View report page

42
placed in the hands of the Sanitary Authorities, and (b) the urgent necessity
for the Royal Commission on Vaccination reporting at as early a date as
possible.
A communication was addressed to the Local Government Board embodying
the foregoing Resolutions, and on 2nd September, 1896, a letter was received,
in reply, stating that the Board did not see that any advantage would arise
from the attendance of the proposed Deputation as to the administration of
the Vaccination Acts, until the Board have had an opportunity of considering
the Report of the Royal Commission.
Since then the Sixth and final Report of the Royal Commission on Vaccination
has been issued, and paragraph 508 of the Report expresses the
following opinion : —
" 508.—In connection with the subject with which we have been dealing, we
may advert to the suggestion that the Vaccination and tho Sanitary Authority
should in all cases be identical,
" It has been pointed out that, whilst the isolation of patients in hospitals
and otherwise is provided for by the Sanitary Authority, the extent of the
provision requisite to deal with the outbreak of Small-pox may depend upon
the degree in which the Vaccination Laws have been enforced.
" More hospital accommodation may be required when vaccination has been
neglected than when the Vaccination Laws have been complied with.
" It is contended that sanitation and vaccination, concerning, as they both do,
the health of the people, should be under the jurisdiction of a single Authority,
and the Sanitary Authority is the appropriate one for the purpose. Indeed,
the advantage of placing in the same hands the supervision of vaccination, and
of the other measures designed to prevent the spread of disease, are so great
and so obvious that the proposal to do so deserves most serious consideration.
Under present arrangements, however, such a proposal raises very great
difficulties. Whilst in England and Wales there are only 648 Vaccination
Authorities, the Sanitary Authorities exceed 1,700 in number. Moreover,
whereas in some cases a Borough, the Council of which is the Sanitary
Authority, comprises parts of several Unions, in other cases a single Union
contains within it many Sanitary Authorities. For example, the Borough of
Bristol includes the whole of one Union and parts of two other Unions. On
the other hand, the Huddersfield and Halifax Unions contain no less than 25
and 19 Urban Sanitary Districts respectively. Many other instances
might be cited to show that, it would be impracticable to vest the sanitary and
vaccination duties in all cases in a single Local Authority without a complete
recasting of our present areas of local administration.
"We are not in a position to devise a scheme which would accomplish, either
wholly or partially, the desired result. At the same time we fully recognise
the importance of achieving it, as far as possible, and we should regard with
favour such changes as would render the amalgamation of the Vaccinatiou
and Sanitary Authorities feasible ; or, indeed, any steps taken in that direction,
even although they should only partially effect the object in view."