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13
Maternity and Child Welfare.
As 1947 will be the last full year in which the Council will be the
authority for Maternity and Child Welfare it is not inopportune to give
a brief resume of the development of this important branch of the
Public Health Service. It can, I think, be said that the first steps
towards the provision of a Maternity and Child Welfare Service for
the Borough were inaugurated in 1901, when an enquiry was made by
the Health Committee into the causes of the high rate of the infantile
mortality prevailing in the Borough in common with the rest of the
country. In their opinion this heavy mortality was in great part due
to improper feeding and they felt that by providing a supply of pure
milk modified by special treatment to render it more assimilable, much
of this wastage of human life might be prevented. As a consequence
they decided to establish an Infants' Milk Depot, which was opened in
June, 1902. This Milk Depot was the first of its kind to be established
in London and one of the first in England.
The milk, which was supplied under stringent conditions, was
obtained from a herd of tuberculin-tested cows on a farm, which was
from time to time inspected by the Medical Officer of Health, and
after being modified, bottled and sterilized, was distributed to the
applicants, all of whom were unable to breast feed their infants.
On two afternoons a week the depot was opened for the weighing
of the children, who were being fed on this specially prepared milk,
and mothers were expected to take their children there weekly. The
homes of the infants fed on the milk were visited by a woman sanitary
inspector, who endeavoured to secure that the instructions given were
properly carried out.
During the first years of its existence the cost of running the
Milk Depot was surcharged annually by the District Auditor, as there
was no legal authority for maintaining such an establishment. The
surcharge charge was, however, remitted by the President of the Local
Government Board.
The reputation attained by the Milk Depot was such that, at the
request of the promoters, a stall showing its activities was established
at the Ideal Homes Exhibition at Olympia in 1911.
. During the war years 1914/18 difficulties were encountered in
maintaining the high standard of the milk supplied, and in 1915 dried
milk was to a certain extent used as a substitute, and in the following
years it was decided to close down the Milk Depot and use dried milk
exclusively.
Under the Maternity and Child, Welfare Act, 1918, authority was
given to supply free, or at reduced cost or at cost price, fresh or
dried milk to expectant and nursing mothers and children under 5 years
of age-a provision which was put to full use by the Council.
In 1925 it was decided by the Council that milk supplied under
their Maternity and Child Welfare scheme should be Grade A, and
this continued, with the exception of a period of about 2½ years, until
the scheme was brought to an end in 1940 by the introduction of the
National Scheme inaugurated by the Ministry of Food.