ge, and there has been no marital intercourse after the
discovery of the infection. The Commission urged that more careful
instruction should be provided in regard to moral conduct as bearing
upon sexual relations throughout all types and grades of education. Such
instruction, they urged, should be based upon moral principles and
spiritual considerations, and should not be based only on the physical
consequences of immoral conduct. They also favoured general propaganda
work, and urged that the National Council for Combating Venereal
Diseases should be recognized by Government as an authoritative body for
the purpose of spreading knowledge and giving advice.

Another important Commission, sitting almost simultaneously with that
just referred to, was the National Birth-rate Commission, which began
its labours on the 24th October, 1913, and presented its first Report on
the 28th June, 1916. The Commission was reconstituted, with the Bishop
of Birmingham as Chairman, in 1918, to further consider the question,
and especially in view of the effects of the Great War upon vital
problems of population. Among the terms of reference the Commission were
requested to inquire into "the present spread of venereal disease, the
chief causes of sterility and degeneracy, and the further menace of
these diseases during demobilization." The Commission in their report,
presented in 1920, stated that they realized the difficulties involved
in the introduction of any efficient scheme of compulsory notification
and treatment of venereal diseases, but, they added, they "feel that it
has now passed the experimental stage both in our colonies and in forty
of the forty-eight of the United States of America, and think it is
advisable for the State to make a trial of compulsory notification and
treatment in this country, provided that there should be no return to
the principles or practice of the Contagious Diseases Act." Referring to
the finding of the Royal Commission on Venereal Disease that it would
not be possible at present to organize a satisfactory method of
certification of fitness for marriage, the National Birth-rate
Commission thought this question should now be reconsidered with a view
to legislation. "If," says the report, "a certificate of health was to
become a legal obligation for persons contemplating marriage, many of
the legal, ethical, and professional difficulties surrounding this
question would be removed."

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