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decided to take no action. I have, however, received a most
generous offer from a gentleman who has studied the social conditions
in Bermondsey, and who desires at present to remain anonymous,
which I trust will induce the Council to reconsider their
decision. The proposal is, briefly, that if the Council will appoint
two additional health visitors he will be responsible for the salary
of one of them for the first two years.
"The Committee will remember that the report dealt with two
schemes, viz.: one proposed by the Board of Education and the
other by the Local Government Board.
"The proposal of the former was that instruction should be
given by lectures and systematic class teaching, and that treatment,
if given at all, should be only incidental. They also left out of
account ante-natal and natal work. The Local Government Board,
on the other hand, suggested a much more complete scheme, which
includes ante-natal, natal and post-natal work, lays much more
stress on individual than class instruction, and provides for treatment.
They promised that approximately half the expenditure
incurred by the Sanitary Authority would be met by the Imperial
Exchequer.
"In the scheme proposed by me in that report an extension of
our present work was recommended, the most important item being
that which concerned the appointment of two more health visitors.
"Experience gained since then has confirmed me in the view
that individual instruction, such as one gives to mothers in a babies'
class and during home visits, is much more valuable than systematic
lectures or courses of any kind.
"Last year there were 3,727 births notified in Bermondsey, and of
these 2,777 received primary visits, the number of secondary visits
being only 322. In many ways I look upon secondary visits as the
more important ones since the first visit being official is mainly used
for making enquiries, which do not always tend to produce a frame
of mind on the part of the mother favourable for receiving instruction,
besides the health visitor can hardly find her real needs
during one visit, and it is only when she gains the mother's confidence
that her advice bears fruit.