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The above examples are quoted to show the difficulties and
difficult cases which are considered by the Maternity and Child
Welfare Sub-Committee. It will be seen that some of the difficulties
are, in part, due to the improvidence and lack of restraint on the
part of the parents. However, the sympathy of the Sub-Committee
does not falter. To this committee the health and nourishment of
the baby or babies are paramount. The father may be a ne'er-dowell,
the mother may even be of reputed loose character, the father
may be on strike, the mother may have an illegitimate child, all
these things may be brought before the committee in passing and
may be considered by them, but the chief concern of the SubCommittee
is to see and to be sure that the baby does not suffer for
its parents sins or omissions. It is not the baby who is on strike, it
is not the the baby who is a waster ; let the baby have its grant of
milk. The baby did not choose its parents, and is not responsible
for its parents—the baby is not to blame. Give the baby its milk
just the same. That, put in a nutshell, is the attitude and decision
of the Maternity and Child Welfare Sub-Committee to whom these
applications for grants are referred.
Hospital Treatment.—The Borough Council renewed their
agreement with the governing body of the Infants' Hospital,
Vincent Square, Westminster, S.W.I, from 1st October, 1925, for
the retention of cots for use when required for the reception and
treatment of ailing Finsbury children up to the age of 5 years. The
number of cots retained was increased from two to three. The
Borough Council pays £75 per annum retaining fee, and £2 per week
per cot when occupied, by cases sent in under the agreement. The
new agreement terminates on the 1st October, 1926. The cots
have been occupied in 1925 by 18 ailing babies.