VACCINATION BILL. (Hansard, 1 August 1907)

§ *Lord ALLENDALE

My Lords, this is a short, and, I venture to think, a very simple Bill, and after the discussion we have had on the Vaccination (Scotland) Bill I do not think I need detain i your Lordships long in moving the Second Reading. The objection which was raised to the Bill introduced for Scotland is not applicable to this Bill, for this Bill has passed through the House of Commons. It met with a very favourable reception there, and though there was a division on the Second Reading the Motion was carried by 122 to 14. The Bill does not in any way alter the law of vaccination as it stands, but simply effects an alteration in the legal method of obtaining an exemption from penalties for neglecting to have a child vaccinated. At present a parent has to satisfy—and this word seems to have been capable of a very wide interpretation—two justices or a stipendiary or Metropolitan police magistrate, in petty sessions, that he conscientiously believes that vaccination would be prejudicial to the health of the child, and then within seven days deliver. to the vaccination officer a certificate of his conscientious objection. The Act of 1898 was passed by the last Conservative Government, who were evidently convinced that the conscientious objector had a grievance and that this was a case for legislation. The present Government take the law as they find it, and our object in this Bill is to endeavour to make it work more smoothly than it has done hitherto, complaints having been frequently made of the difficulties which conscientious objectors experience in obtaining exemptions under the existing law. It is said that in some cases applicants for these certificates have been treated by magistrates with contempt and insult, and in many cases exemption certificates have been refused altogether. In other cases the magistrates have refused to grant a certificate of exemption to the mother of the child if the father was alive and capable of making the application. 1182 Attention has been drawn to the want of uniformity in administering the Act on several occasions by the Home Office, especially by two separate Secretaries of State in memoranda—1904 to 1906— circulated on the subject referring to some remarks of the Lord Chief Justice at Birmingham in 1904. (I need not trouble your Lordships by reading them in full.) It is owing to the want of uniformity in administering the Act that this Bill has been brought in. The necessity of appearing at the police court has also been strongly objected to by persons desirous of obtaining these certificates, many of whom declare that they have been treated as quasi criminals. It is provided in this Bill that no parent or custodian of a child shall be liable to any penalty for the non-vaccination of the child if within four months of the child's birth he makes a statutory declaration that he conscientiously objects to vaccination and delivers it to the vaccination officer of the district. The form of declaration, which appears in the Schedule, is as follows— I, A.B., of in the pariah of in the county of being the parent [or person having the custody] of a child named CD., who was born on the day of 19, do hereby solemnly and sincerely declare that I conscientiously believe that vaccination would be prejudicial to the health of the child, and I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same to be true, and by virtue of the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act, 1835. Dated this "day of 19. Signed, A.B. Declared before me, at on the day of E. F. A Commissioner for Oaths (or Justice of the Peace, or other officer authorised to receive a statutory declaration.) It will therefore be seen that the means of obtaining a declaration in the future will be greatly simplified. The declaration when made will be exempt from stamp duty, and the only expense to which the conscientous objector will be put will be the payment of Is. 6d. if the declaration is made before a commissioner of oaths or a sum varying from Is. to 2s. if made before a magistrate or justice. One objection that may be urged to this Bill is that it may make the way of the conscientious objector too easy. That 1183 argument was used against the Act of 1898, but so far that has not proved to be the case. I find from the official figures that the percentage of exemptions to the number of births has not varied but remained practically about the same, and I do not believe that the number of exemptions will be increased by making it possible for them to be obtained in a more convenient manner. I am not going to attempt to defend the Act of 1898 on any grounds of logic, but the objects sought to be obtained by this Bill are (1) to enable the conscientious objector (who is already recognised by that Act) to obtain an exemption certificate without friction and unnecessary trouble and (2) to do this j in such a. way as to exclude persons who have no such objection, but who merely wish to avoid the trouble of having their children vaccinated. No serious opposition has been offered to the measure in the House of Commons, and I confidently appeal to your Lordships to give it a Second Reading.