the ambulance & training ship "Exmouth" committees (4th year of issue) / Metropolitan Asylums Board. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    157/178 (page 141)
    Wilcox was the boy who, on the occasion of the Managers* Annual Inspection of the “ Exmouth ” in 1889, received a silver watch for being the most useful boy in the Ship. In their last Annual Report reference was made to the cost of lighting the “ Exmouth ” by electricity as compared with that of lighting by means of oil. A report on the subject was submitted to the Board on the 18th May (p. 143, voh xxiii.) At that time it was found that the approximate annual cost of the electric light was £665, while the average annual cost of lighting the Ship by means of oil was £680. The great advantages obtained by adopting electricity as an agent for artificial light in an institution such as the “ Exmouth ” are so manifest that reference to them is unnecessary. On the 5th November the electric light suddenly failed, owing to some defect in the cables. It was deemed necessary to have new cables of stronger make, and an estimate was subsequently accepted to provide and lay two 850 lengths at a cost of £175. On Sunday, the 30th June, considerable alarm was occasioned by an outbreak of fire in the foremost galley, which, however, owing to the smartness and activity of the officers and boys at their fire quarters, was put out in about half-an-hour. Considerable damage was done to the galley and the bulkhead, which has been most satisfactorily restored under the directions of the Commercial Union Assurance Co. Iron girders have been substituted for wooden beams, and the galley has been lined with incombustible materials. The cooking apparatus was subsequently overhauled and put in thorough working order, and a new and much larger flue constructed. It was with much regret that the Committee had to bring to the notice of the Board the fact that the vertical boiler purchased in 1887 was found to be dangerous to use on account of its befog too small for the work required. Subsequently the Managers decided to sell the boiler, and to purchase another horizontal boiler in lieu thereof. The matter having been submitted to the Local Government Board for their approval, that authority instructed one of their Engineering Inspectors to report on the proposal. His report was submitted to the Managers on the 30th November (see p. 547, vol. xxiii.), and referred to the “ Exmouth 99 Committee to be dealt with. The question is still under the consideration of the Committee. 10