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could be removed from the district, the other children could be
dealt with fairly easily. Most of the others are amenable to treatment
and their parents do make an effort to assist us when the
conditions are pointed out to them. Those children of course
are liable to be infested by, and from, the children of the chronically
unclean families, not only- inside but also outside the schools.
At the head inspections in July, 42 children were found to
be verminous and were excluded from school. If the figures are
examined, it will be found that these children belong to the families
referred to, and it will further be found, that not only these children,
but the other girls, if there are sisters, have been old offenders
in this respect. We have records on our lists in which even7 girl
in the family has been found at every inspection to be unclean,
and in some instances, the trait has shown itself in the second generation.
We had an unfortunate instance quite recently which illustrated
the difficulties to which I have alluded, and the circumstances
were brought to light in the course of a head inspection in one of
our schools.
Two children were excluded from school on account of their
verminous condition, and the address of these two was one which
was very well known to us. All the children in this family had been
excluded from school on account of the state of their heads at some
time or another. In the case of some of them, exclusion regularly
occurred after every head inspection. On looking through
the records of the girls, it was seen that throughout their school
careers, their heads were almost always infested when the schools
were inspected. The record of one of the girls started as soon as
she entered school in 1921, and before her school career came to an
end she was found to be infested on 130 occasions. On several
occasions she was found to be verminous, and twice the parents
were summoned before the Magistrates and find. The record of the
other girls was almost as bad, and even the boys were frequently
found to be infested.
We were hoping that our troubles would soon be ended, as
the boys and one of the girls had left school, and the only remaining
girl was nearing school leaving age, when these two children made
their appearance in the Infants' Department.
On enquiry it was found that these two were grandchildren
and had been taken care of by the grandparents, because the father
and mother were separated. The mother had left her husband and
children, and the children had been brought to the grandparents.
Unfortunately the house was overcrowded before the arrival
of the two grandchildren, and a girl of 14 was sleeping in the same