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PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE

ripe wisdom, the product of a fine mind endowed withmany years of experience. He was a great registrarof the College of Physicians, and many of us willnever enter the censors’ room without thinking of him ;the room which he said was the most beautiful inLondon, quiet yet in the hub of the capital, with itspanelled walls and fine portraits, where from his seathe could see nothing, within or without, less than100 years old."

THE INFANTICIDE BILL

LORD DAWSON’S PROPOSALS

IN the House of Lords on March 22nd ViscountDAWSON OF PENN moved the second reading of theInfanticide Bill. Its intention, he said, was to securerecognition by Parliament that in certain circum-stances the killing of infants was provoked by illnessand not always by criminal intent, and to procurefor such cases appropriate handling. The subjecthad vexed the minds of both lawyers and the publicfor 70 years. The common sense of the public haddetected that among these cases of child murderthere were two groups : a childbirth group and agroup which constituted the murdering of unwantedchildren. Yet both were tried for murder and con-demned to death alike. In course of time publicfeeling became so moved that juries refused toconvict, and that led to a certain number of guiltypeople escaping punishment for murder.In 1861 a Bill was passed which provided a loop-

hole and created the offence of concealment of birth.Then juries got out of their difficulties by finding thedefendants innocent of murder but guilty of conceal-ment of childbirth, with the result that a number ofpeople escaped who ought not to have done so.

Finally, in 1909, a Bill was passed through the Houseof Lords, of which Lord James of Hereford was thesubstantial author, which provided that should ajudge think proper he could direct the jury to acquitthe woman of murder and to convict her of man-slaughter, the sentence being left to the judge. In1922 a more far-seeing measure was brought forwardby the late Mr. Arthur Henderson, which afteramendment in the House of Lords, became theInfanticide Act of 1922. That Act provided that incases where at the time a mother caused the deathof her child she had not fully recovered from theeffects of giving birth to a child and the balance ofher mind was thereby disturbed she would be guiltyof manslaughter. But there was no definition in thatAct of what was meant by a

" newly born " child.The hardship of these cases was that women, who

were in many instances innocent, might be faced withthe prospect either of being convicted of murder orof being sent to Broadmoor and of being stampedwith insanity. The term " newly born " had beenomitted from the present Bill and a time limit of ayear had been inserted. The Bill gave a jury powerto bring in a verdict of infanticide on their owninitiative. When a defendant appeared in a court offirst instance it was neither fair nor necessary thatshe should be remanded to prison. Where possiblebail should be allowed, but where that was notpossible the woman should be remanded to a hospitalor to a home. In a large proportion of these casesthere was a complete recovery. Forty-two per cent.of the female admissions to Broadmoor were therefor child destruction, and of these 50 per cent.recovered. It was an unfortunate thing that thosewomen should have the Broadmoor stamp ; theyshould be treated as cases of illness.

It was necessary, Lord Dawson agreed, to becareful that a means of escape was not provided forthe murderer of the unwanted child and it was for

that reason that he had inserted the limitation ofone year. It was rare to find cases of insanityfollowing childbirth which did not recover within ayear. The Bill implied that certain offences could bedue to mental illness, and when that illness amountedto irresponsibility for the offences charged the patientshould neither be punished nor dubbed as a lunaticbut should be bound over for appropriate treatment.It would be a practice more in harmony with present-day thinking and sound humanity.

GENERAL SUPPORT

Lord SNELL said that the Labour peers gave theBill their general support, but if one of these womenwas to be sent to a hospital they wanted to knowwhat sort of hospital it should be. A criminal lunaticasylum, of course, was not the right place ; nor wasa mental hospital. It was true that in a mentalhospital a patient had the advantage of specialisedtreatment, but sometimes some kind of certificationwas necessary. Certification of insanity should not becarried out if it could be avoided.-The Marquess ofCREwE, in supporting the Bill, said that no doubt thepoints raised by Lord Snell would receive full attentionin Committee ? Support for the Bill was also expressedby Lord ATKIN and the Archbishop of CANTERBURY.-Lord ARNOLD suggested that consideration shouldbe given to the extension of the Bill to cover caseswhere there was mental disturbance due to distressand despair arising from solicitude for the child, orextreme poverty, or either of these.

