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112
It is at least a comfort to know that these percentages are
considerably below those for the country generally, but this
is not enough, we must aim at perfection. Determined efforts
have been and are being made to remedy this state of things.
It means a great amount of irksome labour, and is the most
unpleasant task the School Doctors, Nurses and Teachers have
to do, but in the interests of the children the duty has to be
faced unflinchingly. The presence of children with verminous
heads is a constant menace to the others, and the Committee
have always taken a firm attitude in their endeavour to check to
The Nurse makes constant visits to the schools and the homes,
and her efforts have borne much fruit, but it is now felt that
the provisions of the Children Act, 1908, must be put into
operation, and the erection of a cleansing station is under
consideration. In those cases where other means fail, notice
will be served upon the parent or guardian requiring the child
to be cleansed to the satisfaction of the School Doctor within
24 hours. If this notice is not complied with the child may
be taken and properly cleansed. When a child so cleansed
is allowed again to get into a verminous or filthy state, the
parent or guardian becomes liable to a summary conviction
and fine.
I wish to emphasise again that the subject is treated in
a downright way, and a child is marked as "nitty" if only a
few nits are observed. This should be made clear because
when making comparison with other figures the strictness of
the inspecting nurse is a factor to be taken into account.
The nurse computes that considerably more than 50 per
cent. of the cases have only a very few nits, and the really
bad ones are few and are at once excluded. It is pleasing to
remark, however, that even without taking any account of
these qualifications the condition of the children's hair in our
schools compares very favourably indeed with other districts,
and, what is more, is very rapidly improving.