§ VISCOUNT RAYNHAMsaid, he would now beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether, in order to prevent the serious consequences which at present result from persons suffering from infectious diseases being conveyed to hospitals in public carriages, regulations can be made enforcing the detention at the hospital of the carriages so used until certificates shall have been given to the Commissioners of Police to the effect that such carriages have been by proper and sufficient purification rendered incapable of spreading disease.
SIR GEORGE LEWISsaid, that under the existing Police Act there was no such 561 power as that referred to by the noble Lord, and therefore it would be impossible that any such directions could be given without further legislation by that House. He would state to the noble Lord and the House that the subject had not escaped the attention of the Police authorities, and they had, under the authority of the Secretary of State, provided a carriage for the conveyance of persons suffering from infectious complaints, and not only for their removal, but for the removal of prisoners and all other persons infected in any manner who might be found in the common lodging-houses, which were subject to the control of the Police. He would also take that opportunity of stating that if any parochial authority, or any person locally interested, should desire to see the carriage which had been provided by the Police, he would receive permission to do so on application being made to Sir Richard Mayne at the Police Station, Bagnigge Wells Road, Clerkenwell.