View report page

6
the cases that are approved by the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee,
the applicant to agree to pay such portion of the fee as the Committee may
determine.
Convalescent Homes.—Twenty nursing mothers, with their infants,
were sent away to convalescent homes in the course of the year.
The Milk (Mothers' and Children's) Orders, 1918, 1919.
During the year, 1919,520 applications for milk were granted by a Subcommittee
of the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee, this number
including renewals after the expiry of a month, for which period the
applications are usually granted in the first instance. The mothers to
whom grants were made were all necessitous, in the sense that it was ascertained
that the family income in each case was insufficient for the purchase
of milk in quantity sufficient for the bodily and health needs of the
expectant or nursing mother, or children of the family under 5 years of
age. The grants were usually made for cow's milk to be supplied by dairymen
at less than current retail price, but in some few cases the grants were
made for milk free of cost to the applicants.
The current retail prices of milk in London in 1919 were as follows:—
Per quart:—January, l0d.; February, 10d.; March, 10d.; April, 10d.;
May, 7d.; June, 7d.; July, 9d.; August, 8d.; September, 9d.; October,
l1.; November, 12d.; December, 12d.
In the opinion of those competent to judge, the supply of milk under
these conditions to necessitous mothers and children has been beneficial
to the maintenance of a good standard of health, as evidenced by the
satisfactory condition of mothers and children attending the clinics in
the Borough.
The cost to the Borough Council of the supply of milk was as
follows:—1st quarter, £48; 2nd quarter, £57; 3rd quarter, £61; 4th
quarter, £176. Total for year, £342. The large increase in the 4th
quarter was due to a largely increased number of applications, and the
higher price of milk in the three winter months. The Borough Council
will receive a grant from the Ministry of Health for half the cost incurred.
Deaths and Death-Rate.
There were 925 deaths of Chelsea residents in 1919, of which number
199, or 21.5 per cent., occurred in the Chelsea Infirmary, and 310, or
35.5 per cent., in other public institutions. The death-rate for the year
was 14.1 per 1,000. as against 17.6 in 1918, 14.2 in 1917, 15.1 in
1916, 17.5 in 1915, and 13.3 in 1914. The lower death-rate in 1919, as
compared with 1918, is due to a lessened mortality from influenza, the
deaths in 1919 from influenza being 104 as against 234 in 1918. There
were also fewer deaths from pneumonia, namely, 50 in 1919, as against 82
in 1918.
Measles.
Measles caused 7 deaths in 1919, as compared with 14 in 1918, 6 in 1917,
5 in 1916, and 39 in 1915. Six of the deaths were of children between
1 and 5 years of age.