§ MR. BARRAN (York, W.R., Otley)asked the President of the Local Government Board, Whether in the towns of Keighley, Bingley, and Leicester, where there exist large unvaccinated populations (the Vaccination Acts being practically a dead letter) there have been more or fewer cases of small-pox during the past 10 years than in other towns where the Vaccination Acts are generally complied with?
§ THE PRESIDENT (Mr. RITCHIE) (Tower Hamlets, St. George's)I have communicated with the Registrar General, and am informed that, practically, there has been no epidemic of small-pox worth mentioning in any of the 19 great Provincial towns dealt with in the Registrar General's Reports in the last 10 years. Only one small-pox death was registered in that period in Leicester itself; but 10 more were registered in the Leicester Borough Hospital, outside the town. This gives an annual rate of nine in 1,000,000 living; a rate, however, which, small as it is, was nevertheless higher than the rates at Ports- 694 mouth, Norwich, Plymouth, Bristol, and Bradford. Neither Keighley nor Bingley are towns for which separate statistics are published by the Registrar General. Both, however, are situated in the Registration District of Keighley, and have a population equal to about three-fourths of that of the whole district. The last calculated rate for this district is for the 10 years 1871–80, as given in the last Decennial Supplement. The annual rate in the district in that decennium was 270 per 1,000,000 living; and higher than in 25 out of the 32 remaining districts in the West Riding; higher also than in any of the following great towns, out of the 20 dealt with, in the Registrar General's Reports:—Hull, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, Oldham, Bradford, and Brighton.