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75
for London. Doubtless some of these results are duo
to economic causes, which is certainly responsible for
the fact that only 23.2 per cent. of Bethnal Green
children are well clothed and shod compared with 59.7
per cent. throughout London. It is encouraging to
note that in cleanliness Bethnal Green does not differ
materially from the general London average. These
figures as a whole, however, are a plain demonstration
that there is a lack of adequate medical care of young
children in the years immediately preceding their
attendance at school. I must, therefore, press again
the urgent need for more Welfare Centres at which
preventive and educational work can be carried on
among expectant mothers and on behalf of toddlers,
with a view to ensuring that the latter arrive at school
in a sounder condition of body than is now the case.