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indicating a higher incidence of myopia in girls. The annual average rate of progress
towards myopia in hypermetropics, and towards higher myopia in myopes was
among boys .27 dioptres, and among girls .30 dioptres; showing a higher rate of
progress towards myopia in girls than boys.
Dr. Mcllroy's paper will be published in full in the Medical Supplement (Vol. IV,
Part III) to this Report, illustrated by charts, which show how a certain number of
children who commenced with hypermetropia ended with myopia, and the exact
age at which this change took place.
Feeding of school children.
Dinners are provided for necessitous children attending school, and follow menus
which have been approved by the school medical officer. Each dinner provides at
least 25 grammes of protein and 750 calories of heat value.
While children are placed upon the school dinner list by care committees as soon
as there is social need, and before malnutrition has time to develop, additional
nourishment in the shape of milk or cod liver oil is given to the children who are
specially in need of it, irrespective of financial or social necessity, on the advice of
the school doctors.
These children are kept under continuous and careful observation and are
weighed regularly by the school nurses.
As the result of the additional stress thrown upon the scheme by unemployment,
the number of cases in which the school doctors' opinion has been sought in connection
with school feeding has very considerably increased.
The following are the statistics of meals provided by the Education Committee
to children in ordinary elementary schools :—
Number of individual children (December, 1932).
Meal.
On payment.
Free.
lity accepted
by Public Assistance
Committee.
Dinners
1,096
6,311
497
Milk
13,877
10,787
Cod-liver oil and malt .
3,286
1,948
—
Over and above the official scheme detailed above, there are in the schools many
clubs, on a voluntary basis, for the provision of milk.
In a report made during 1931 it was stated that there were no less than 1,248
such clubs in the elementary and special schools conducted on the lines of the
Milk Publicity Council's scheme, by which milk is provided for 78,000 children
daily, each child having a separate bottle. Furthermore, there were 152 clubs
supplying 10,000 children not under the " bottle " scheme.
It is now stated that there are about 100,000 children obtaining milk at school
through voluntary milk clubs.
Samples of meals, as served, are taken from time to time for examination in
the central laboratory at County Hall. One sample has been taken during the year,
and was found to be satisfactory.
Milk samples.
During the year under review the quality of the milk supplied under the Council's
contracts for necessitous children has been kept under control by systematic
examination.
The total number of samples chemically examined in the public health department
during the year was 459. Of this number 420 were found to be satisfactory,
the remaining 39 being found to be unsatisfactory, by reason either of the presence
of extraneous matter (31), deficiency of fat (6), or by the addition of water (2).
The quality of supplies under these contracts as shown by chemical examination
continues to improve, although the presence of extraneous matter in such a proportion
of the consignment leaves room for greater precautions in the handling of
the supplies.
With the exception of open-air schools, milk supplied under contract for school
children is not required to conform to any bacteriological standards such as are