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and the scope and method of this enquiry is made clear in the
following letter which I received from Mr. Herbert Samuel on
December 21st, 1907.
Home Office, Whitehall,
11th December, 1907.
Sir,
I have laid before the Secretary of State a report of the proceedings
at the recent Conference with Medical Officers of Health,
at the Home Office, on the subject of the industrial employment of
women before and after child-birth, and I am desired by him to
express his satisfaction that the Conference was so largely attended,
and that a general agreement was arrived at with regard to the
lines which the proposed inquiry should follow.
It may be convenient for subsequent reference briefly to record
the chief results of the proceedings. The questions relating to
infantile mortality were considered under the following heads:—
I. The information to be obtained : II. The area of the inquiry:
III. The period of the inquiry, and IV. The method of collecting the
information. A discussion followed on some of the economic and
social aspects of the subject.
As regards the inquiry the Conference arrived at the following
conclusions.
I— INFORMATION TO BE OBTAINED.
(1). Classification of groups of women.—The classification
suggested in the Home Office Circular of 10th May was accepted,
with a modification, as follows:—(a) women employed in factories
and workshops; (b) those employed in industrial work at home;
(c) other workers, e.g., charwomen and hawkers, and (d) those unoccupied,
i.e., engaged only in domestic duties; but it was agreed
that the information collected should be such as to admit of the
groups of women industrially employed being further sub-divided
according to trades and (where the particular process on which the
woman was engaged involves special risk to health) according to
the process. For this purpose the Visitor should be directed to
ascertain in each case the woman's precise occupation and the
disagree of severity of the work, and to note any conditions involving
special danger or special fatigue, e.g., exposure to lead, pedal-work,
or excessive standing. Subject to these suggestions, the particulars
as to employment should be as simple as possible.
On the question of classifying the women according to agegroups,
the Conference considered that such a division should not