§ MR. P. A. TAYLORasked the President of the Local Government Board, Whether it is true that Mr. John Abel, of Farringdon, has been prosecuted thirty-four times for refusing to have his children vaccinated; and, whether he proposes to-bring in any measure to limit the amount of punishment inflicted for non-compliance with the Vaccination Acts?
§ MR. DODSONSir, although I have no official information as to the exact number of times Mr. Abel has been prosecuted for not having had his children vaccinated, I have no reason to suppose that the number of times is not correctly stated in the Question. At the same time, it is right to mention that the Board are in no sense responsible for the repeated prosecutions in this case; and they have not failed to point out to the Guardians the expediency of caution and moderation in continuing frequent prosecutions. Looking to the scant encouragement the Bill introduced last year for the purpose of limiting prosecutions in these cases met with, I am not prepared to bring in a similar measure this Session.