§ MR. HUGH MASONasked the Secretary to the Local Government Board, Whether the Board's attention has been drawn to the statement in the Registrar General's Quarterly Returns respecting the very high mortality recently in Ash-ton under Lyne; and, whether he will direct a medical inquiry by the Local Government Board into the causes of such high mortality?
§ MR. HIBBERTThe attention of the Local Government Board has been drawn to the high mortality in the borough of Ashton-under-Lyne, and in November last the Board wrote to the Town Council of that borough referring to the fatal prevalence of diarrhoea, and asking what the Medical Officer of Health had been able to discover about the cause of it; but no reply has yet been received to that letter. The Local Government Board propose to direct an inquiry by one of their Medical Inspectors into the cause of the high death-rate of the borough.