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in December last, decided to call the attention of the Local
Government Board to the matter, and the following Petition
was prepared and forwarded to that Board:—
The Petition referred to.
To The Right Honourable The President of the
Local Government Board.
The Petition of the Board of Works for the
Lewisham District.
Sheweth—
That your Petitioners are the Sanitary Authority for the
Lewisham District (including the Parish of Lewisham),
and as such Sanitary Authority are charged with the execution
of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, in the
said District and Parish.
Under and pursuant to the provisions of that Act your
Petitioners are entrusted with important duties incident
and relating to the prevention of the spread of the Infectious
Diseases particularly specified in the said Act.
The Guardians of the Poor of the Lewisham Union are
within the Parish of Lewisham charged and entrusted
with the administration of the Vaccination Acts.
Your Petitioners, as such Sanitary Authority, regard it as of
great importance to the welfare of their District that the
provisions of the Vaccination Acts as laid down by the
Legislature should be duly and properly administered and
enforced.
The attention of your Petitioners has been specially directed
to the large number of cases in which the Guardians have
excused from prosecution parents and others who have
made default in complying with the provisions and
requirements of the Vaccination Acts. Your Petitioners
are informed that forty-seven persons have been excused
during the past twelve months.
Your Petitioners are informed and believe that the excuse
advanced by the parent or responsible person in most, if
not all, the cases excused is that he or they object to
vaccination.