Though unable to enter at length into the controversy in
regard to the appeal for funds made by St. Bartholomew's Hospital, we feel bound to express our sympathy with the strong protest made by the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph, the Westminster Gazette, and other newspapers in regard to the proposed scheme. It is certain that if a great public appeal is made for" Bart's," the other hospitals must suffer, for though there may not be a wages fund, there is something very like a charity fund, and it is by no means elastic in amount. "Bart's" is a very richly endowed institution, and, besides, is built upon a very valuable site, and the public is asking why it would not be possible to get the money required for exten- sion by selling the present land and buying cheaper land else- where ? Such an operation could be made profitable without placing the hospital too far out of town, and so inconveniencing the medical and surgical staffs; and the exchange of old and inconvenient buildings for new would be in itself an immense gain. We have no wish to say that " Bart's " is spending its money ill, but it does seem to us that if a body so well endowed requires funds, the first thing to be done is to see if they cannot be obtained by a better organisation of its own resources. , While on the subject of hospitals we may notice Mr. Sydney Holland's appeal for the London Hospital, which was issued on Wednesday. The hospital is poor in endowment, but it does splendid work, and no one can deny that it is placed where it should be,—i.e., not merely in a poor district, but in the heart of the poorest part of London's city of poverty.
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