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44
determining what kind of housewife and mother she will be. The
domestic servant does not always make the most satisfactory
mother, although, undoubtedly some of the best mothers are to be
found amongst this class.
I should again like to point out the great necessity for better
training for the girls during the last year of, or subsequent to
their school lives. The ignorance of the young girls and mothers
of the most elementary principles of domestic hygiene is appalling.
There is also a great need for the girls to be taught how to
utilise the means and materials at their command for the preparing
of good plain food. Many of the girls who are taught cooking at
school, are quite unable to use the knowledge thus gained for the
benefit of the home, as they have not the proper utensils in their
homes, while those they have are not of a type provided at the
schools, and the ability to improvise seems to be utterly lacking.
Where girls, immediately upon leaving school, begin work in
a Laundry or Workroom, they have little or no time to gain
knowledge of domestic duties. And unless they are blessed with
a taste for such things their leisure time will certainly be spent
in some other way.
INQUESTS.
Total number of Inquests held in Willesden on residents
during 1906—82. On non-residents—6.
The following is an abstract of the verdicts. Residents:—
Suicides 9, Accidents or Negligence 26, Murder 3, Other causes
44—Total 82. Non-residents:-Suicides 1, Accidents 4, other
causes 1. Total 88.