§ MR. STEADMAN (Tower Hamlets, Stepney)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board if he will state the statutory authority for imposing a poll tax on all registered births in England and Wales; has he received a further communication from Mr. J. F. Haines, of Mile End, calling attention to another case of eruption after vaccination, viz., the case of the child of Mr. and Mrs. 476 Fitzer, of Louisa Street, which was vaccinated on the same day as Mr. and Mrs. Rouse's baby, and by the same public vaccinator; and has an inquiry been made; did the Public vaccinator report either the case of Mr. and Mrs. Rouse's baby, or of Mr. and Mrs. Fitzer's; is there any penalty, and what, imposed on the Public Vaccinator if he neglects reporting such cases to the Local Government Board; is he aware that the Mile End Guardians have adjourned the consideration of the Rouse case pending the report of the Local Government Board's Inspector; and will that report be forwarded to the said Board of Guardians.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (MR. H. CHAPLIN, Lines, Sleaford)As regards the first point, I do not know what is the tax to which the honourable Member has referred. I have received a communication from Mr. Haines as to the child referred to in the second paragraph, but my information, resulting from inquiries I have made, is in direct conflict with his. 1. The child was not vaccinated on the same day as Mrs. Rouse's child, but more than a month afterwards. 2. The child suffered after its vaccination from a mild attack of chicken-pox, a disease which has no reference to vaccination. 3. The mother herself expressed annoyance that persons who had called on her had wanted her "to make a fuss that the chicken-pox was due to vaccination." In reply to the fourth paragraph, there is no obligation on the part of the Public Vaccinator to report to the Local Government Board such cases as those referred to in the question; and in reply to the fifth paragraph, I have received a communication from the Guardians with regard to the case, but they do not ask for a copy of the Inspector's report, and it is not customary to forward to the Guardians copies of reports of this kind, which must often necessarily contain references to private family history.