§ SIR THOMAS DEWAR (Tower Hamlets, St. George's)I beg to ask the Presi- 250 dent of the Local Government Board in view of the recent outbreak of smallpox in East London, can he state to what cause it is attributed, and how many patients have been removed for treatment from the various districts of London by the Metropolitan Asylums Board.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. WALTER LONG,) Bristol, S.I am unable to specify the precise causes to which the outbreak referred to is to be attributed, but I may state that several cases occurred in some common lodging-houses and seamen's boarding-houses in Stepney and Poplar, and the earliest of these cases seem to have been those of some cattlemen who came from America. The number of patients removed to the hospitals of the Metropolitan Asylums Board from the various districts of London from 1st March to 29th April was 242.