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should be extended to cover dirty milk, and should enable Local
Authorities to prohibit the sale of any milk which fails to comply
with the conditions of purity agreed upon.
That the workings of the Infant Life Protection Act of 1897
are unsatisfactory, is generally recognised, and illustrations of its
shortcomings are frequently evident in our midst. During the year
the Metropolitan Branch of the Incorporated Society of Medical
Officers of Health represented to the Local Government Board that
in their opinion Section 2 of the Act should be amended in order to
provide for the control of persons receiving for hire or reward, for a
period of 48 hours, one or more infants under the age of 5 years.
This would be a most useful item of legislation, as under the existing
law a person may continue to take one nurse-child at a time, and is
then entirely ontside the operations of the Act.
THE LADY PUBLIC HEALTH WORKERS.
As I pointed out in my last Annual Report, the main duty of
the Lady Public Health Workers in Stoke Newington is to visit the
poorer houses where babies are born, to show a tactful interest in
the child, and to guide the mother in the care, feeding and management
of the infanit.
There were enquiries and visits made during the year relating to
51 separate births. A little over half of these infants were being
breast-fed. Many of the mothers were found to be in great need of
advice with reference to the rearing of their offspring, and the advice
given was generally welcome and appreciated.
These Public Health Workers are asked to meet on the first
Thursday of each month, at the Town Hall, in order that Reports
may be considered and the work discussed. The arrangements have
worked very well during the past 12 months, and I have reason to
know that a large amount of most useful work has been done in the