§ MR. SEAVERNS (Lambeth, Brixton)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the fact that on July 23rd Mr. Howard Farrow applied to Mr. Francis, at the Lambeth Police Court, for a certificate of exemption from vaccination for his child, and stated that he had a conscientious objection to vaccination, and the magistrate declined to grant such certificate; whether he is aware that Mr. Farrow had previously been fined at the same court for refusing to allow another child to be vaccinated; and what action the Home Secretary proposes to take in the matter.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) I am informed that Mr. Farrow stated that he conscientiously objected to vaccination, but refused to give the grounds upon which he founded his objection. The certificate was refused because the applicant failed to satisfy the magistrate, as required by the Act, that he conscientiously believed that vaccination would be prejudicial to the health of the child in question. As I have said in reply to previous Questions on the same subject, I have no authority to take action in the matter.