MR. HERBERT ROBERTS (Denbighshire, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India what is the estimated cost of the scientific investigation into plague in India, and what proportion of this expenditure will be borne by the British Treasury; whether he will state what success has attended the work on Dr. Haffkine's system; whether the scientific expedition will have its headquarters at the Pasteur Institute at Kassauli; and whether the present investigation will proceed on the line of bacteriological research.
§ * MR. BRODRICKThe expenditure is estimated at £5,000 for the current year. No portion will be borne by the British Treasury. Inoculation is a valuable preventive, but it is not popular, and its effects are not regarded as permanent. The question as to the headquarters of the expedition will be settled locally between the Government of India and the head of the expedition, while the line of investigation will be determined by the scientific societies controlling the work. I have no doubt that bacteriological research will be largely resorted to.