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Report of the Medical Officer (Education).
137
Buildings.—The older part occupied by the infants runs east to west. The newer part runs
from this north and south. It has recently been extended on the west side by assembly hall, lavatories
and cloakrooms. The playground is inadequate. The boys have the west side and in fine weather
have room for drill in the open air. The girls and infants have the rest of the playground and in wet
weather access to the basement under the girls' hall It is not possible for girls and infants to be at play
at the same time. The numbers on the roll are 300 boys, 292 girls, 321 infants.
The two west classrooms of the infants' school are under the caretaker's house. In summer the
heat is scarcely supportable, as no through draught is possible, and, if the windows are open, the noise
of the traffic on the setts outside makes teaching difficult without voice strain. Next to these two rooms
used for the youngest children are two rooms carried up to the roof. They are separated by folding
doors so that the outer room is a thoroughfare for the inner. From the inner room access is obtained
to the teachers' room—a poor room, where the teachers take their meals and all the cooking is done on
an open gas stove. A door leads into a passage which communicates with an exit and another large
classroom. This passage is used as a cloakroom and heated by a gas stove. There is another cloakroom
and lavatory on the south side, but they are not heated except by a boiler used to supply hot water
for washing the floors once a week. Wet garments have little chance of drying here. Under the girls'
school is a large, well-lighted room, but very draughty. This was the room used for medical inspection,
and it was either close and unpleasant or very cold. The boys' lavatory is properly arranged, but after
an interval the floor is usually flooded. Supervision and discipline are needed to remedy this. The
basement is open. The part used by the boys seems very unpleasant in winter ; it faces east. The
other part is quite satisfactory, and is used by the girls and infants.
Lighting.—The lighting is generally good, artificially by upright incandescent burners. Their
heat makes the rooms close and foul in winter, especially when a north-east wind necessitates closed
windows.
Heating.—Heating is by open fires and in one room hot pipes. Tobin's tubes are inserted,but
were found closed by lids. The use of the windows for ventilation largely depends on the direction
of the wind, as with open fire heating the children, often miserably clad, are too cold if near the
windows.
Nutrition.—The physique of the children in the school is below normal. A few children of a
higher social status, publicans or small shopkeepers, just relieve the dull monotony of squalid poverty.
This is probably due to underfeeding and overcrowding in the sleeping apartments as well as insufficient
sleep and the irritation of vermin. In several cases the surgeons of the neighbouring Queen's Hospital
have refused to remove adenoids or tonsils until the general health of the child had improved.

Cleanliness.—Cleanliness is a condition hard to assess. The older boys were trusted to bath themselves
and the upper part of the body was generally attended to, but the rest was unclean. This, in the
case of the feet, may have often been due to bad boots, as 23.5 per cent. had bad or very bad boots,
although a considerable number of boots had recently been distributed by the head master. Of the
600 girls and infants, however, only 9 per cent. were classed as bad. This, in a district where facilities
for bathing are scanty and bathrooms non-existent, may be considered satisfactory. If the medical
inspection was made without notice the result would probably be very different. The presence of insect
bites or tne scratching associated with vermin often makes one discount temporary cleanliness. Flea
bites were common ; 72 per cent. of the girls had infected hair. In 12 per cent. girls and 6 per cent. boys
body lice were present. Among the infant girls 59 per cent. had pediculi and 13 per cent. body lice.
In some of the younger children both skins and clothes were scrupulously clean. The chief sanitary
inspector stated that many of the houses had been condemned several times, but the owners placed
them in a state of habitable repair and they were re-occupied, probably still infested with vermin. To
send these children to the cleansing station to have bodies washed and clothes disinfected is only a
temporary solution. Re-infection occurs in a week.
Clothing.—The clothing affords evidence of poverty and also of want of skill with the needle.
The generally clean faces compared with dirty and ragged clothes gives an indication of the power
of the school compared with the home. Some of the boys have only one shirt and wait at home when
it is washed, or come to school without a shirt. The girls generally are better clad. Quite a collection
of wire nails which were used as clothes fastenings has been made by the nurse. The assessment bf
clothing, however, is not of very great value, as, having been officially warned, the children come in their
own or in borrowed clothes better than those usually worn.
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