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on occasion when needed, or, preferably, every morning by
attendance at the school within certain hours. The salary
could be proportionate to the number of children on the roll
of the school or schools in his charge.
The question of the expense is an important one, but it
must be borne in mind that infectious and contagious
diseases cost every year a loss in the grant, that
every case of infectious disease removed to the Infectious
Hospital has to be maintained and paid for
out of the rates, and that the interference with the
education of the children due to the exclusion not only of the
infected child, but often also of his brothers and sisters is
considerable. Moreover, regular inspections would enable
us to a great extent to dispense with the closing of the
schools by sifting out at the earliest possible time, those
cases which were in any way suspicious. The prevalence of
Diphtheria during the past year has been a good object lesson
in this respect.
There are over 4,500 children on the rolls of the Borough
elementary schools, and a certain proportion of these children
are not in a fit state to receive the full benefit of the instruction
given owing to defective vision, deafness, ill
health or physical deformity.
From ignorance or neglect on the part of the parents these
defects are often not attended to, but a routine examination
of each child at fixed intervals would reveal these cases
and something could be done by calling the parents' attention
to the fact to get their condition improved, or to make
special arrangement for them in classes,