View report page

96
The scheme started off very well, 2,949 children regularly
receiving milk at the end of 1929, but unfortunately the novelty
seems to have worn off a little for the number of children now
receiving milk is 2,245. Most of the teachers are loud in their
praise regarding the value of milk. The most marked effect, both
physically and mentally, has been in those children who appear
to be anaemic or badly nourished.
The Education Committee, finding the scheme an easy one
to manage, adopted it for supplying extra food to children whose
parents are in necessitous circumstances. At the end of the year
there were 340 children receiving milk in this wav at the cost of
the Education Committee. The children who receive milk free of
cost are treated in exactly the same way as the children whose
parents pay for it. There is no distinction made regarding the
class of child.
The reports of experiments carried out by Dr. Corry Mann in
England, and by Dr. J. B. Orr in Scotland, have shown that when
a supplementary ration of milk has been given to school children
they have shown a marked improvement in height and weight
and in brightness. Still more recent experiments carried out in
Scotland with a large number of school children, the results of
which were published quite recently, have confirmed that the
supply of an extra quantity of milk to children brings about a
material gain in physical condition and in alertness. The supply
of milk to children in school, therefore, as a routine practice, deserves
to be supported in every way possible.
CO-OPERATION OF OTHERS IN THE SCHOOL
MEDICAL SERVICE.
Attention has been drawn in previous reports to the co-operation
of and the help received from the teachers and from the
school enquiry officers in the work of school medical inspection and
treatment. The co-operation and help has been maintained and
has greatly added to the efficiency of the whole scheme. The
parents, if anything, are manifesting an increased interest every
year in the health of their children and seem more anxious as time