§ MR. COGHILL (Stoke-upon-Trent)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he has any information as to the continuance of the smallpox epidemic in North Staffordshire, and whether he can state if the Local Government Board are taking any steps to deal with it; whether there 264 have been any, and, if so, how many, deaths from smallpox in the Potteries within the last ten days; whether the Local Government Board are satisfied with the hospital accommodation at present provided at the Bagnall Joint Hospital in the event of any further spreading of the epidemic; and whether he can state by how many different authorities this hospital is controlled.
THE SECRETARY TO THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. GRANT LAWSON,) Yorkshire, N. R., ThirskAccording to Returns received by me, it appears that during the past eleven weeks thirty-seven cases of smallpox have occurred in the Potteries. I am informed that there have been no deaths from smallpox in the district during the last ten days. Except for a few cases at Hanley, the epidemic seems practically to have ceased. The hospital referred to by my hon. friend is under the control of the North Staffordshire Joint Smallpox Hospital Board which represents fourteen sanitary authorities. The Joint Hospital Board were only recently constituted, and the accommodation provided by them for smallpox cases was intended to meet the emergency which then existed. It was not such as in ordinary circumstances I should approve.