§ SIR THOMAS ROE (Derby)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his attention has been drawn to the fact that distraint warrants are about to be enforced against some fifty vaccination defaulters at Derby, out of more than 20,000, who are liable to the penalty for non-vaccination; and whether he will explain why Derby has been selected for the enforcement 950 of penalties under the Vaccination Acts, whilst in other large towns, where the vaccination default is much greater, such measures are not resorted to.
§ MR. AKERS-DOUGLASMy attention was called by the Local Government Board to the fact that no attempt was being made by the Derby police to enforce the orders of the magistrates in vaccination cases, and I have been for some time in communication with the Derby Watch Committee on the subject. I am glad to learn that an effort is now to be made to carry out the law. I have no information as to the number of defaulters in Derby who have not been prosecuted, but if the number suggested by the hon. Member is even approximately accurate it points strongly to the evil which results from the failure to enforce the law. I am in communication with the watch committee of another town on the same subject, but I know of no other large towns where the police have so entirely failed to enforce the orders of the justices as they have at Derby.