§ DR. FARQUHARSONI beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the fact that 47 children have been removed from the Forest Gate Poor Law Schools to the fever hospitals of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, under the erroneous belief that they were suffering from scarlet fever; and whether any of the children had contracted scarlet fever when in the fever hospitals.
§ MR. WALTER LONGI am aware of the fact mentioned in the first paragraph of the question. I am informed that following some cases of undoubted scarlet fever among the children in the schools in February and March of this year, a number of suspicious cases occurred in April, some of which were sent to the hospital as cases of scarlet fever. It ultimately appeared, however, that none of the children thus sent in April were, in fact, suffering from that disease. I am advised that any error which may have been committed in sending these cases to the hospital cannot with justice 436 be attributed to any want of care or anything else than anxiety to do the best for the safety of the school. As regards the last paragraph of the question, I understand that none of the children sent to the fever hospitals contracted scarlet fever there.