View report page

Passing by the "Arrear Cases," which, I hope, will not form a
prominent feature in future returns, as the whole time of the Vaccination
Officer is now devoted to his important duties, it will be obvious
that many of the failures to obtain proof of compliance with the Law on
the part of parents, must be due to defect in the Law itself, which
provides for a half-yearly return, only, of births. This difficulty has
been surmounted, latterly, by a private arrangement between the Registrars
and the Vaccination Officer, who now receives a Monthly List
of Births.*
The Bill recently introduced by the Government for amending the
Vaccination Act of 1867, contains various provisions of importance
intended to remedy the defects of the existing Act. The responsibility
of carrying out the law is to be transferred from the Privy
Council to the Poor Law Board, or, rather, to the new "Local
Government Board," should the "Local Government Bill" become
law.† The appointment of a Vaccination Officer is to be compulsory
* I desire to acknowledge the courtesy of the Registrars (the Messrs. Barnes), and of
the Vaccination Officer (Mr. Shattock), in supplying me with information upon this
subject.
† This Bill was passed after the Report was in type.