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47
Sanitary Authorities of the occurrence of illness from some
of the more dangerous infectious diseases; and in the
Report for 1880, (page 44), I gave a full account of the steps
that had been taken by means of legislation, in the shape of
"Local Acts," to secure such notification in certain provincial
towns and boroughs. The subject was continued in my
Report for 1881, (page 40), and I stated that, as the desirability
of the extension of such legislation in the shape of a
Public Act was generally acknowledged, it only remained
for the Government to introduce a measure for the purpose
of securing notification. In the Session of 1882, several
Private Bills providing for "Police or Sanitary Regulations"
were introduced at the instance of provincial Corporations,
and referred to a Select Committee, of which Mr. SclaterBooth,
an ex-President of the Local Government Board, was
the Chairman. In their Report on the "Sanitary Regulations
"the Committee stated, with respect to "Notification,"
that they had "little difficulty in forming the opinion that
the time had arrived when provisions of law on this subject
may be sanctioned, at least in the more important Urban
Sanitary Districts." Encouraged by this report Mr.
Hastings,who was a member of the Committee, with Sir
Trevor Lawrence, Dr. Farquharson and Mr. Brinton, introduced
a Bill in the Session of 1883, "To provide for the
better Notification of Infectious Diseases," drawn on the
lines sketched by the Committee in a "Model Clause,"
which will be found at page 44 of my Annual Report for
1881. Without entering into details I may state that the
Bill proposed to throw upon the householder, and upon the
medical attendant, equally, the duty of notifying cases to the
Medical Officer of Health—the so called "dual system."
The gentlemen named are active members of the Social
Science Association, the Health Section of which body
has taken a prominent part in promoting legislation to secure
Notification. The Bill was, in fact, the Bill of the Association,
which, moreover, organized a Deputation to the Local