§ MR. LYON PLAYFAIRasked the President of the Local Government Board, Whether he has observed that smallpox is increasing in the Metropolis, though not in the other large towns of the Kingdom; and, if he is satisfied that the arrangements for public vaccination are efficiently carried out in the various districts of London?
§ MR. SCLATER-BOOTHSir, I am aware that at the beginning of the year there was an increased prevalence of small-pox in the Metropolis—not a very serious increase, and confined, for the most part, to four or five parishes. During the last four weeks the returns from the asylum hospitals show the number of patients to have been stationary. I could refer the right hon. Gentleman to the Report of Dr. Bridges, recently circulated, on the last two small-pox epidemics, as illustrating his Question. He enters very carefully into statistics, and I think the Report throws a good deal of light on the special circumstances of the spread where has it taken place. The vaccination arrangements for the Metropolis work well and give me satisfaction, though it cannot be said that the Metropolis is so efficiently vaccinated as the rest of the Kingdom, in consequence of the fluctuating character of much of its population. The right hon. Gentleman will find this subject specially noticed in the recent Reports of the Local Government Board.