§ MR. O'DOHERTYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if his attention has been directed to a case of small-pox near Cardonagh, county Donegal, imported into that district lately from Glasgow; and what steps (if any) the Local Government Board for Ireland will take to prevent any more such cases being imported from Glasgow; whether he is aware that the request made by the Public Health Committee of the Londonderry Corporation to the Local Government Board to issue a sealed order preventing the importation of old clothes and rags into that city and district from Glasgow during the prevalence of the small-pox epidemic in the latter city has been refused; and whether, considering the intimate touch of Londonderry and district with Glasgow, the Local Government Board will direct the Londonderry port sanitary authority to take precautions with respect to the examination of the cross-channel steamers similar to those taken by them during the late bubonic plague epidemic in Glasgow.
§ MR. WYNDHAMThe medical inspector of the Local Government Board, who has made careful inquiry into the allegation contained in the first paragraph, states it is absolutely without foundation. The Board were unable to comply with the request made by the Public Health Committee, as it has not been shown that small-pox is conveyed through the medium of old clothes. The Board do not consider it necessary to enforce in respect of small-pox the precautionary measures which were held to be essential in respect of bubonic plague. The Board have informed the 1058 authorities at Londonderry and other ports that vaccination or re-vaccination provide the best safeguards against a spread of small-pox.