MR. C. E. SCHWANN (Manchester, N.)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether repeated cases of spotted fever have occurred for some months in Glasgow; and, if so, whether he will consider the desirability of requiring that the disease shall be placed on the list of those for compulsory notification, not merely in Glasgow, but as a general order.
§ * THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. JOHN BURNS,) BatterseaThe Infectious Diseases (Notification) Acts do not empower the Local Government Board to issue a general Order making a disease compulsorily notifiable, and I am advised that, under present circumstances, there would be no need for any such general Order as regards the particular disease referred to in the Question. With the approval of the Board, however, action for the purpose of making this disease notifiable may be taken by any sanitary authority in England and Wales (with which alone I am concerned), so far as 1422 relates to the district of the authority, and in August last the Board issued a circular to the several authorities, stating that they would be prepared to consider an application for their approval to an extension of the Act to the disease, should the sanitary authority desire, in view of any special circumstances, to make the necessary application. Some applications of the kind have since been, made and approved.