§ MR. ALDEN (Middlesex, Tottenham)To ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether, in view of the fact that the Report of the Registrar-General indicates a serious condition of things as regards infant mortality in certain large industrial towns and areas, he will consider the advisability of appointing a Departmental Committee to investigate the causes of such mortality, with power to call for special Reports from, or institute inquiry into, the towns and areas concerned.
(Answered by Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman.) I am fully alive to the importance of this question, and, as my hon. friend will see from an Answer which I gave yesterday, the Local Government Board are taking active steps to ascertain the causes of excessive infant mortality with a view to the adoption of remedial measures. I may mention that a conference, which will be attended by a large number of representatives of municipalities, is shortly to be held to consider the whole question, and I understand that it is to be presided over by my right hon. friend the President of the Local Government Board. I do not think that, under these circumstances, it is necessary to appoint a Departmental Committee.