Mr. LLOYD MORGANasked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that on Monday, 26th April, the chairman of the Sittingbourne bench of magistrates announced that in future the magistrates for that division would refuse to grant exemptions from vaccination unless the applications were made at a sitting of the court; and whether, in view of the fact that this decision will cause great inconvenience and hardship on the poorer class of people who do not wish their children to be vaccinated and who live a long way from the place where the court is held, he proposes to take any action in the matter?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUELThe Secretary of State is informed by the justices that their decision was that applicants, in all but exceptional cases, should be requested to come to the court on Monday mornings, and that the intention was to prevent the occurrence of irregularities due to informalities in the applications. There is nothing to prevent justices coming to such a decision, but it does not override the power of any justice to act individually by taking a declaration at his own house if he thinks fit, and the Secretary of State thinks that, where the distance is considerable, few justices will wish to put poor persons unnecessarily to the expense and trouble of attending the court by refusing to take their declarations. Moreover, a statutory declaration can be made before a commissioner for oaths, or other officer authorised for that purpose, as well as before a justice.