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(4) That with the amelioration of social conditions and the spread of the
knowledge of the laws of health which is going on now, improvement in the
nutrition statistics may be hoped for, though it appears unlikely that a complete
elimination of the evil can be attained.
(5) That parents, teachers, care committees and doctors are to be congratulated
that, in a time of prolonged financial difficulty, 93.5 per cent. of the children
examined have been declared fit from a nutritional point of view.
Cleanliness.
The percentage of children found free from even traces of nits or pediculi in
the hair was 96.2 compared with 95.8 in the previous year. This is the best
result ever obtained. Those free from traces of body vermin remain at the high
percentage of 99.9. For some years past the condition of the hair of the 12-year old
girls has been taken as the criterion of cleanliness, and it has been pointed out that
there has been a gradual improvement from 67.2 per cent. free in 1913 to 75 per
cent. in 1923, 91.9 per cent. in 1930, and 93.5 per cent. in 1931. This figure was
still further improved in 1932, when the high level of 95.8 per cent. was obtained.
Unfortunately the percentage in this group which has always been chosen as
the index group has fallen back one unit this year for it stands at 94.8, a disappointing
result to happen when the condition of the other groups is better in this respect than
ever before. The reason why the twelve-year old girls were chosen as an index is
that they have always given the worst result of all the groups, for mothers expect
the older girls to look after their personal cleanliness themselves.
It is now very rare for the school doctor to find a child actually infested with
body vermin; a condition which 3 to 4 per cent. of the elementary school children
exhibited in the early days of medical inspection, but is now only to be found in one
in a thousand.
This remarkable progress in freeing the children of the elementary schools from
parasitic infestation has been accompanied by the raising of the general level of care,
of tidiness and of happiness, and forms by no means the least of the benefits which
the school medical service has brought to the schools, the teachers, and the population
generally.
Clothing and
footgear.

It is found that while bad clothing and footgear is distinctly less frequent than
it was formerly there has been a transfer from the "good" column to the "fair"
column of from one to eight per cent. The indications from this survey are that
while indigence has been alleviated things are "tighter" amongst those above the
poverty line and that clothing has suffered to some extent in order to provide
sufficient food.