§ MR. CORRTE GRANT (Warwickshire, Rugby)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board, having regard to the fact that the system of classification of smallpox deaths, according to a footnote in the weekly Return of the Registrar General, excludes from the classes of vaccinated and not vaccinated all cases not so certified by 994 registered medical men, and that cases are put under the heading no statement, not only when the medical practitioner is unable to certify whether there has been vaccination or not, but when the practitioner has failed to make any mention of vaccination, whether he will direct the Registrar General to secure a stricter classification of the smallpox deaths.
§ MR. GRANT LAWSONI have communicated with the Registrar General, who states that he does at present secure a classification of smallpox deaths which is sufficiently accurate for statistical purposes. Frequently it is not practicable to obtain full information concerning particular cases in time for publication in the current weekly Returns; but from time to time the information is supplemented with the help of facts subsequently obtained. The Registrar General will, however, consider whether any alteration shall be made as regards the publication of vaccination statistics in connection with deaths from smallpox.