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Clothing and
Footgear.
Insufficiency of clothing fell continuously throughout the war until in 1918 the number of children
found insufficiently clad was less than half the number discovered in 1913. The infants and the girls
are always found to be better clad than the boys.
A larger percentage of especially well clad children of both sexes and at all ages was found in
1915 and 1916 than in the years preceding and following. There was a tendency in those years for
surplus wages to be expended in clothing for the children, but with increasing prices in the last two years
of the war. it is clear that expenditure on clothing gave place to expenditure on food.
Nutrition.
In both sexes and at all ages there was a continuous decline in the percentage of children returned
as poorly nourished and in each section the number of such children was in 1918 less than half the
number found in 1913. The entrant infants continue to be better nourished than their elder brothers
and sisters. The extremely close correspondence of the figures for the infants in the third term of 1917
with the figures for 1918 is noteworthy.
Although the reduction in the percentage of poorly nourished children is a striking fact, it should
be noted that there was also a general reduction, though of smaller dimensions, in the number of children
especially well nourished. The main increase was therefore in the middle group comprising those
with normal nutrition. The effect of the war is thus seen to have been an equalising one; to this no doubt
rationing, voluntary and compulsory, contributed and the result is a testimony to the wisdom and fairness
of the arrangements made in this country, which resulted in an equitable distribution of the available
supplies of the more important food stuffs to all sections of the population.
Cleanliness.
In 1917 there was a disappointing check to the progress which had been made year by year in the
condition of the cleanliness of the children. The percentages in each group remained almost identical
with those found in 1916. The work of the school nurses was greatly increased owing to the repeated
subjection of families to infestation by lice through return of men on leave from the front; there was
also a very serious outbreak of scabies which overwhelmed the cleansing stations and prevented the
nurses from paying so much attention as would otherwise have been possible to the other parasitic conditions.
Much concern was expressed and much attention was given by the children's care sub-committee
to this state of affairs. By the introduction of special measures, combined with a timely increase in the
number of the nurses, these difficulties were in part overcome; and it is especially encouraging to be able
to record that progress in this respect is being resumed. From the results which are given in the table
it is seen that the leeway has been made up and a greater improvement has taken place between 1917
and 1918 than in any preceding year. Whether entrants, middle-age group, or leavers, whether
boys or girls are concerned, and whether judged by the state of the hair or the clothing, the conditions
as regards cleanliness are better than ever attained before.
It is, of course, far from satisfactory that 27 per cent. of the girls in the schools should present
traces, however slight, of infestation by lice; but while a substantial reduction has been effected this