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vaccination of their children" ;
285
this at a time when the medical
practitioners in Hobarton, almost without exception, were doing their
utmost to get all unprotected persons vaccinated, and an efficient law
enacted to replace the inoperative one.
Hall considered Grant 's letters
obstructive, and any medical discussions should have been reserved for
their correct place in the Australian Medical Journal .
During the slow, legislative procedures , Crowther 's students
were busily vaccinating at the General Hospital . As he knew Parliament
would soon be terminating its session, Crowther, on September 3, took the
matter into his own hands , bypassed the Hospital Board and wrote directly
to the Colonial Treasurer to inform him of the heavy work load of the two
young men .
Up to yesterday (September 2nd) 1,250 cases had been
successfully vaccinated, numb ers coming not only from the
town and suburbs , but from great distances , such as the
Huon, New Norfolk, Brighton etc. The daily average numb er
of applicants is upwards of ninety, and rapidly increasing .
The demand is now so great, and the labor imposed upon th e
students so onerous 'that a stop will at once be put to a
work so auspiciously begun, unless some monetary provision
be made. to secure the services of the gentlemen in question.
From information obtained, I believe (at the present rate)
it will be six or seven weeks before the who le can be
vaccinated, a matter of the greatest importance to the
community, more particularly when smallpox is, I may say,
at our doors . I venture to suggest that the sum of £100
be awarded to each of the students , with an official notification
thanking them for their gratuitous service up to the present
time, and that they be requested to carry the work to
completion . 9
Although the Mercury agreed with Crowther 's suggestion, and
considered everything was being done that was necessary, Hall's reaction
and that of officials differed .
Crowther 's letter was immediately
foarded for comment to the Hospital Board, which, angry at being
bypas sed, referred it to a committee composed of the Resident Medical
Officer, Turnley, and Honorary Medical Officers Bright, Smart and Butler,
for cons ideration.
In spite of Crowther 's protests , the Committee
recommended that the two students be merely thanked for their services .
In Parliament , the Whyte administration also adopted a more enlightened
approach ;
although the Amended Compulsory Vaccination Bill was withdrawn
on September 11 on the House wishing to try the voluntary principle first,
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provision was made for the gratuitous vaccination of the poor by approving i.
the appointment of a numb er of legally qualified medical practitioners as
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9 Mercury, Sept. 9, 1863.
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