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public elementary school (and on such other occasions as the Board of
Education may direct) and the power to make such arrangements as may
the sanctioned by the Board of Education for attending to the health and
physical condition of the children."
There has been no specific delegation of the powers of my Council
under this Act to the Education Committee. This has been done in neighbouring
Districts.
In a letter dated December 2nd, 1907, I clearly expressed to my
Council and to the Education Committee my willingness to undertake the
work as laid down in the Memorandum from the Board of Education dated
November 22nd, 1907. On December 10th following a motion was proposed in
Council:— "That this Council instruct the M.O.H. to advise the Education
Committee in carrying out the Memorandum of the Board of Education, and
also to supervise such officers as they may appoint to carry it out." The
Chairman of the Council said "he could not accept the motion until the
Education Committee had considered the Memorandum and reported thereon
to the Council." No such report has yet been made.
At their meeting on December 17th, 1907, the Education Committee
passed the following resolution:— "That the Education Committee do consult
with the M.O.H. with a view of taking steps to carry out the duties devolving
upon the Education Authority in accordance with the terms of the Memorandum
dated 22nd November, 1907." I accordingly presented a statement of
my views on the proper way of carrying out the intentions of the Act (as
supplemented by the above mentioned Memorandum), with due regard to the
number of the scholars and other local circumstances. This was delivered to
•every member of the Education Committee, and, by invitation, I attended a
private meeting of the Committee on February 1th, 1908, when I once more
expressed my willingness to undertake the supervision of the work and, if
necessary, a share of the actual inspection.
In December, 1907, a resolution was passed by the Education Committee
that the M.O.H. should be appointed supervisor of the medical inspection
of children in the public elementary schools of Edmonton. This,
so far as I know, has never been rescinded; it has certainly not been acted
on. But in March a report was made that Mr. McKenna, then President of
the Board of Education, had said that whilst in the judgment of the Board
of Education it was desirable that the work should be supervised by the
M.O.H., the Act did not compel it, and the matter would therefore be left in
the hands of the Education Committee. But this report was never verified;
and at a meeting on March 31st, the Committee (by a majority) decided to
advertise for a whole-time School Medical Officer, independent of the M.O.H.