THE GOVERNMENT’S HESITATIONThe Earl of MuNSTER, Lord-in-Waiting, said the

term " newly born" had been criticised on theground that it was indefinite. In cases where averdict of infanticide was returned the death of thechild generally occurred within the first few hoursof birth, and he was advised that the courts had hadno difficulty in interpreting the term. The questionfor how long a period childbirth might have adisturbing effect on the woman’s mental balance wasa medical question ; in exceptional cases the effectsmight be long and possibly lasting. But in practiceit was necessary to have regard to what was normaland unless the Bill was framed to deal with excep-tional cases was it right, he asked, to fix the periodat twelve months ? Would not some shorter periodcover the generality of cases ? The result of fixingthe period at all would be that in one case a womanwould be liable to be convicted of murder becausethe child was just over the age-limit, and in anothershe would be convicted of infanticide because thechild was just under the age-limit. How far wouldthe substitution of a time-limit of twelve monthsfor the term " newly born " result in an increase inthe number of verdicts of infanticide ? P Since 1930there had, he said, been 13 women reprieved afterconviction for child murder. One killed an imbecileson aged 30, and one a daughter aged 8. Four killedchildren whose ages ranged from 12 to 20 months.In six of those cases the Bill would have had noeffect whatever. In the case of the seven remainingwomen who killed children ranging from 1 to 9months old there had been no suggestion that themother’s mind was still unbalanced by the effects ofchildbirth. This did not suggest that the effect ofthis Bill would be to substitute verdicts of infanticidefor verdicts of murder in any considerable number ofcases. The Government would however be preparedto give the Bill careful consideration in committee.

Lord DAWSON said that when this question wasfirst brought up after a very painful case at theCentral Criminal Court, he did not go into the matterin his personal capacity but took care, as presidentof the Royal College of Physicians, to refer it to acommittee of experts. The conclusions he had putforward were their considered opinion. When theirreport was in his hands he brought it to a gatheringof leading K.C.s and medical men, and there was

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general agreement about it. Infanticide, happily,was not a common thing. The Bill dealt with quality t

rather than quantity. He was aware of the figures (which Lord Munster had quoted, but he was assured <

that cases of insanity delayed until the period oflactation were far more numerous than he had E

imagined. 1

The Bill was read a second time. 1

NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS

Naval Marriage Allowances iIN the House of Commons on March 14th Mr. j

SHAKESPEARE, Parliamentary Secretary to the IAdmiralty, announced that a scheme of marriageallowances to officers of the Royal Navy and Royal (Marines had been approved to operate from April lstnext. On introducing the Navy Estimates for 1938on March 17th Mr. SHAKESPEARE said that it had beenfound necessary to reserve for further considerationthe applicability of the present scheme of marriageallowance, with or without special modification, tothe medical branch. He fully sympathised with thenatural disappointment which all R.N. medicalofficers would experience when they heard thatstatement, but every effort was being made to arriveat an equitable arrangement at a very early date.

In the House of Lords on March 16th the PoorLaw Amendment (No. 2) Bill was read the third timeand passed. On March 17th in the House of Lordsthe National Health Insurance (Amendment) andSuperannuation (Various Services) Bills passed throughcommittee. A motion was agreed to referring theCollecting Charities (Regulations) Bill to a committeeof both Houses. On March 18th the Housing(Financial Provisions) Bill passed through its remain-ing stages in the House of Commons and was read afirst time in the House of Lords.

In the House of Lords on March 21st the MiddlesexHospital Bill was read a second time.-On March22ndthe National Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill wasread the third time and passed. The Housing (Finan-cial Provisions) Bill was read a second time.

