§ DR. THOMPSON (Monaghan, N.)To ask the President of the Local Government Board if he is aware of the percentage of deaths of infants; if he receives tabulated records of the deaths in different urban and rural districts; and if in future he will direct a medical inspector to visit such localities and inquire into the causes producing such results.
(Answered by Mr. Gerald Balfour.) The Local Government Board are aware of the percentage of deaths of infants in different parts of England and Wales. Their information on this subject is derived from particulars given in the weekly and quarterly reports of the Registrar-General as to certain towns, and from the annual reports of the medical officers of health of urban and rural districts, copies of which are sent to the Board. I could not undertake to direct a medical inspector to visit every locality in which there is a high rate of infantile
† See (4) Debates, cxliii., 460.429 mortality, but where this is the case the circumstance is taken into account with other considerations in determining whether there should be a medical inspection of the district.