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99
In this connection, for the purpose of grants, St. Thomas's Hospital
(Maternity Department) and the General Lying-in Hospital, in so far
as Lambeth mothers and children are concerned, were included, as
these two Hospitals had established "consultations" centres, to deal
with their own mothers, who had attended, for their confinements, the
respective Maternity Departments (indoor and outdoor patients) of those
Institutions. In consequence, the two Hospitals were approved as
"consultations" centres, and were included in the Lambeth Maternity
and Child Welfare Scheme, as far as Lambeth mothers and children
are concerned.
These maintenance grants were for each centre (roughly) 50 per
cent, from the Government, and 25 per cent, from the Borough Council,
of the total net maintenance expenditure. The Borough Council's
maintenance grants were afterwards increased by an additional 12.5
per cent., whilst special equipment grants were also voted in suitable
cases towards the initial expenses of equipment of (a) the three new
voluntary centres, when established, and (b) certain old voluntary
centres, on removal to new premises or other approved extension of
activities, which involved additional equipment and other expenditure
beyond their own available resources. The remaining expenditure (12.5
per cent.) for annual maintenance has still to be provided locally by each
voluntary centre, and, year by year, this becomes a more difficult task
for the various local voluntary committees concerned, local subscribers
or donors arguing that the whole of the money should be borne by the
taxes and rates on account of the national value of the movement of
Child Welfare.
The large and increasing annual grants required from the Ministry
of Health and from the Borough Council naturally led to the important
question of a stricter administrative ccntrol being raised by the
Ministry of Health on the grounds of economy, and it was generally
agreed that, in view of these large and increasing grant payments,
the time had arrived for a more organised control of the voluntary
centres by the Borough Council, as the representatives of the ratepayers
who have to find the money, and that, consequently, such
Borough Council should have a voice in the approval of the officers
of the voluntary centres, so as to secure uniformity of qualifications