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52
amount paid for rent, rates and taxes. In connection with many depots
there are branches where the milk is delivered for sale on a commission
of 5 per cent. This plan is said to work very well in certain towns. The
delivery of the milk to the branch agents is made by a small milk dealer
at a cost of 15/- a week.
It is well known that Battersea Borough Council incurred the
responsibility and started a milk depot which has been attended by the
very best results. It is up to the present almost impossible to say what
will ultimately be the effect on the infant mortality of that borough, but
the outlook is exceedingly promising in that respect. Battersea so far
has been surcharged the small annual deficit arising on the undertaking,
but this has always been remitted by the Local Government Board. In
the event of the Council not wishing to run the risk of any surcharge, I
think it is possible, if the Council will become patrons of the scheme, to
institute and carry it on without any cost to the Council. I feel strongly
that the time has arrived for some action being taken to check this grave
state of affairs, and rather than see the abandonment of this milk depot
scheme, I am prepared to plead the absolute necessity of something of
that kind in this district of Southwark before the charitable public.
In my last annual report to the Council 1 have referred to the
difficulty experienced by us in finding out where the infants are born, in
order that instructions might be sent on the subject of the feeding of the
baby and other matters. The extract is as follows:-
Infant Mortality.
"The Sanitary Authority at the present time holds pretty much the
same position in relation to Infantile Mortality, as it did to infectious
disease before the Notification Act came into force."
" The supervision of infant life cannot be exercised officially unless
information is given to the Authority of the locality of the births. At
least it cannot be satisfactorily done except by the expenditure of more
force than is likely to be allotted to it. Application has been made
to the Registrar General, and to various other officials to allow the
local registrars to furnish to the medical officer of health this information,
but unfortunately without any good result. I believe the answer
of the Registrar General to the request is, that in giving this information
he would find it difficult to obtain the registration of many of the illegitimate
births. This is similar to the stock argument before the notification
of infectious disease was adopted. It has since been abundantly falsified,
as no one has ever objected to notification of infectious disease, and I feel