Lord Ellenboroughsaid, that in the conversation that took place a few nights ago on the subject of vaccination, he had suggested that the noble Marquess should bring in a bill, giving powers to the board of guardians to appoint persons to perform this duty; but as he did not wish to thrust a duty on others which he would not perform himself, he had prepared a bill on the subject, which he would place on the table. This bill, at present, would only apply to England, but he had prepared clauses which could be added to it, so as to extend it to Ireland by the same machinery, namely, the Poor-law unions. If the noble Marquess had no objection, he should be glad to have the bill read a second time tomorrow, and the discussion, if any was thought necessary, could be taken on Monday. It was desirable to pass the bill at once, as the guardians on the 25th of March made their new contracts with medical men for the several unions.
The Marquess of Normanbyhad no objection to the principle of the bill; he should, therefore, not object to the course proposed by the noble Lord; at the same time, he should be glad to learn the opinion of those more conversant with the subject. Did the bill make no reference to Scotland?
Lord Ellenboroughhad found that it was extremely difficult to apply this bill to Scotland. He believed that the only local bodies under which they could place the control of the vaccination were the Kirk Sessions, and he did not think that it would be advisable to do so.
The Earl of Haddingtonobserved, that if the bill should be found to work well, machinery could be devised for Scotland to carry it out, independent of the Kirk Sessions. He thought that his noble Friend had done wisely in the first place in not entrusting the power to those bodies.
§ Bill read a first time.