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Small-pox and Vaccination. —It will be seen that ten
deaths from Small-pox occurred in the past year against
none in the year previous. It causes me no little vexation
to be obliged to announce this fact, because I had hoped
for a far more diligent enforcement of the Vaccination Act
of 1868, on the part of the authorities than has proved to
be the case. Probably I should not have had to record
the sacrifice of at least seven of these ten lives had the
law been made to reach the parents of that number of
young children, which the table shows succumbed to this
loathsome malady between the ages of one and five. The
Act referred to ought to be no longer called a compulsory
one if the authorities continue to shut their eyes to the
consequences of parental apathy. I cannot help expressing
my regret that the comments of my colleagues and myself
upon this important matter in previous Reports have been
made to so little purpose.
Disease and Mortality amongst the Union Poor.— In
the Form No. V. Appendix, will be found tabulated the