§ Amendment made: In page 210, leave out lines 6 to 8.—[Mr. Shakespeare.]
§ Mr. SHAKESPEAREI beg to move, in page 211, line 32, to leave out "measles."
§ 12.20 a.m.
§ Sir FRANCIS FREMANTLEI moved this Amendment in the Joint Select Committee. There is a great deal to be said for making measles notifiable but, having inquired generally as regards the practical effect of it, I find that on the whole it is better to leave it as it is where it may be made notifiable with certain restrictions as occasion requires. I approve of the elimination of the 1266 Amendment that I originally moved in the Select Committee.
§ Mr. CROOM-JOHNSONI am looking at this from the point of view of the general public. There can be no question that, while we have made great progress in medical science in all sorts of directions, we know practically no more about measles to-day than we did 50 years ago except that the sequelae are very often all sorts of things connected with eyes and ears, and some of us hope that this Amendment will be left in the Act of Parliament so that, if measles were made notifiable, it might direct the attention of a great number of people to the necessity of making an extended enquiry into the causes and the results of the disease. I hope that the matter will be looked into again at an early date and that we shall have an opportunity of seeing whether something cannot be done to stir up public opinion on the subject of measles.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.
§ Clauses 344 to 346 ordered to stand part of the Bill.