View report page

128
ADDENDA.
Some effects of the war felt throughout the country generally were a
considerable rise in the price of disinfectants, and also in that of drugs; with
reference to the increased price and scarcity of drugs, a circular letter was issued
from the Home Office, dated 17th August, 1914.
In November, fifty men, said to be out of employment owing to the war,
were found work in clearing out the mud from the lake in Pymmes Park, which
work was much interfered with by the heavy rains of December.
On 21st August, the Local Government Board issued a circular as to the
power of local authorities to grant leave of absence to their officers on war
service and to pay them and their substitutes.
On the 10th October, the Government Committee on the prevention and
relief of distress issued a circular conveying to all Councils, except rural ones, a
memorandum of the Local Government Board explaining a scheme originating
in a generous offer from medical practitioners and chemists through the British
Medical Association and the Pharmaceutical Society to provide free medical
attendance and treatment to dependents of soldiers and sailors on active service.
The Committee recommended that, in recognition of this great favour, representatives
of the doctors and chemists should be appointed on the local organisation
of the Prince of Wales' National Relief Fund. Were they so invited ?
In October the Council granted the use of the second-class baths for
the establishment of a branch of the Queen Mary's Needlework Guild as a room
for work by the unemployed women and girls in the district. The use of the
wash-houses was granted later and gas for radiators. Work began about
November 19th. A lady inspector from the Home Office visited them once.
On November 2nd, the Government Committee issued a circular to the
same Councils regarding relief to expectant and nursing mothers who are in
distress arising from the war. No discrimination is to be made between married
and unmarried mothers. The Committee suggested the training and employment
of "household or sick-room helps" under the guidance of "the Central
Committee on Women's Employment."