§ Mr. WILLIAM THORNEasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether 688 Mrs. Stickney, the wife of Staff Quarter master-Sergeant H. B. Stickney, of the Army Ordnance Corps, now serving in the Orange Free State, has written to the Secretary of State for War calling for a withdrawal of the allegation that she informed Major Boyle, of the Royal Army Medical Corps, the medical officer who inspected her four children at Leeds prior to embarking for South Africa, that they had all been successfully vaccinated; whether Mrs. Stickney denies that before embarkation it was discovered that her alleged statement was untrue; and whether, as a matter of fact, the children were examined by vaccination marks by Major Boyle, who signed their health certificate?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for WAR (Colonel Seely)The reply to the first and second parts of the question is in the affirmative. The reply to the last part of the question is in the negative. Major Boyle did not examine the family for vaccination, as he relied on Mrs. Stickney's assurance that they had all been successfully vaccinated. On this assurance, and as the ages of the children were from eighteen months to five years, he did not consider re-vaccination necessary.