§ Mr. SULLIVANasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department, as representing the Ministry of Health, whether he is aware that immediately following the Act of 1834, which made revaccination compulsory in the Prussian army, and thus for every 274W healthy male in the kingdom, an Act was passed on 8th August, 1835, imposing regulations upon the civil population under severe penalties; that under these Prussian regulations revaccination was imposed at frequent intervals throughout life under penalty of fine and imprisonment; that in 1871 a great epidemic of small-pox occurred, the number of deaths being 124,948, that the overwhelming majority of the sufferers had been vaccinated and revaccinated, that the Act of Imperial Germany passed in 1874 was actually made less stringent in many details than the earlier Prussian Act, and that the epidemic of small-pox was practically at an end when the Act of 1874 was passed, which could, therefore, bear no relation to it; and whether a pamphlet issued by the Minister of Health, which conceals or misstates the conditions regarding vaccination in Prussia prior to the epidemic of 1871, and suggests that the Act of 1874 caused a decline in smallpox which had already taken place, will-be withdrawn?
§ Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKSI am aware of the Prussian regulations of the 8th August, 1835, to which the hon. Member presumably refers. The requirements of those regulations in regard to vaccination are explained in a memorial prepared in the German Imperial Office of Health, and published in Berlin in 1896. It is there stated that, according to those regulations, compulsory vaccination was only provided for in the event of smallpox breaking out in a house, and that in times when there was no small-pox, no penalty, either legal or administrative, was provided for the omission of vaccination. I may also refer the hon. Member to the evidence given in regard to these regulations by Dr. Arthur Hopkirk of Jena before the Royal Commission on vaccination in 1889. I have no information as to the number of deaths in Prussia from small-pox in 1871, but, according to an official German publication, the total number of deaths from small-pox in the German Empire in 1871 and 1872 was 162,111. I am not aware of any official information as to the vaccinal condition of the patients. As regards the last part of the question, I would refer the hon. Member to the answer given to his previous question on the 22nd February.
275W
§ Mr. LUNNasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department, as representing the Ministry of Health, whether he is aware that the local vaccination officer prosecuted Mr. F. Scholefield, 7, Buckley Road, Cemetery Road, Beeston, Leeds, for not having his child vaccinated; whether the local magistrates made an order on 15th February directing the child to be vaccinated; whether he is aware that the child for which the order was made died on 24th February after suffering from convulsions through teething; and whether, in view of the danger of vaccination, he will instruct vaccination officers to refrain from prosecuting parents who, through no fault of their own, have omitted to make a declaration of objection under the Vaccination Act, 1907, within the required period?
§ Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKSMy right hon. Friend is not empowered to interfere with the discretion of a vaccination officer in regard to prosecution. He is not aware whether in the case in question the child was unfit for vaccination at the time vaccination was due, but provision is made in the Vaccination Acts for postponement of vaccination in the case of any child who is not in a fit and proper state to be vaccinated. This child was not, in fact, vaccinated, and the certified cause of death was infantile eclampsia.
§ Mr. LUNNasked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that Mr. F. Scholefield, 7, Buckley Road, Cemetery Road,
— Widows. Children under 14. Father dead. Mother dead. Both parents dead. London … … … … 223,615 80,094 21,538 4,151 Middlesex … … … 52,842 19,755 6,302 1,599 Herts … … … … 13,977 6,273 1,782 552