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25
No provision exists, however, for the isolation of small-pox.
The Croydon Corporation and this Council have been trying
to secure the co-operation of the various authorities in NorthEast
Surrey to provide a Small-pox Hospital for an extensive
area; the Surrey County Council, who might deal with the
question in a comprehensive manner, has declined to take
action at the present.
At the time of the Gloucester epidemic, a special report
was presented to the Committee on the subject, and I was
authorised, in the event of invasion taking place, to do everything
possible in the way of isolation at home, and to employ
trained nurses for this purpose, to offer re-vaccination to those
exposed to infection, and, if necessary, to promise compensation
for loss of employment to those kept in quarantine.
Representations were also made to the Board of Guardians
to enforce vaccination, and a similar step was taken by the
Croydon Corporation. It was stated that the Rural District was
well vaccinated, but that in the town there were a large number
of unvaccinated children. The Guardians have since resolved to
take no action to enforce the Vaccination Acts in the Union
against defaulters, a decision which most affects the town of
Croydon, but nevertheless will affect the Rural District too, and
can only be regretted.*
It cannot be denied that the whole question of vaccination
is, at present, in a stage of transition, and that the remarkable
report of the Royal Commission, which has at last been issued,
will no doubt lead to some alteration of the law.
But it is necessary to point out that the Commissioners
positively state that the evidence submitted to them proves that
both primary vaccination and re-vaccination, when properly per
formed, diminish the liability to small-pox and modify the
character of the disease, rendering it less fatal and of a milder
*Since this report was written, the resolution of the Guardians has been
rescinded by a majority of one.