§ MR. TOTTENHAMasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, If he can state the result of the inquiry into the causes of the late outbreak of scarlatina among the cadets on board the Britannia at Dartmouth; if it is the case that there was, and still is, only one untrained female nurse in the cottage hospital, notoriously ignorant of the proper mode of treating persons suffering from serious illness, inattentive to her duty, negligent of those under her care, and disapproved of by the medical officers; if it is true that this woman was heard to desire a cadet suffering from scarlatina, and who was seized with a violent attack of croup, to stop coughing, as he was doing it on purpose, and whether at this time she had as many as ten cadets under her sole care; if it is the case that there was in the cadet hospital only one trained and competent nurse to attend to twenty cadets, all suffering from scarlatina; whether, during the outbreak, there was any system of daily medical inspection to ascertain whether any further cadets had developed suspicious symptoms, or whether it is true that in many cases those boys who were sickening did not go into the sick bay till the symptoms were fully developed, and till compelled to do so by their comrades; if it is the case that there is only a screen between the sick bay where the suspected cases were located and the parts of the ship to which the ship's crew and other cadets had access, and whether the whole of the cadets were compelled to go into a cold bath each morning, without previously ascertaining whether they were in a lit state for such treatment, and in some cases took the cold bath the very day of being sent to hospital with scarlatina; if it is 818 the case that two boys were sent on shore to hospital at 9 p.m. in an open boat, without any additional covering or clothing, with their temperature at 104 and 102, and with the rash fully developed, while another was kept on board till he was so ill that he fell down when walking up from the boat, and had to be carried into hospital; and, in the case of the last of the thirty cadets who were attacked, whether he was kept Tinder supervision all day, and not sent to hospital till the evening, in consequence of the absence of the medical officer; and, if he will cause a searching inquiry to be instituted into these allegations?
§ SIR THOMAS BRASSEYThe hon. Member will scarcely look for a categorical answer to the numerous Questions which he has put on the Paper with reference to the recent outbreak of scarlatina in the Britannia. I shall be glad to lay a full Report on the Table. It cannot but be a source of satisfaction to know that, out of 33 cases, none proved fatal.