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208
he commented that any of the visitors to the reading room of the
Mechanics ' Institute, habitually scanning the contents of the various
periodicals provided, could have avoided the "lamentab le" errors so
patent in the Commission's "Report" .
In a broad study of this kind it is not possible to discuss
any further Hall's contentions fascinating though they were .
Almost
every sentence of his "Review" was pregnant with meaning making it a
document of great historical interest .
him as the great "Tasmanian" he was :
His concluding words revealed
The British Government has been forced by the pressure
of public opinion to investigate questions of so much
importance to the national safety. , It :i.s humi liating
enough to Tasmanian Colonists to find how we lag behind
in the matter. Such a "Report" as our Tasmanian
Commissioners have put forth to the world will not
I am sure, in the opinion of European sanitarians tend
much to estab lish our just claim to the Australian motto
we are so fond of repeating "Advance Tasmania". Thos e
however who feel the keenness of the reproach mus t, one
and all, take pains to shift the odium from their own
reputation, by repudiating all sympathy with acts so
injurious to the good name of Tasmania. l2
In his second, shorter article "Military Hospitals in Tasmania"
Hall discussed in detail the most "unpardonab le and mischievous error
of all" perpetrated by the Commission.
This was the sụggestion that
the four rooms which comprised the Military Stores on the wharf offered
good accommodation for 300 men possibly 450 if the necessity arose .
Hall maintained that, in the latter case, each invalid would have
388 cub ic feet of breathing room, as compared with the 2,100 cub ic feet
.recommended by The Builder in a recent article "On the Sites and
Constructions 'of Hospitals".
nothing .
Once again, however, the Sanitarium for India Affair came to
Some twelve months later, Hall received a letter from the
Director-General of the Army Medical Department in London, dated
July 16 , 1859, which stated that the British Government did not intend
to establish a sanitarium at present;
at the same time the Director
expressed his appreciation of Hall's deep interest and thanked him for
the valuab le information he had forwarded. l3
itself, the incident could not be so easily dismissed,
Nevertheless in Tasmania
More than
12
13
Ibid, p. 311-312.
Hall Papers NS 308/ 2.