View report page

WELFARE WORK 35
Dust removal.—Removal once a week has been the rule during the two years. Housing
conditions are. however, changing so radically that it is more than doubtful whether that rule
can be adhered to much longer. The conversion of ordinary dwelling houses into maisonettes
and flats in which no kitchen ranges are provided leads to accumulation in the houses
of putrescible refuse, added to which undesirable practice is the difficulty of finding suitable
(i.e. safe qua health) places in which to keep the sanitary bins.
The difficulties of disposal after collection increase each year. It is probable that some
system of "manufacturing" will have to be adopted in lieu of dumping in country districts.
Smoke Nuisance.—There has been some slight improvement in this respect since 1918,
as evidenced by the decreasing amount of total emission of smoke and of black smoke (See
Table XXII., Appendix). The proportions of the observed duration of black smoke to the
total hours of observation during the last seven years are given below:—
Duration of Black Smoke 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920
per 100 hours of observation 0.7 2.7 2.9 3.6 6.6 6.6 4.1
During 1915-18 the proportion was 32 and that during 1919-20, 4*9.
Canal Boats.—There does not appear to be any revival of canal traffic. At the end of
1920 of 224 boats on the Register only 111 could be traced. During the two years one case
of Diphtheria (male 26) and one death (heart disease, female 41) were reported—both in 1920.
In 1919, 61 children (34 of school ages) were counted on the boats using the Basin, the
corresponding figures for 1920 being 86 and 47 respectively.
The usual cleansing and repairs to the Basin were effected at Easter in each year.
II.—WELFARE WORK.
This work is carried on under the Notification of Births Acts, the Maternity and Child
Welfare Act, 1918, and more especially the Circular issued by the (then) Local Government
Board in August of that year. The greater part of the work is performed by the "Paddington
School for Mothers," a Voluntary Society subsidised by the Ministry of Health and the
Council. The work falls under the following heads.
Ante-natal Clinics.—These are maintained by the School for Mothers, but more recently
similar clinics have been opened at St. Mary's Hospital, and at Queen Charlotte's Lying-in
Hospital. No information is available as to the numbers of expectant mothers attending at
the two latter clinics.
At the Clinic of the School for Mothers, 232, Harrow Road—the average attendance
during 1919 was 9 per week, which figure increased to 14 in 1920. The Staff of the School
visited 150 mothers in their homes during 1919 and 193 during 1920—the total number of
visits to the homes numbering 207 in the former year and 238 in the latter.
Health Visiting.—Some ten days after notification of birth, and immediately after
information of registration of a non-notified birth, the infant's home is visited by one of the
Health Visitors on the Staff of the Department and such advice tendered as the circumstances
of the case indicate to be necessary. A copy of a booklet "Suggestions for the Rearing and
Feeding of Infants" drawn up by the Medical Officer of Health is left when accepted—which
it is in nearly every instance—and the mother is urged to take the child to the nearest Infant
Consultation Centre so that the child's progress can be watched and recorded. In 1919
2,383 such visits were made and in 1920, 2,989. The proportion of infants reported to be
breast-fed was just over 90 in each year, the return for 1920 being a little lower than that for
1919. In 1913, 94 per cent, of the infants visited were reported breast-fed.
Of the 1,474 children visited in 1919, 66 died before the end of the year, equivalent to a
mortality of approximately 45 per 1,000 while of the 1,958 visited in 1920, 81 were dead before
December 31st, mortality 41 per 1,000. The superiority of breast feeding is clearly shown by
the differences in the mortality rates: