Sir J. D. REESasked the Secretary of State for India whether lepers sent to a leper asylum by magisterial order are only detained so long as they suffer from an open sore; whether such detention is a vain expenditure of public money, in view of the fact, believed to be established, that leprosy is contagious in all its stages; and whether the Governor-General in Council contemplates any amendment of the Leper Act in order to check the spread of this disease in India?
§ Mr. MONTAGUThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. I am advised that medical opinion is divided on the question whether leprosy is contagious in all its stages. So far as I am aware, no amendment of the Indian Leper Act is in contemplation.