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67
Section E.
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
The Borough Council's activities under this section are authorised
by Section 1 of the Maternity and Child Welfare Act, 1918, which is
as follows :—
" Any local authority, within the meaning of the Notification of
Births Act, 1907, may make such arrangements as may be
sanctioned by the Local Government Board for attending to
the health of expectant mothers and nursing mothers and
of children who have not attained the age of five years and
are not being educated in schools recognised by the Board of
Education . . . ."
Much work has been done, and steady progress achieved. During
1920 the number of births in Hampstead reached 1566 which is the
highest figure since 1900. The infant mortality figure, 48, is especially
gratifying; it is the lowest we have ever reached, and is easily the
lowest in London, whilst in the: whole Kingdom, of the 95 great Towns,
Cambridge and Bournemouth alone show a lower figure. In my
Report in 1919 on the Rosslyn Lodge Scheme I ventured to predict
that it was within our power to reach an Infantile Mortaliiy of 50 per
1000, and I think the accomplishment of this prediction is an achievement
of which the Borough may be justifiably proud.
Various causes have operated to produce such a satisfactory result,
among others the absence of marked epidemics of either Measles or
Diarrhoea, and also the increased prosperity among the poorer inhabitants
of the community. Although unemployment is now marked,
during 1920 the economic condition of the working classes was good,
whilst the wise policy of the Council under the Milk (Mothers and
Children) Orders, &c., in supplying food and milk to expectant and
nursing mothers and children under five years has undoubtedly largely
helped in improving the general health of these classes of the community.
Although much has been done, the work must not slacken in any
respect. This branch of a Borough Council's work, although carried
out by Local Authorities, is in the main a national question, the saving
of the on-coming race which at all times is a moral obligation and
privilege, has now become a paramount national duty.
If the future race is to be raised to above the level of this present
generation, then both the State and the Citizens must combine. It is