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38
Medical Inspection.
verminous condition. The head was involved in 18
cases and the body in 15 cases.
This small number of exclusions for dirty condition
of the head fails to give an accurate idea of the actual
state of things, for previous to routine inspection
the parents receive notice and ample time is thus given
to the parents to cleanse the children before the day of
the inspection.
It cannot be said that an}7 one of our elementary
schools is quite free from verminous children, and although
a few of the schools come very near to complete
cleanliness most are a constant source of anxiety and
require careful and constant supervision. The conditions
at present are much better than they were several
years since, but there is still great room for improvement.
Year by year we find the same children or the same families
affected. The parents receive repeated warnings,
and fines are imposed by the Justices, but still we get
the same conditions, perhaps a little improved, but
never wholly remedied.
Three methods of procedure are available when
the usual warnings to the parents fail to secure cleanliness
of the heads and bodies of the children:—
(1) Action under the Attendance Bye-laws.
(2) Action under Section 12 of the Children Act, 1908
(3) Action under Section 122 of the Children Act,
1908.
In the first method the child is excluded from school
and the parents or guardians are prosecuted for not
sending the child to school; in the second, proceedings
are taken under section 12 of the Act, either by the
Local Education Authority or by the Society for the