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The growth of this Service is a feature in civic life which is apt to
be overlooked. Child welfare centres and health visitation have come
to be regarded as part of the normal service of a local authority needing
no special consideration or remark. The steady solid work which is
given annually to make them so successful in improving the health of
the youngest residents should not be accepted without comment, and
all who assist deserve appreciation and congratulation on their continued
devotion to this valuable work.
Toddlers' Clinics.
In 1938 the Council decided to devote regular sessions at each of
the infant welfare centres to supervising the health of children over two
years of age who attended but who are otherwise apt to be overlooked
on account of the attention claimed by the newly born. Unfortunately
the institution of these toddlers' clinics had to be postponed until 1939
owing to the extra work resulting from the Munich crisis and then, before
the habit of submitting these older children for regular examinations
could be sufficiently encouraged, the disturbing influence of the war
began to tell.

Now that the influence of the war is passing it is hoped to concentrate
again on this important aspect of child welfare work, the volume of
which will in due course be reduced by the routine examinations of
children between the ages of two and five years attending nursery schools.
The Provision of Milk.
In 1939 the Council arranged for the delivery of milk, free of charge
or at reduced price, to the homes of 160 parents who were known to be
in necessitous circumstances and the children in need of milk, compared
with 139 in 1938 and 89 in 1937.
In 194° rnilk was supplied to 158 cases, but with the Government's
acceptance of full responsibility for the supply of milk to all children,
the responsibility of the Public Health Department was superseded by
the wider scheme under the Ministry of Food.
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