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774 Division of the British Medical Association which by a large majority expressed itself in favour of all the provisions of the Bill and was unanimously in favour of further legislation to deal with defaulters. The Bill has been made wide enough to cover all persons affected with venereal disease and liable to infect others, so that the powers of the local authority may be extended to defaulters from private practitioners and persons affected who do not seek treatment at all. This avoids penalising those who take the proper course of reporting for treatment, and is in line with the recommendations on this subject of the Trevethin Committee report of 1923. The intention of the Edinburgh authorities is to continue the voluntary system and to reinforce it by measures providing a ’ compulsitor,’ especially in the case of defaulters. They have safeguarded the voluntary principle in every possible way. " On March 15th a deputation representing the Corporation of Edinburgh met the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Minister of Health for England. They placed before these Ministers the facts regarding the situation in Edinburgh and strongly urged them to allow the Bill to go for second reading or at any rate to leave it to the free vote of Parliament. The Minister of Health intimated plainly to the deputation that, for considerations of general public policy, they would be compelled to advise the House of Commons not to give a second reading to the Bill and to put the whips on in the vote to oppose the measure. It is unusual in parliamentary procedure for the Government to intervene at this stage of a private Bill. Considering that the Government did not act similarly in the case of private Bills on the same subject put forward by Bradford and by Liverpool, the Edinburgh Corporation feel strongly that they have not been fairly treated. The Corporation met on March 20th and decided unanimously not to withdraw the Bill and to proceed to the second reading. I understand that one of the objections taken to the Bill raises the technical point that as the Bill interferes with the liberty of the subject it should be in the form of a public Bill. It may be pointed out, however, that there is practically no public health measure on the Statute Book which does not interfere with the liberty of the subject, and many of these measures were primarily the result of local legislation, being strenuously opposed in the first place. Edinburgh, for example, had compulsory notification of infectious diseases by a local Act in 1879, and this was followed by the General Notification Act of 1889 which involves restriction of liberty, although many of the infections concerned are less dangerous to the community than venereal disease. One of the main objections to the Bill is that it might drive the disease underground. This, as is pointed out in the report of the Royal Commission, is really a psychological question. It is a striking fact that those z, who have had actual experience of the working of the ’’, present scheme, and are most concerned in maintaining ’, its efficiency, do not entertain any apprehension on this point. In addition, the attendances at the clinics in Edinburgh during the past three months have been maintained and even increased in spite of the publicity which the Bill has received. The other chief objection is that it would be difficult to lay down a standard of cure and that the standard set by the Edinburgh authority might be too high. It is a noteworthy com- mentary on this objection that it is in those clinics which demand and have insisted on the highest standard of cure that the best attendance rates have been obtained and the number of defaulters are least. " The Bill is a measure of medical legislation to be administered by the medical profession and designed to prevent the spread of disease. It would undoubtedly be of the greatest benefit to women and children, often innocent sufferers, and under the present system it is impossible to protect them. It would educate the public in regard to venereal disease, but would not give to the outside public any more information regarding sufferers than at present. The local authority and their legal and medical advisers have very carefully considered all objections to their proposals. They are well aware that there are difficulties to be met, but these difficulties in their view are not nearly so serious or so insurmountable as those which are inherent in the present situation. They are asking, as suggested by the Trevethin Committee, to be allowed to try the method they are proposing for an experimental period. They are confident that they can successfully administer the provisions of the Bill and, in any event, they are satisfied that any of the possible disad- vantages following on the granting of the powers asked for are trifling compared with the proved disadvantages of the present system. " The Convention of (Royal) Burgh has recently reasserted its general support of the Bill, and at a meeting to be held on April 12th at the Usher Hall four out of the five M.P.’s for Edinburgh will speak n its favour." BUCHAREST. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) S arcotic Drugs. THE Ministry of Health has appointed a Commission to elaborate a Bill designed to circumvent the trade in narcotic poisons. The first paragraph of the Bill details the drugs which are to be regarded as narcotic poisons ; they are morphia, cocaine, codeine and its derivatives, hashish and its preparations, ether, and all natural or synthetic products which have actions similar to those of the above. Persons who import, or attempt to import, such drugs illicitly, or prepare, or try to prepare, them without the necessary licence are liable to a fine of 10,000 to 20,000 lei and one to two years’ imprisonment. Persons who keep in their houses, or on themselves, any amount of such drugs, however small, without a lawful motive, or obtain possession of them bv means of fictitious medical prescriptions, or try to do so ; also persons who, being aware that the prescription is fictitious, yet deliver stupefying drugs to the individual producing it, are liable to six to twelve months’ imprisonment and a similar fine. Those who use the said drugs in company, or recommend their use to others, or facilitate their use by another person, either for money or free of charge, or in any other way, are liable to three to six months’ imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 to 100,000 lei. Medical men who facilitate the procuring of these drugs, or prescrip- tions, are liable to two to twelve months’ imprison- ment and a fine of 10,000 to 50,000 lei. If the offence is repeated they may be prohibited from carrying on medical or pharmaceutical practice for six months or a year. The Bill will shortly be submitted to the Chamber of Deputies for sanction, and it may be hoped that it will soon become law. It should be stated that its drafting was not necessitated by local conditions, but was the outcome of the international agreement signed at Geneva on Feb. 15th, by which all the States agreed to take measures against the abuse of narcotic drugs. Congress of Thalassotherapy in Rumania. At the last Congress of the Association Inter- nationale de Thalassotherapie, held at Arcachon in France in 1925, it was decided that the next meeting should be held in Rumania this year. The countries represented in this association are the Argentine, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Chile, Cuba, Denmark, Egypt, France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Japan, Jugoslavia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, United States of America, Uruguay, and Venezuela. It is a pity that none of the States lately forming the Central Powers is a member of the association. The organ- ising work at the Rumanian meeting 1 will be 1 The Rumanian authorities have placed at the disposal of the Privy Council a limited number of invitations to, and programmes of, the Congress, and, these will be sent to any duly accredited delegate on application to the Council.—ED. L.
