§ SIR G. BADEN-POWELLI beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board, whether his attention has been called to a bad outbreak of small-pox on the reformatory ship Clarence? Whether he is aware that early in November there were cases of fever among the boys; that a boy named John Carroll was certified by the surgeon of the ship to be suffering from chicken-pox, and on convalescence was allowed to go to sea in a sailing ship, which, on arrival at Rio de Janeiro, was placed in quarantine for having had small-pox on board; that many other boys were down with fever at the time and subsequently; and that the captain, the schoolmaster, and others urged strongly that something serious was the matter, but that the surgeon persisted in declaring the fever to be at worst chicken-pox; will he explain why it was that although on the 24th November the captain insisted that in the case of two boys, Thomas Sexton and Patrick Doyle, further medical advice should be obtained, it was not till the 26th that the ship's surgeon brought off the medical officer of the port of Liverpool, who, without hesitation, at once declared the cases to be small-pox, and 18 boys were forthwith transferred to the Port Sanitary Hospital; And, whether he has instituted or will institute an official inquiry into these reported facts of dangerous neglect of an infectious disease?
§ MR. SHAW-LEFEVREMy attention has been called to this case. The facts are substantially as stated in the question, though one or two points have not yet been confirmed from independent sources. I have directed the Inspector and Assistant Inspector of Reformatory and Industrial Schools to make an official inquiry into the matter. They went to Liverpool on Monday, and will report to me as soon as possible.