§ SIR CUTHBERT QUILTER (Suffolk, Sudbury)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury what action the Government intend to take in view of the epidemic in Manchester and other places attributed to the presence of poison in beer.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI am informed by the President of the Local Government Board that his department has, from the first outbreak of the epidemic, had the matter under observation. One of the 512 medical inspectors of the Board has visited the places affected, and has been instructed to obtain all possible information on the subject from those who, in brewing or in other manufactures, use brewers' sugar, and including the action taken by local authorities for detecting arsenic and other substances in manufacture. The Board have addressed a circular to local authorities recommending that analysis should be made of beer and articles of food in which glucose and similar substances are used.