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11
I am informed by the Education Officer that the
average number of necessitous school children provided
with meals (i.e., dinners, milk and cod liver oil) during
the year was 675. Of this number 537 consisted of
milk, 110 of cod liver oil and 44 of dinners. This
assistance is only granted while the schools are open.
In the Annual Report for 1928 it was stated that
Welfare Centre inquiries tended to show that the
majority of families were below the "living wage"
level of £4 per week for a family of 5. I am afraid
that the general level of wages is much lower now than
it was then.
PUBLIC HEALTH EXPENDITURE.
The economy of the expenditure on the public
health services will be seen from a comparison of its
relatively small cost with the striking results in
healthier and longer lives which are recorded elsewhere
in this and previous reports. During the financial year
1930- 31,. the cost of these services was £25,824, or
4s. 8½,d. per head of the population, equivalent to a
rate of 1/0½ in the £. These figures differ from those
in previous years owing to the fact that there is now
no specific Government Grant for Public Health work,
which in 1929-30 amounted to £6,262. The present
block grant is not earmarked to any particular service.
THE HEALTH SERVICES IN THE BOROUGH.
The Borough Council is recognised by statute as
the local health authority, but many important health
services are still outside its jurisdiction and indeed
health functions are exercised by an extraordinary
diversity of agencies. The number of these agencies
has been somewhat reduced by recent legislation, but
there seems much need for further simplification. Apart
from the London County Council and the Borough
Council, whose functions overlap at some points, health
functions are also exercised by the London Insurance