§ MR. COGHILL (Stoke-upon-Trent)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board if he can state the number of cases of smallpox that have occurred in the Staffordshire Potteries during the present outbreak; what hospital accommodation has been provided for them: and if there has been any overcrowding of smallpox patients.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. WALTER LONG,) Bristol, W.According to the information in my possession, there were, 1358 during the first two months of this year, fifty-nine cases of smallpox in the district referred to among a population of 262,500. The local authority for providing smallpox hospital accommodation are the North Staffordshire Joint Hospital Board. The Joint Board have only been recently constituted, but they have made temporary arrangements for accommodating smallpox cases and are treating the patients in some temporary iron pavilions. My attention has been called to statements in the local Press alleging overcrowding in the hospital, and I have directed one of the medical inspectors of the Department to visit the District and report on the subject.