London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Ealing 1920

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Ealing]

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128 Provision of Meals.
The action of the Board in this case in refusing to
sanction the appointment months after it had been made
caused the whole question of the appointment of an
organiser to be abandoned indefinitely. At the same
time it made an end to the proposal of remedial physical
treatment for certain school children, since part of the
proposal was that the Organiser should supervise this
form of a special physical instruction.
Provision of Meals.
In the beginning of March an opinion was expressed
by a member of the Committee that there were many
children in our elementary schools for whom meals should
be provided, under the Education (Provision of Meals)
Act, by the Local Education Authority. As a result of
this expression of opinion, enquiries were made by Dr.
Garrow at all the schools. He reported that with the
exception of a few isolated instances the teachers were
unanimous in their opinion that there was no evidence
of underfeeding amongst the children in their schools,
and there was no call for the provision of meals in school.
He further stated that every teacher expressed the
opinion that the children were better fed and better
clothed now than they have ever been, and that the
conditions amongst the poorer people were much better
than before the war. These opinions were in accord
with his own observations in the routine medical
inspection of the school children, the children being as a
general rule well covered both with flesh and clothing,
and a high average level of physical fitness being displayed.
The children whose names were given by the teachers
as being badly nourished and in need of food belonged