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to birth control, and that exceptional cases in which the avoidance
of pregnancy seems desirable on medical grounds should be referred
for particular advice to a private practitioner or hospital.
I am to point out that these Centres are maintained out of
public funds, to which people of all opinions are required to
contribute, and the Minister considers that without the express
authority of Parliament he would not be justified in assenting
to the use of the Centres for a purpose on which public opinion
is so acutely divided."
In view of this attitude the Council decided to proceed no
further in the matter. In this connection I would point out
that the giving of advice and instruction on birth control, even
with the sanction of the Ministry, is not the simple matter that
many people imagine. The instruction must be of a practical
nature, and a special staff would be required for the purpose.
A few Voluntary Centres have been started in London, and a
visit to one of these in Southwark soon confirmed me in the
view here expressed.
FIRST GENERAL CONGRESS ON CHILD WELFARE, GENEVA,
24th-28th AUGUST, 1925.
I was appointed delegate to the above Congress in Geneva,
and the resolutions passed were submitted to the Maternity and
Child Welfare Committee. There is no doubt that Congresses
of this kind, held in pleasant surroundings, are very helpful in
enabling the various nationalities to understand each other.I
think they are almost more useful to the English people than
to anyone else, since our insular position in the past has militated
against us intermingling with our Continental neighbours and
understanding their points of view.
VIII. DENTAL TREATMENT.
The following report has been submitted by Mr. Grantley
Smith, the Municipal Dental Surgeon. The question of the
" Care of the Teeth " has been one of the prominent subjects of
our Propaganda Section, and I think that too much importance
cannot be attached to it. Defective and decayed teeth form the
focus in which poisons are manufactured which lead to general