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35
Borough. So long as the Council could not legally establish
and maintain a Creche, the Society continued its beneficent work.
However, now that the Council can legally carry on this work,
the Society anticipates that subscriptions will not be forthcoming
for its support, and it feels that it is the duty of the Council to
carry on the work which has been so far conducted by voluntary
effort. There can be no doubt about the necessity of a Creche
in the South Ealing district. The question for the Council to
consider is the advisability of taking it over. I should advise
that this be done.
The next question to be considered is whether there is need
for another Creche in Ealing. This can be answered in the affirmative.
I have evidence of the need of one at West Ealing, in a
list of at least 28 mothers who go out to work, and whose children
would be better cared for in a Creche. These are all mothers who
must work for their living, being widows, unmarried mothers or
mothers who have difficulty in sustaining the household on account
of the small wages of the father. A Creche should not be the means
of encouraging mothers to work and leave their children to the
care of others unless they are compelled to do so. The best place
for the mother is at home looking after her children, giving them
proper home nurture and preserving the family life as it should
be. It is a question whether it would not be more profitable for
the State to pay these mothers to stay at home and look after
their children in the proper way, rather than that the children
should be cared for by a neighbour or in an institution. The best
person to take care of a child is its own mother, and the best life
for the child is that which it enjoys in its own family under constant
care and discipline.
Convalescent Homes.
It is stated in the Board's circular that a stay in a Convalescent
Home is especially important for recovery after certain cases
of confinement and for some conditions in young children, especially
after measles and whooping cough, and that it is desirable,
therefore, that Local Authorities should either themselves or
through a voluntary agency arrange for beds in convalescent
homes to be available as part of their schemes.