View report page

24
The majority of grants were free of cost to the applicant.
In some cases the applicants paid amounts varying from onefourth
to three-fourths of the cost, according to their means.
The net cost to the Council of the grants of milk, dinners
and dried milk, was £886. The Ministry of Health refunds onehalf
of the approved net expenditure in this connection.
These grants have been of inestimable value to the recipients.
The Council, acting through the Maternity and Child
Welfare Committee, has taken a liberal, broad-minded, generous
view of the applications presented to it, and it is safe to say that
all the cases have been dealt with as expeditiously as possible,
with every consideration for the prejudices and social amenities
of the families concerned. On the whole, the statements of the
applicants have been honest and straightforward, and have stood
the test of enquiry. Occasionally the circumstances of a family
have been bettered, and the father or responsible parent has at
once informed the Medical Officer of Health of his changed circumstances,
and has asked that the grant be discontinued.
These grants have constituted one of the most important
measures framed for the reduction of infant mortality. Parents
just above or just below the poverty line, parents who have
refused to accept poor law relief, mothers with ailing husbands,
widows, mothers with illegitimate children, families living under
distressing home circumstances, all these have been enabled to
get food for themselves and for their babies, and so achieve the
resistance which good nourishment gives to fend off disease and
its complications.
The Borough Council has done the right thing and the best
thing yet devised for the benefit of the babies.
A few instances are appended, chosen at random, to show
the sorts of cases that have actually been helped by the Council's
grants.
1. The first applicant for a grant was in March, 1921. The
tather was a wood chopper, and latterly a labourer. In 1921,