§ SIR F. CHANNING (Northamptonshire, E.)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether an inquiry has been or will be made into the death by anthrax in the Royal Albert Hospital, Devonport, of John Tidds, a labourer, who has recently been employed in unloading a steamer 844 which arrived from Kurachee with a cargo of grain; and whether, having regard to occasional cases of infection from handling cargoes of hides, wool, and other articles from abroad, representations by circular, and in British Possessions by regulations, have been, or will be, made and communicated to foreign shippers, British consuls, and officials to secure better precautions against infection.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) Inquiries have been made by the factory inspector of the district and the certifying surgeon into this case. It appears that the man had been engaged in the hold of the vessel handling bags containing Kurachee barley; and it is suggested by the certifying surgeon that the infection was conveyed by the sacks. A danger of this kind is obviously one that is very difficult to guard against. The Home Office has circulated cautionary notices for posting in premises where infected material is likely to be handled, and has also, through the Foreign Office, circulated widely to our consuls abroad copies of a series of lectures on anthrax which were delivered some little time ago by the medical inspector of factories. It is difficult to see what further steps can be taken until the advance of scientific inquiry discloses new methods of detecting the danger and new precautions that may be taken to meet it.