QUESTION TIMENVEDNESDAY, MARCH 16TH

Deaths on a Liner

Mr. TEMPLE MoBBis asked the President of the Board ofTrade whether any report had been received by his depart-ment as to the cause of the recent deaths on board theliner Llanstephan Castle.-Captain WALLACE, Parlia-

mentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, replied : Yes,Sir. Three members of the crew are certified to havedied in Port Sudan hospital on Feb. 13th, 14th, and 16thof malignant malaria. Another member of the crew diedon board the vessel on Feb. 8th and the primary cause ofhis death is stated in the log to have been amoebic

dysentery. As a result of his inquiry into this death, thesuperintendent of the Mercantile Marine Office has endorsedthe log to the effect that there is not sufficient evidenceavailable to enable him to say whether the statement ofthe cause of death in the log is in his opinion true or not.

Nutrition in CeylonMr. SoRENSEN asked the Secretary of State for the

Colonies whether he was aware of the recent report onnutrition in Ceylon ; and what action was being taken toimprove nutrition and diminish mortality and ill health.-Mr. ORMSBy-GORE replied : Yes, Sir ; two reports on thisimportant subject have been published in the last year.As regards the second part of the question, it would beimpossible to compress within the limits of a parliamentaryanswer the measures which are being taken by Ceylonministers to improve nutrition. But as an instance of the

great importance which I know ministers in Ceylon attachto the subject (it is one which under the constitution fallswholly within their competence) I may add that a sumof Rs.1,000,000 has been voted this year for providingmeals for school-children.

Mr. T. WILLIAMS : Is the right hon. gentleman awarethat it was generally the opinion of medical officers inCeylon that the absence of resistance when the malariaepidemic overtook them trebled the death-rate.

Mr. ORMSBy-GORE : That certainly was the opinionexpressed by a great many medical officers. No doubtthis is a matter which the responsible ministers in Ceylontake into account.

Pay Deductions for Hospital FundsMr. ROBERT GIBSON asked the Secretary to the Treasury

if the decision of the Admiralty under which Admiraltyindustrial employees not covered by existing contributoryschemes might arrange for contributions to local hospitalfunds by means of deductions from their pay was to beextended to all industrial employees of the Government;and, if so, what services would be affected and how manyworkers in each service.-Colonel COLVILLE replied:The intention is that the scheme of deductions from payfor hospital purposes through a central organisation shouldbe made available to all industrial staffs at home directlyemployed by the Government provided, of course, that thebodies to whom contributions are desired to be made electto cooperate with the central organisation. As the hon.Member will appreciate, time may be taken in setting upthe necessary machinery, the details of which are underdiscussion with the British Hospitals Contributory SchemesAssociation. The number of industrial employees ofGovernment Departments on April 1st, 1937, was 173,000.

THURSDAY, MARCH 17TH

Hospitals and Air-raid PrecautionsColonel NATHAN asked the Home Secretary what

directions it was proposed to issue, and when, for theinformation of the main hospitals and the special hospitalsin London as to what steps they should take for theprotection of their patients, staff, and buildings againstinjury by air-raids, and as to what was expected of them,respectively, in the event of an air-raid.

-Nir. GEOFFREY LLOYD, Under-Secretary, Home Office,replied : This matter presents difficult problems. As

regards the first part of the question a handbook on suchstructural precautions as are practicable is in an advancedstage of preparation and will be available shortly. Onthe last part, a survey of the position of the hospitals inLondon is being made by the Ministry of Health and themedical authorities.

Colonel NATHA: Is the hon. gentleman able to saywhat the committees of hospitals, which at present arecompletely without information and quite unable to obtainguidance, should do to discharge their responsibilitiestowards their patients and their staffs ?

Mr. LLOYD : This handbook will be available shortly,and in the meantime we sliall be glad to advise anyhospitals.

