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if the occupier closes the chimney opening. We are gradually
beginning to realise how largely our health and our comfort is in the
hands of those who are responsible for our domestic arrangements, and
it is gratifying to find that women themselves are learning how much
lies in their power in this respect. Women are naturally conservative
and cling to old methods and time-honoured customs long after those
have been shown to have lost every good quality save that of antiquity,
but when once convinced that change is really essential they do not
hesitate to effect radical changes in their procedure.
An alteration in many of the insanitary practices which are in
vogue in thousands of houses can only be made by educating the
housewife, and this education can be carried on most effectually and
most certainly by women themselves. Our health visitors therefore
set out in plain and easily understandable language the faults of the
average housewife and the manner in which those faults may be
corrected with ease and without cost. They point out that one of the
main factors in connection with health is that of food. As a rule, food
is badly prepared, and without any consideration at all as to its
particular value in supporting a complicated organisation. We try to
teach therefore how it can be prepared scientifically, according to
appropriate food values, in variety, and at the same time quality, and
entirely to the advantage of the family.
Whilst we are on the question of good food for children, it is
interesting to consider the ability of a man with the same salary as in
1895 to provide sufficient food for his household.
THE PURCHASING POWER OF THE SOVEREIGN.
For the information of the Select Committee inquiring into the
conditions of employment in the Postal Service, the Labour Department
of the Board of Trade has prepared the following table showing
the fluctuations in value of a sovereign during the last eighteen years,
measured by its capacity to purchase quantities of twenty-three selected
articles of food:
Year. s. d. Year. s. d.
1895 20 0 1904 18 0
1896 20 0 1905 17 11
1897 19 3 1906 18 0
1898 18 6 1907 17 7
1899 19 4 1908 17 2
1900 18 5 1909 17 3
1901 18 4 1910 16 11
1902 18 3 1911 17 0
1903 17 11 1912 16 3