§ MR. RUNCIMAN (Dewsbury)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in view of the diverse action of different magistrates throughout the country in the treatment of applications under Section 2 of the Vaccination Act, 1898, it is the intention of the Home Office to issue to magistrates throughout the country a circular stating the views of the Home Office and the Local Government Board as to the correct interpretation of the section.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers-Douglas.) This matter is, by the Statute, left in the discretion of the magistrates. I have no authority over the exercise of that discretion, and I do not, therefore, contemplate the issue of a circular such as the hon. Member suggests, which would, in the circumstances, serve no useful purpose.