SECOND READING. (Hansard, 26 June 1890)

LORD LAMINGTON
My Lords, I beg to ask your Lordships to give your assent to the Second Reading of this Bill, which bears the distinction of having passed the other House of Parliament. It is practically a compilation of various clauses of other local Acts, such as the Newport, Grimsby, and Stockton Acts of 1889, and it has farther been approved by the Select Committee on Police and Sanitary Regulations of the other House. Also there are certain provisions of this Bill which have been recommended by the Special Report of the Committee of 1887 to be compiled in one general measure. Following the precedent of the Infectious Diseases Notification Act of 1889, this Bill is proposed to be compulsory only for London, and in other parts of the country to be adopted at the will of the Urban or Rural Sanitary Authorities of districts. It may be considered a sequel or corollary of the Infectious Diseases Notification Act of last year, and it may be argued, from the way in which that Act has been received throughout the country, that there is every likelihood, if this measure he passed into law, that it will be equally well received. With regard to that Act, out of 25,000,000 people who could possibly be affected by it, it has already been put into operation in districts having a population of over 20,000,000 people. With reference to the particular clauses of the Bill, Clause 3 states that in London it will be compulsory, and in other places it will be adopted voluntarily by the Local Authorities. Clause 5 states that the Local Authority may disinfect houses at their own cost, and at the same time they are bound to give compensation for any damage they may do in disinfecting those houses. Clause 6 provides that anybody who fails to give notice to an incoming tenant of rooms where there has been a case of infectious disease within six weeks previously is liable to a fine, or else he must have a certificate from the medical authority that the room or rooms have been 4 properly disinfected. Clauses 7 to 10 have to do with the removal and burial of the bodies of those who die of infectious diseases, and Clause 11 allows the Local Authority to make payments to any hospital where it is necessary to keep a person who is suffering from any infectious disease. Clause 13 is a provision of a somewhat similar nature, by which any Local Authority which has compelled any person or persons to quit a house owing to there having been infectious disease there, is to find them accommodation elsewhere. Clause 19 gives power to the Local Authorities when they have to put in force the provisions of this Bill if it becomes law to act upon any part or parts or the whole of the Act. I may say in support of the Bill that it has been with the Amendments approved in the other House, and it is generally approved of by the Central and Associated Chambers of Commerce, by those connected with the Board of Trade, and also that a great number of Petitions have been received both from individuals and from Corporate Bodies, and have been sent in to both Houses. I think I have said enough in support of the Bill, and I hope your Lordships will now give your favourable consideration to it, and allow it to be read a second time.

*THE PAYMASTER GENERAL (The Earl of JERSEY)
My Lords, after the clear statement of the object of this Bill which my noble Friend has just given it is not necessary for me to detain your Lordships. I need only say that the Bill has the concurrence of the Local Government Board, and though there are some small Amendments which will have to be inserted in it, they are not Amendments dealing with the principle of the Bill. This Bill enables all Local Authorities without special Acts to obtain the advantage of several clauses which are now generally inserted in local Acts of Parliament. As my noble Friend has mentioned, the Notification of Diseases Act is now in force among 20,000,000 of the people of this country.

*THE SECRETARY TO THE BOARD OF TRADE (Lord BALFOUR of BURLEIGH)
My Lords, before the Second Reading of the Bill is assented to, I beg leave to give 5 notice, on behalf of the Secretary for Scotland, to move in Committee an Amendment that this Bill should not apply to Scotland, there being already a law in operation there parallel with this measure, and having regard to its provisions, this Bill would cause confusion.