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The report included references to the following important
matters:—
I. Overcrowding at the Milton Road Centre.
The accommodation at present provided at the Milton Road
Centre, which is situated above the washhouses, has now become
totally inadequate for the requirements of the mothers in the
Southern district. This statement is confirmed by the fact that
the number of attendances of children at the Milton Road Centre
was 5,900 for the year 1935, as compared with 2,965 for the year
1930. An increase of 100 per cent. in a period of 5 years.
At a well attended afternoon session there have been 70 to 80
mothers and children, and, in the presence of overcrowding of
this degree, it follows that the general work of the Centre has been
seriously handicapped owing to lack of space. Moreover, the
congestion of infants and toddlers in a comparatively small room,
many of whom are suffering from such easily propagated conditions
as coughs and colds, is contrary to the very principles on which
the Centre has been established, i.e., the maintenance of health
and the prevention of disease.
In addition to the restricted space, there are two very serious
disadvantages in the operation of the present Centre.
1. At present no accommodation is available for the storing
of perambulators while mothers are in attendance at the Centre;
consequently these have to be left on the pavement, obstructing
the footway, with the risk of theft, or damage by lack of weather
protection.
2. The situation of the Centre, on the first floor, necessitates
the mothers climbing a flight of stone stairs, carrying their babies;
thus there is always the danger of an accident, though, fortunately,
up to the present no such occurrence has taken place. There can
be no doubt, however, that a Welfare Centre should be situated
on ground floor premises.
Alternative Accommodation.
A Sub-Committee of the General Purposes Committee has under
consideration at the moment the question of the site of the present
Town Hall, and a number of schemes have been submitted
regarding the disposal of the Town Hall and its ancillary buildings,
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