§ MR. HELDER (Whitehaven)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board if his attention has been directed to the recent elections of Medical Officers of Health, especially for the urban district of Keswick and the borough of Brighouse (Yorks); and whether lie is aware that for both of these posts, although there were candidates possessing special diplomas in sanitary science and special training in public health work, the candidates appointed in both districts were non-possessors of any special diploma in public health, and had not received any special training in this particular department.
§ MR. CHAPLINThe Local Government Board have received reports of the recent appointments of Medical Officer of Health by the Urban District Council of Keswick, and the Town Council of the borough of Brighouse. I have no information as to the qualifications of the other candidates for these appointments, but in both cases the candidates appointed possessed the qualifications prescribed by statute. The Act only requires that a Medical Officer of Health should be the holder of a diploma in sanitary science, public health, or state medicine, when the district for which he is appointed has, according to the last published census, a population of 50,000 or more. The population of Keswick in 1891 was 3,905 and of Brighouse, 20,666.