I am rather perturbed with regard to this proposal of Deputy D'Alton; I am perturbed as to the possibility of anything effective being done with regard to it. There is no doubt that it is quite possible, if clothing that has been in contact with infectious disease is carried and sold to other people, that those people may contract the disease. When we come to actual facts, I find that as far as smallpox is concerned, it certainly is contracted through the distribution of rags. That matter, however, is provided for by an Act passed in 1911, known as the Rag and Flock Act, by which it is impossible at present to have dirty rags distributed. On the other hand, I am rather distressed as to what might happen when this Act is extended to the smaller towns throughout the country.
Up to 1925 the Notification of Infectious Diseases Act had not been adopted to any extent in this country, with the result that there was no knowledge of where infectious diseases occurred. When there was no notification of infectious diseases, it was not at all likely that precautions would be taken with regard to the necessary destruction of clothing and other things. Under the Local Government and Public Health Act, 1925, notification of infectious diseases was made mandatory. Although up to the present it has not become very effective, it certainly will become completely effective when the new County Officers of Health will be appointed. When it is effective, it will be possible to ascertain where infectious diseases are and provision can then be made for disinfecting all clothing.
It does not seem to me that there is any great reason for bringing in this amendment in the circumstances. It might be possible to bring in a by-law and, under that by-law, order the disinfection of all second-hand clothing. Then, the man or woman offering second-hand clothing for sale, would produce a certificate indicating that the clothing had been disinfected. That would not necessarily meet the case, because it would be quite possible, under this certificate, to include a great deal of clothing that would never go into the disinfecting chamber. I know, and perhaps many others are aware of it too, that two large bales come into the North of Ireland twice a week containing a huge amount of mixed second-hand clothing. This clothing comes from Scotland and it is distributed very largely through Tirconaill. Almost 70 per cent. of the poorer people in Tirconaill are using this clothing that comes from Scotland. The clothing passes down even to Monaghan. The way in which this clothing is gathered is through pedlars coming to Glasgow from all parts of the country, and on the part of the public health authorities in Scotland there is no knowledge that the clothing is disinfected and there is no knowledge whether any precautions have been taken in regard to it. It is quite possible that a great deal of infected clothing would be scattered in that way through various parts of this country.
If Derry port were under the control of the Free State Government, it is quite possible that an order might be made to prevent the import of any of this second-hand class of goods. The case has another aspect which I am not going to dilate upon; that is, whether it is a wise thing to allow this second-hand clothing to be sold in towns where people are paying rates and rent and making a living. That is one aspect of the case.
Another aspect is whether it would be right for us to prevent poor people getting the clothing at a cheap rate. I am not going into that. I am now going into the public health aspect of it. I say again that very little evidence has been afforded here of the spread of disease through this second-hand clothing. Every time there is an outbreak of this class of disease the Central Public Health Authorities issue a circular, and one question in that circular is "Can this case be traced to second-hand clothing brought into the district?" I am, therefore, in the position that I would like to ensure that the clothing was clean, because there are other dangers in addition to what Deputy D'Alton mentioned. There are itch an scabies, to say nothing of vermin, which are very often carried in this clothing. Deputy Cooper knows a great deal about fleas. He did not say anything about other vermin that are more obnoxious than the class of parasite he is more familiar with.
However, I would be very glad if any measures could be taken to ensure that the poor would not have sold to them clothing that would carry infectious disease. I would very gladly support anything in that direction. On the other hand, on thinking over this subject very carefully, I am not quite sure that we can see any effective or efficient means of having this done.