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Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907.
Section 13 of this Act, dealing with Medical Inspection of Children in Public Elementary
Schools, formed the subject of an important memorandum by the Board of Education, in which it
is stated that—
"The fundamental principle [of the section] is the medical examination and supervision not only
of children known, or suspected to be weakly or ailing, but of all children in the elementary schools,
with a view to adapting and modifying the system of education to the needs and capacities of the child,
securing the early detection of unsuspected defects, checking incipient maladies at their onset, and furnishing
the facts which will guide Education Authorities in relation to physical and mental development
during school life.
"The duty of carrying out the actual inspection has necessarily [the Board say] been entrusted
by Parliament to the Local Education Authorities, and not to the Board. Each Authority must therefore
in due course appoint such Medical Officers or additional medical assistance as may be required for
the purpose."
In London the County Council is the Education Authority, and the question was raised, By
whom shall the actual work of inspection be carried out and supervised? The Metropolitan Branch
of the Incorporated Society of Medical Officers of Health intimated to the County Council their
view—
(i.) That it is desirable "on the grounds of efficiency, economy and harmony, that the work of
medical inspection should be carried out in intimate conjunction with public health authorities, as
enunciated in paragraphs 5 and 6 of the memorandum of the Board of Education, and that the
metropolitan cities and boroughs should for this purpose be made the units of administration; (ii.) that
the medical officers of health of the metropolitan cities and boroughs be appointed by the London
County Council as the local administrative officers, co-operating for this purpose with the medical officer
of health of the county of London; (iii.) that it is desirable that the necessary executive assistants
should be appointed by the London County Council and allocated to the metropolitan cities and boroughs,
such assistants to be under the control of, and to receive instructions from and to report directly to
the medical officers of health of the cities and boroughs; (iv.) that it is desirable that the medical
officers of health should report directly to the London County Council in all matters relating to the
administration of the Education (Administrative Provisions) Act."
The Education Committee, however, were of opinion that "It [would] be necessary for the
Council to retain in the hands of officers directly responsible to it, and whom it appoints and pays,
the direction and supervision of the whole of this work," and they submitted recommendations as to
the staff—medical, surgical and nursing—which would be necessary for "giving effect to the
requirements of the Act in connection with the medical inspection of children attending public
elementary schools maintained by the Council." The Memorandum of the Board of Education,
expressly states that "The Act is not intended to supersede the powers which have long been exercised
by Sanitarv Authorities under various Public Health Acts, but is meant to serve rather as an
amplification and a natural development of previous legislation." The section cannot be regarded
otherwise than as an important piece of legislation calculated to have far-reaching and benehcial
effects upon the health of future generations.
PUBLIC HEALTH (REGULATIONS AS TO FOOD) ACT, 1907.
This Act confers power on the Local Government Board to make regulations as to the
importation, preparation, storage and distribution of articles of food for the prevention of danger
arising to public health.
The regulations may—
(a) Provide for the examination and taking of samples of any such articles;
(b) Apply, as respects any matters to be dealt with by the regulations, any provision in any
Act of Parliament dealing with the like matters, with the necessary modifications
and adaptations;
(c) Provide for the recovery of any charges authorised to be made by the regulations for the
purposes of the regulations or any services performed thereunder.
Regulations are in course of being prepared. The Act is likely to prove of considerable value,