The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-10 00:00:00

VACCINATION BILL.

On the motion for reading the orders of the day, a
discussion took place relative to the position of the
Marquis of Blandford's Formation of Parishes Bill on
the paper, and the noble marquis asked that it should be
restored to its proper place at the head of the list. It
was ultimately arranged that the orders should be pros
ceeded with as they stood in the list.
Mr. COWPER addressed the house relative to
the course he should pursue with respect to the
Vaccination Bill. He said that already they bad
had considerable legislation on the subject, three
acts being now on the statute book. It was
generally admitted that the legislation on this sub-
ject had hitherto been unsatisfactory, and it was felt that
the present law from its defects could not continue, and
he had been induced in conseqUence to deal with the
subject. The present law provided that public Vaccina-
tors should be appointed throughout the country, but
no provision was made for the appointment of persons
competent adequately to discharge these duties. The
country was unequally divided into districts, the system
of registration was defective, and the remuneration to
the medical officers was not sufficient. One scheme
propounded some time since for altering the defects
complained of was, that the Board of Health should
take under its care the management of vaccination, but
to that he objected, for although cminected with the
Government by virtue of the office he held, he was op-
posed to centralisation (hear, hear) and was desirous that
local self-government shou'd be continued. (Hear,
hear.) The question was, bow to legislate on this sub-
ject, and but two ways only presented themselves—one
was to make the present law efficient or enacting a fresh
one, and, after consideration, he was of opinion it was
better to adopt the latter course. He proposed, amongst
other alterations by this bill, that practitioners soliciting
appointments as public vaccinators should show their
qua'ification for the office, from having attended the
Small-pox Hospital or otherwise studied and had experi-
ence of the disease, and be properly recommended. He
also proposed to alter the vaccinating districts, and to
adopt the existing registration districts. He had pre-
pared a scheme for registration which, he thought, would
have been found successful, and it would have been
compulsory on the part of the registrar to make a return
of the children vaccinated to the Board of Guardians,
who should give notice to the people and warn them
against neglecting vaccination ; and where it was found
necessary to proceed against parents for neglecting it,
the expenses of the prosecutions should be paid out of
the poor rates. The right hon. gentleman next referred
to what were called the compulsory clauses of the bill,
to which so much opposition hal been raised, and after
reminding the house that the cornpulscry clauses were
not introduced merely to compel persons to do a certain
thing for themselves, but as a precaution against the
spread of one of the most contagious diseases that
existed, and a protection to the public, he said
from returns furnished in connection with the
Small-pox Hospital he found that the mortality
from that disease, without vaccination, amounted
to one in three or four. After some further remarks;
he moved that the ordtr for going into committee on
this bill be discharged, and the bill withdrawn. (Hear,
hear.)
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE concurred in the course pur-
sued by the Government, and suggested that the subject
should be further investigated by a select committee
before legislation was attempted.
After some remarks from Mr. Henley, Sir G. Grey,
and Dr. Michell, the latter of whom objected to vacci-
nation, and said that if euiall-pox were properly treated
the mortality would not be more than three per cent.
The order was discharged, and the bill withdrawn.
NUISANCES REMOVAL, &c. (SCOTLAND No. 2)