I have listened very carefully to all that my hon. Friend has said in criticism of this Bill, but I am not quite sure whether, in his very busy life, he has been able carefully to digest each of the special Clauses of this Bill as well as the report of the Committee which investigated the whole of the problem and the circumstances, and pondered over them too, may I say, for a considerable time. When my hon. Friend speaks about a certain very minor section of so-called organised pharmacists who object to this Bill, I would ask him to remember that there has been no taking by surprise of any section of this professional class. They have had years in which thoroughly to digest the report of the Committee with regard to the general handling and sale of poisons, and whatever may be their special public spirit, they at any rate have not gone to the expense to which the Government have gone to promote a Bill to remedy some of the unfortunate conditions that at present obtain with regard to the easy facilities for obtaining poisons.

First of all, therefore, I would say that a minor section of professional interests have not played their part in presenting a protective Measure on behalf of the public. Secondly, unlike my hon. Friend, I have had thousands of letters and postcards from men and women up and down the country, including doctors and professional men in other departments of life, who use drugs and are compelled to mix and administer them, thanking me for some insignificant part that I have taken in regard to general poison legislation matters and in trying to assist the country to a proper estimation as regards the protection of every section of the public and to restrict the illegitimate facilities for obtaining certain questionable drugs which the public, to their danger, at present have. Unlike that of my hon. Friend, my postbag has been overcrowded with letters of appreciation with regard to this vital Measure.

My hon. Friend is very uncertain, he says, as to the correct and proper choice of sellers of poisons, but he will find in the Bill that a very select Board is to be set up, comprising one of the super-mentalities from Scotland, to assist in inspecting, organising, and making regulations for the correct sale and supply of these medicines and drugs in a way that will be safe for the public, and, be it said, in the most economic and money-saving fashion too. I want my hon. Friend to visualise some of the little grocers' shops in some of the scattered villages, the one-man and the one-woman shopkeeper where the little child comes in and gets a pennyworth of sweets. The hand that goes into the bottle to get the sweets may the next moment have to deal with a pennyworth of weed-killer containing poison, and when another child comes in for sweets, the shopkeeper may have, perhaps with a washed hand or perhaps not, to put that same hand into a bottle of sweets which a moment before had handled loose poison. Under this Bill that would be impossible.

There are certain features of the Bill, I admit, that I would have preferred to see improved. For example, there is a provision that the county council shall have power to nominate who shall be the seller of poisons in a village, it may be, some 30 miles away from the county town, whereas I think that might have been improved by allowing the county and municipal boroughs to have that power by encircling the villages inside such borough territorial groups. But, taking the Bill as a whole, when the British public thoroughly understand the working and the purpose of this Measure; I think they will find that they have much to thank this Government for in bringing forward a practical and helpful Measure which will raise the standard of efficiency of the pharmaceutical chemist still higher than it is, even at present, and will help those who administer medicines in the medical fraternity, and give some assistance also to the veterinary colleges and surgeons. On the whole, and as a main issue, this Bill when it becomes law will be one splendid Measure, at any rate, that the Government have passed during their tenure of office and which will spell progress in the march of those who practise the art of healing.