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44
If, however, the same children be divided into those whose
fathers earned less than £1 per week and those whose fathers
earned £1 per week or more, then a very material difference was
apparent. It was seen that in the homes where acute poverty
exists there is a marked falling off in the average weight of the
baby, whether the mother is industrially employed or not.
If industrial employment has a bad effect on infantile
mortality, it is principally because it interferes with breast
feeding, and for this reason employment in a factory is more
harmful than employment at home. But it was apparent that
the influence of industrial employment was small when compared
with the influence of acute poverty.
In the South-West Ward, where married female labour mostly
prevails, the death rate from these diseases is not markedly higher
than in the other wards. 39 per cent, of the births occurred
in the South-West Ward; 45 per cent, of the deaths from these
diseases occurred in this ward. This is slightly higher than that
of the other wards, but nearly 50 per cent, of the deaths of
infants under 12 months occurred in this ward.
Until the results of the Census are known it is difficult to
estimate what percentage of the married women in the SouthWest
Ward are employed in duties other than domestic work.
26 deaths from Prematurity were inquired into, and 11 of the
mothers were employed in some occupation, but in one instance
she had not been working for three months and in another for
six weeks. The other 15 were not occupied except in domestic
work.
Although, compared with the immediately preceding years,
there is a higher infantile mortality, if the infantile mortality of
last year be compared with that of former years in which the
meteorological conditions approximated to those of last year, the
results are very gratifying.