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93
to disinfection. In the smaller tenements this is not always
practicable, and I have again to urge the necessity of providing
limited accommodation for this purpose at the new disinfecting
station. It is certain that so far from impairing the responsibility
of parents for the cleansing of their children we should be in a much
stronger position if we had to take a case into court, as we could
then convince the magistrates that parents who neglected the
means provided for cleansing were not using the best available
means for rendering their children fit to attend school.
CLOTHING.
Defective clothing was noted in 121 instances. In most
instances this refers to ragged and insufficient underclothing. On
the other hand a very large proportion of children are overclothed,
and it is a pity there is no easy way of averaging the amount per
chdd. As heretofore, opportunity is taken at each inspection for
distributing a leaflet on children's clothing. Similar remarks apply
to footgear, which were noted as defective in 194 instances.
Clothing was dirty, and required cleansing in 106 instances.
MALNUTRITION.
This is obviously a somewhat indefinite term, but is intended
to include children that are not merely under weight but might in
addition be suspected to be suffering from insufficient food, the
effects of disease or injudicious dietary. I am convinced that the
last group is very considerable, and have therefore arranged for the
health visitors to give courses of instruction to mothers on this
very important subject. Full particulars of these are given in
another part of the report.
EYE DISEASES.
Defects of one kind or another were noted in 412 instances.
As already explained, vision was not tested at the General
Inspections, in 1909. Most of the defects here noted consisted of
inflamed lids, conjunctivitis, squints, or other obvious external
diseases. During the year under review, these children were
referred to their own doctor or to a special hospital, but in future
those requiring the assistance of an ophthalmic surgeon will be
referred to Mr. Wray at the Town Hall.