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54
Consultations on Mondays and Thursdays respectively, when Dr.
Pickett was engaged at the second Consultation.
Baby Shows were held early in October under the direction of
a Special Committee consisting of the members of the Maternity
and Child Welfare Committee of the Council, together with the
Mayor and Mayoress and a number of prominent local ladies. The
shows attracted record interest, the total number of entries being
432, which figure included 17 pairs of twins. The ready assistance
rendered gratuitously as judges by several local medical practitioners
as well as Maternity and Child Welfare Medical Officers in other
Boroughs is gratefully acknowledged. The Committee were also
indebted to local chemists and the firms from which the Council
obtains its dried milk, drugs, etc., for substantial assistance towards
the provision of prizes.
The entrants from each Centre were divided into three classcs:
Class 1.—Three to nine rrionths.
Class 2.—Nine to eighteen months.
Class 3.-—Eighteen months to five years.
Prizes were awarded at each Centre in the general competitions,
and also for twins, and a special prize was granted to two babies who
were triplets. (One of the triplets had died shortly before the
Shows took place.)
Supply of Milk, etc., for Expectant and Nursing Mothers
and Infant Children.—On the 31st March, 1921, the Ministry of
Health issued their circular No. 185, which permitted nursing and
expectant mothers and children up to three years of age to receive
one pint of milk per day, with one and a half pints to infants
between the ages of three months and eighteen months in exceptional
cases, and also extended the pint of milk to children between
the ages of three years and five years, where such supplies were
essential on the grounds of health, a medical certificate being required
in these latter circumstances. Hitherto milk had been
permitted without reservation for children up to the age of five
years. Towards the end of the year the Ministry of Health suggested
a drastic cutting down of the supplies, but, owing to strong
Representations from Local Authorities as to the ill effects which
would be certain to follow such a procedure, the Ministry decided
to continue in force the provisions outlined in the ci'rcular above
referred to.
The suggestion in the Ministry's circular No. 185, that each
application for assisted milk supply should be considered by at
least one member of the Committee, preferably the Chairman, the
Medical Officer of Health and a responsible financial officer, before
a supply is authorised, and also that the Committee should meet