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48
the sufferer. I should not have made these remarks,
but I know there is a class of persons who are
attempting to oppose the progress of vaccination,
and who denying the truth of Jenners discovery,
are persuading people not to have their children
vaccinated, flying in the face of that Divine
Providence, which has given to mankind so great a
good, and preparing for Small Pox a harvest of
victims amongst those whom they lead away. These
persons actually recommend that people who wish
to avoid vaccination should not have their children
registered. This is another reason why the Government
should lose no time in introducing a compulsory
registration bill. The necessity of such a
measure was urged upon the Goverment by a
deputation from your Vestry two years ago before
the last Vaccination Bill was passed. It is quite
unaccountable that whilst Scotland and Ireland
have a compulsory Registration of Births, that in
England the question should assume the permissive
form of the rest of our sanitary legislation. Not
only would such a measure secure a basis for the
complete vaccination of the people, but it would
also afford the Registrar-General a means of supplying
an accurate account of the number of births
which take place in the country, which he cannot
do under present circumstances. An Act for the