Mr. KELLY: Does that survey include mental hospitalsas well as general hospitals ?No further answer was given.

Commitment of Children to Prison

Mr. HARVEY asked the Home Secretary what action wastaken in the case of the 15 boys and three girls who werereceived into prison in 1936 without any certificate of thecourt, in accordance with the provisions of the Childrenand Young Persons Act of 1933 ; and whether he wouldissue instructions that in future no boys and girls under17 years were to be received into prison without such acertificate in each case.-Sir SAMUEL HoARE replied:Prison Governors have instructions to bring any suchcases immediately to my notice. In three of theseeighteen cases the court was prepared to issue the necessarycertificate ; two cases were girls who reached the age of17 while on remand ; in nine cases the period of remandwas so short (in some cases for one night only) that noaction could be taken ; in the remaining four cases threeboys and one girl were removed to Remand Homes. Asregards seven of the eighteen cases five boys and twogirls had told the court that they were over 17 and theirtrue ages were not discovered till after they had beenreceived into prison.

Mr. HARVEY : Can instructions be given to governors

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of prisons to refer cases of this kind to remand homeswhen they know the ages of the children concerned ?

Sir S. HOARE: Yes, Sir. Due instructions are beingissued to prison governors that they are not in future toreceive anybody under the age of 17 into the prison unlessthe document accompanying the prisoner authorises themto do so.

Pbysical Training and RecreationSir SMEDLEY CROOKE asked the Parliamentary Secretary

to the Board of Education what action had been taken

by the National Advisory Council for Physical Fitnessto carry out the Government’s declaration that the

Physical Training and Recreation Act was designed tohelp those who were desirous of obtaining facilities forphysical exercise but who were not well off and withoutinitiative ; and what inquiries had been made amongstmembers of junior football clubs, or similar small athleticclubs, to ascertain their desires and supply their wants.-Mr. KENNETH LINDSAY replied : In considering applica-tions for grant, and in assessing the amount of grant, inaid of facilities to be paid by the Board, the GrantsCommittee invariably pay close attention to the economiccircumstances of the area or of the particular applicantorganisation. As regards the second part of the questionit is one of the statutory functions of area committeesto review the existing facilities and to survey the needsof their areas and my noble friend has no doubt thatin the course of this survey clubs and organisations ofevery sort will have ample opportunity of making knowntheir own particular needs.

Flooded Houses in Norfolk

Sir THOMAS COOK asked the Minister of Health what

steps were taken by the local authority to ensure thatits medical officer of health inspected property which wasinundated as the result of the recent abnormal high tidein the parish of Cley, Norfolk ; when was the visit made ;and what was the result of the report received.-SirKINGSLEY WOOD replied : I understand that the medicalofficer of health visited Cley on Feb. 14th immediatelyafter the flood water had subsided. Neither he nor the

sanitary inspector, who subsequently visited the villageon several occasions, found any reason to suspect anydanger to public health.

MONDAY, MARCH 21ST

Where People DieMr. RHYS DAVIES asked the Minister of Health the

proportion of persons who died at their own homes in thiscountry and those in institutions, respectively.-SirKINGSLEY WOOD replied : The latest information availableis that published in Appendix B of the Registrar-General’sstatistical review, Part I, for the year 1930, which showsthe aggregated figures for the years 1926-30. The figuresand percentages are as follow -

Vaccination

Mr. GROVES asked the Minister of Health if he wouldsupply the following particulars for each of the last fiveyears for which complete figures were at present available :the number of public vaccinations and revaccinations ;the expenditure of local authorities on vaccination ; andthe expenditure on the Government lymph establishment.-Sir KINGSLEY WOOD replied : The information desiredby the hon. Member is as follows :-

