§ Mr. REESasked the Under-Secretary of State for India, whether the returns of plague mortality in the Punjab during the preceding years indicate that the disease is gradually disappearing; and how last year's death-rate on this account compares with that from small-pox?
The UNDER-SECRETARY for INDIA (The Master of Elibank)The plague mortality in the Punjab in 1908, excluding native States, is given in the most recent returns as 30,708, against 608,685 in 1907. 1076 The death-rate from plague in that province in 1908 was 1.53 per thousand; that for small-pox was 1.42 per thousand.
§ Mr. LUPTONDoes the hon. Member agree with the report of the Medical Commission in India that vaccination is absolutely of no use in the case of an epidemic?
§ Mr. SPEAKERThe hon. Member should give notice of that.