SECOND READING. (Hansard, 18 June 1867)

THE EARL OF BELMORE
, in moving that the Bill be now read the second time, said, it had been introduced at the request of the Board of Admiralty, in consequence of the rapid spread of small pox among the crews of the ships in the harbour. In the beginning of March last a Report was made by Sir Baldwin Walker, the Admiral 3 Commanding at Sheerness, to the Secretary of the Admiralty on the subject, and was communicated to the Home Office. In that Report the gallant Admiral expressed an opinion that immediate steps ought to be taken for the purpose of checking the spread of this contagious disorder at Sheerness and Chatham. Sir Baldwin Walker gave ample reasons for his Report, stating the fact that there had been an alarming increase in the deaths from small pox, and that several cases had occurred on board several of Her Majesty's ships at those ports. Application was made to the Sanitary Board of those towns; but the authorities were informed that that body had no means of checking the spread of the disease. Sir Baldwin Walker stated in his Report that persons suffering from the disorder had been seen walking about the streets and frequenting places of worship and places of public amusement, to the great danger of the service and the public at large; and that articles by which the infection might be conveyed were publicly sold. The Home Office having no power to interfere, referred the Reports to the Privy Council; and, on the 16th of March, an inquiry having been instituted, a Report was received from the local authorities stating that although the disease broke out in July of the previous year, it did not become epidemic until the following November. Since then no less than thirty-nine deaths had occurred, and from the number of cases brought to the attention of the medical officers it was plain that it was attributable to the want of vaccination and the overcrowding of families in small and inconvenient dwellings. The Privy Council had ascertained that the law as it at present existed, if carried out, would be sufficient to remedy the main causes of the evil, and the medical inspectors quite concurred in the recommendation of Sir Baldwin Walker that a stipendiary magistrate should be appointed, whose duties should be mainly directed to carrying out the provisions of the law with reference to the prevention of the spread of contagious diseases. As the Act failed mainly from want of the machinery, the Government had introduced the present Bill to supply the deficiency. The noble Earl concluded by moving the second reading of the Bill.

§ LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEY
expressed his approval of the appointment of a stipendiary magistrate; but warned the Government that they were introducing a dangerous principle when they proposed 4 that a local stipendiary magistrate should be paid out of the Consolidated Fund.

VISCOUNT SYDNEY
did not think that the objection applied in the present instance. The necessity for the appointment of a stipendiary magistrate at Chatham and Sheerness arose from the charges against the soldiers in garrison, who, according to the present practice, were heard before the bench at Chatham three times a week.