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211
and liable to be attacked with smallpox on the first
opportunity.
At the beginning of last year a Parliamentary Return
was issued, which showed that there was an increase
in the whole country in the amount of vaccination
compared with the preceding year. The return included
a number of places where vaccination, previously
dead, had at the time of the return, become
somewhat more active. If the ultimate issue of the
Act of 1898 is to be the levelling down of the vaccination
of the country to a middle point where the
"pro-" and "anti-vaccinationists" may meet, the
ultimate benefit to the community will be more than
doubtful. The only remedy for the present condition
of the law would appear to be to insist on re-vaccination,
which should stand in the position of a new duty
quite independent of any exemptions obtained under
the Act of 1898. By such means it may be possible
to neutralise in part the misguided and unhappy
decisions of parents who are conscientious objectors.
SICKNESS.
NOTIFICATION OF INFECTIOUS D1SKASES.
The cases of infectious disease reported during
1899 numbered 837 in all—65 more than the total
for 1898 (772), 166 fewer than that for 1897 (1,003),
and 389 fewer than that for 1896 (1,226). Last year's
total was 150 below the corrected average for the nine