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The parents of 81 children were prosecuted and fines imposed varying from 1s. 6d. to 12s.
These statistics cannot be compared with previous years as the standard of cleanliness has
been raised to such an extent that comparisons would be quite misleading ; there is not now the same
need to apply the scheme to whole schools as there was four or five years ago. Considerable modifications
have been effected with a view of avoiding disturbance of school work. The great improvement
in cleanliness is shown by the high standard to which the nurses now work. Formerly only cases with
actual sores or vermin were reported ; now children with nits alone are held to be unclean. The allegations
that children are mostly infected in school cannot be true to any extent as in every district
the condition of the children is always worse after the holidays. It is of great importance to get
nurses of the right sort. A kind, tactful, yet firm character in an intelligent and refined nurse
manages to conduct a cleansing scheme in even a large school, with very few, sometimes no exclusions,
for prosecution. This cleansing scheme has been thoroughly effective.
Bodies and Clothes.—The action of the school nurses has been almost entirely directed to
effecting cleansing of heads, but it is now necessary to extend this care to the bodies and clothes of the
children. The numbers are much larger than was supposed. Some 19,900 cases are known to the
nurses. The revelation of the state of these children often causes astonishment and disgust in the
teachers, who, whatever they may have suspected, could scarcely examine the children as the nurses
do. The Superintendent of Nurses examined some classes carefully with a view of ascertaining
the prevalence. She found in one school 12 out of 55 boys in one class, 10 out of 60 girls, and eight
out of 54 infants had verminous clothes ; in another school 43 boys out of 135 had verminous clothes.
These proportions are fortunately characteristic only of the dirtier schools, but of these there are very
many. That such conditions are tolerated gives an idea of the conditions of the homes. The homes
are often so dirty, so dark and wanting in the means of cleansing, that it would have been pure injustice
to exclude such children and prosecute the parents. The powers suggested originally, to exclude such
children and demand their cleansing by the sanitary authorities, were not obtained. The Clauses of
the L.C.C. General Powers Act of 1907 have proved impracticable and as the matter is still under consideration,
nothing further has been done except in the districts where the Borough Councils provide
facilities for bathing such children. The Municipal Cleansing Stations provided for verminous persons
are inadequate to the needs of London. They are chiefly for the class of tramps and street walkers
who frequent common lodging houses. The buildings are often used also as disinfecting stations or to
provide accommodation for persons temporarily turned out whilst disinfection of the house after scarlatina
and other such diseases is being done. The buildings too are generally situated in remote or otherwise
undesirable localities. There are very many grave risks which would be incurred through allowing or