7. Mr. POINTERasked the President of the Local 'Government Board if he will state in how many districts he has sanctioned the compulsory notification of ophthalmia of the newly-born, and what is the population of the districts; whether he proposes to make the disease compulsorily notifiable throughout the country; whether, having regard to the number of infants whose sight is lost or impaired through neglect of the disease, he is taking steps, under the provisions of the National Insurance Act, to extend sanatorium benefit to the disease; if not, whether he will consider the desirability of doing so; and whether it is proposed to make any Government Grant to assist local authorities in making adequate provision for the treatment of the disease in the families of uninsured as well as of insured persons?
§ The PRESIDENT of the LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. Burns)I have sanctioned the compulsory notification of ophthalmia of the newly-born in 216 districts with a population of 11,497,277, and I am considering the question of extending the requirement of compulsory notification of this disease to the whole country. There is no present intention of extending sanatorium benefit to this disease under the National Insurance Act, or of making a Grant in respect of treatment.