1. Public vaccinations and revaccinations (Englandand Wales) :

2. Net expenditure on vaccination of all local authorities(England and Wales) :

3. Net expenditure of Government lymph establish-ment :

TUESDAY, MARCH 22ND

Compulsory Notification of MeaslesMr. DAY asked the Minister of Health whether his

attention had been drawn to the fact that, during theten years from 1927 to 1936, there was an annual averageof 527 deaths from measles in London alone ; and, witha view to preventing any infectious disease becomingwidespread, would he utilise his powers under the PublicHealth Act, 1936, to make regulations rendering all casesof measles compulsorily notifiable on a uniform basis.-Sir KINGSLEY WOOD replied : The answer to the first

part of the question is in the affirmative. With regard tothe last part, this matter has recently been under con-sideration by the London County Council and I haveinformed them that I should be prepared to entertain anapplication for the making of regulations in regard to thenotification of measles in London.

Vermin in ShipsSir WALTER SMILES asked the Minister of Health how

many British steamers inspected by the Cardiff portsanitary authority during the past year were found to bevermin-ridden.-Sir KINGSLEY WOOD replied : I aminformed by the port health authority that the numberwas 114.

Births, Marriages, and DeathsBIRTHS

Fox.-On March 16th, at Hove, the wife of Dr. Frank W. W.Fox, Colonial Medical Service, Nigeria-a son.

PASMORE.-On March 18th, at Chepstow Villas, W., to Dr. Jeanand Dr. Stephen Pasmore-a daughter.

WILLIAMS.-On March 16th, the wife of Mr. H. MorganWilliams, F.R.C.S., of Parkstone-a daughter.

MARRIAGES

LEECH&mdash;JACKSON.&mdash;On March 19th, at William Parish Church,Letchworth, Ralph Bosdin Leech, M.R.C.S., of Sevenoaks,to Bertha Newsom Jackson, of Letchworth.

MAcGRE&OR&mdash;SiMPSON.&mdash;On March 19th, at Holy Trinity,St. Marylebone, Dr. Murdoch MacGregor, of Exeter, toLilian Simpson, of The White House, Regent’s Park.

DEATHS

BAtLE?.&mdash;On March 18th, R. Cozens Bailey, M.S. Lond.,F.R.C.S. Eng., of Hazelwood, East Cowes, aged 70.

BENSLEY.&mdash;On March 16th, at Cookham Dean, Lieut.-ColonelCharles Norman Bensley, M.B., C.M. Edin., I.M.S. (retd.),aged 74.

BiRT.&mdash;On March 18th, at Sydenham, Colonel Cecil Birt,M.R.C.S. Eng., A.M.S. (retd.), aged 78, the last survivingchild of the late Dr. Thomas Birt, of Leamington Spa.

CL.OGG.&mdash;On March 17th, at Nuffield House, Guy’s Hospital,Arthur Henry Clogg, L.D.S. R.O.S. Eng., of UpperNorwood and Harley-street.

GiBBS-SMiTH.&mdash;On March 15th, Edward G. Gibbs-Smith, M.D.Durh., D.P.H., of South Kensington.

GRIFFIN.&mdash;On March 17th, at Southampton, Frederick ThresherGriffin, 1B/I.B., C.M. Edin.

EiNGSBURV.&mdash;On March llth, at Blackheath, George ChadwickKingsbury, M.D. Dubl., barrister-at-law.

PH]ILLIPS.-On March 21st, John Robert Parry Phillips, O.B.E.,M.R.C.S. Eng., of Kingsdown, Box, Wiltshire.

QUAYLE.&mdash;On March 16th, at Budleigh Salterton, William AdairQuayle, M.D. R.U.I., Colonel, I.M.S. (retd.), aged 82.

RosE.-On March 21st, at The Woolavington Wing, MiddlesexHospital, Thomas Rose, M.R.C.S. Eng., in his 67th year.

TOLAND.&mdash;On March 14th, Charles Kirk Toland, M.D. Glasg.,of Ullesthorpe, Rugby, aged 63.

N.B.&mdash;A fee of 7s. 6d. is charged for the insertion of Notices ofBirths, Marriages, and Deaths.