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The school children included in the first of the foregoing two tables have
been brought to the cleansing station by officials of the London County Council
as the Education Authority under the powers conferred upon them by their
General Powers Act, 1904, Sec. 36, and the Children's Act, 1908, Sec. 122.
The children are those found to be verminous upon examination in the Public
Elementary Schools, and a sum of two shillings for one month's course of
cleansings for every child is paid by the County Council to the Borough
Council, according to an agreement between the two Authorities.
During 1913 the existing agreement terminated, and the County Council
then asked the Borough Council to exteud the arrangement at the same rate
of payment to children attending schools outside the Borough within one mile
of the Cleansing Station. This the Borough Council agreed to do on condition
that every public elementary school in the Borough was included in the
scheme. Prior to this a number of schools in the north of the Borough were
not dealt with. The County Council therefore made special arrangements for
the verminous children in the northern schools to be brought to the Cleansing
Station, and a new agreement on these terms was signed between the twoauthorities
on the 4th December, 1913, for a period of three years ending
20th May, 1916.
During the year the children for whom a month's treatment was paid for by
the London County Council numbered 1,256.
The health-visitor, Miss Smith, has devoted part of her time to visiting the
homes of these verminous children, and helping the families to rid themselves
of these verminous conditions. For this purpose the bedding and bedfellows
in the household have been cleansed in many instances. The visits paid by
Miss Smith for this purpose have numbered 400, but the female staff is quite
inadequate to deal with this problem effectively.
The work done in cleansing verminous clothing, etc., is shown in the
following table :—