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child welfare centres in their earliest stages, it might be possible by
special care and treatment to prevent permanent damage afterwards to
the heart. The Metropolitan Asylums Board have, allocated a certain
number of beds for the treatment of such cases. The influence of damp
dwellings as the causation of rheumatism is also being investigated, and
it might be well if the younger inmates of such houses were medically
examined in order to find whether there is definite evidence on this
point.
Two Acts of Parliament which have a reference to the work of Health
Visitors require mention.
The Widows and Orphans Contributory Pensions Act, 1925.—
The City Council resolved to accept delegation from the County Council
of powers to administer under Section 6. The Local Authority may,
in cases of desertion of a child or in the case of an orphan, administer the
payment on behalf of the child. Xo cases have so far been reported to
the Council.
Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1926, came into force on 1st
July, 1927. Reference has already been made to the requirement that
all still births must be registered. 'Where neither a qualified medical
practitioner nor a midwife has been present a declaration relating to the
circumstances of the birth must be made to the Registrar by the relatives
on a prescribed form. It is suggested by the Ministry of Health that
in such a case the Registrar may deem it necessary to inform the Local
Authority, so that the Medical Officer of Health may authorise inquiries
by a Health Visitor and be in a position to inform the Registrar whether
he is satisfied that the child was really still born or whether there are
suspicious circumstances concerning the case. While there is every
desire to assist the Registrar in obtaining accurate information such as
may be obtained by a Health Visitor in her routine inquiries, it should
be pointed out that it.would be foreign to the whole principle of health
visiting for her to pursue inquiries which might resemble methods of
criminal investigation.
Ante-natal I York.—The supervision of expectant mothers is recognised
to be of increasing importance, and for this purpose it is extremely
desirable that they should avail themselves of the expert advice obtainable
at the centres and at the hospitals. The following table shows the
number of cases which were dealt with through the various centres and
how they became known to the health visitors. The co-operation of
the hospitals with the welfare centres continues to develop, and there is
interchange of much useful information between those bodies which
should result in greatly improved conditions for confinements.