View report page

32
Seventy-six of the mothers of these 820 children had had a
previous history of accidents at birth, and 116 of them had "gone
out to work " before confinement.
Revisits are paid to the homes of many of these children
where it is desirable to do so.
The results obtained, from the working of the Act in Battersea,
having regard to the length of time it has been in force, are
satisfactory.* The Council have had under consideration the
question of an additional Health Visitor owing to the great
increase in the work involved in the administration of the Act.
It is to be hoped that little delay will be experienced in appointing
a suitable woman, as it is not possible to visit more than a third
of the homes from which births are notified without an additional
Health Visitor being appointed.
Infants' Milk Depot.
The Infants' Milk Depot was established by the Council in
1902, with the object of assisting in the efforts undertaken by
them to lower the high rate of infant mortality which up to that
time had, in common with other industrial districts, been such a
regrettable feature of the vital and mortal statistics of the
Borough. The institution, which has now nearly completed the
seventh year of its existence, has been so fully dealt with in previous
annual reports (especially in the report for 1907, vide pages
36-47) that it is unnecessary to say more than to describe the work
accomplished during the year 1908.
The total number of infants fed from the Milk Depot during
1908 was 632, as compared with 618 in 1907. Of this number
579 were resident in Battersea, and the remaining 53 in neighbouring
districts. Of the 632 infants fed during 1908, 211 were
already on the books of the Milk Depot at the beginning of the
year, so that the number of children who were admitted during
the year was 421.
* NOTE.—Since the above was written the Council have appointed an
additional Health Visitor.