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expansion of these services may be gathered from a perusal of the
alterations and additions which have been made to the available
facilities since 1931. These include :—
Extension of milk grants to mothers during second three
months of pregnancy and to children over the age of three years,
together with expansion of Council's scale for necessitous
families; granting of free milk to all cases, instead of free and
half price as previously; institution of assisted midwives'
scheme and expansion of same; reorganisation of dental scheme;
making of arrangements with Salvation Army Mothers'
Hospital, Clapton, and Royal Northern Hospital, for reception
of maternity cases from within the Borough; provision of
maternity sets free or at cost price; opening of new Centre at
The Bourne and removal of another Centre to newer and more
commodious premises at the Community Hall; engagement of
additional Health Visitor; making of grants to mothers in an
endeavour to eliminate the danger of handywomen; provision
of Home Helps; provision of artificial sunlight facilities at the
Southgate Queen's Nursing Association's premises, for children
attending Welfare Centres; institution of scheme for removal
of tonsils and adenoids; co-operation with North Middlesex
County Hospital for examination of pregnant women at Prenatal
Clinic; offer of immunisation against diphtheria to all
children attending Welfare Centres.
It is extremely difficult to computate the effect which these
services have had upon the health of the mothers and children of
Southgate. Their value cannot be estimated from a study of mere
statistics. The number of maternal deaths within the district has
been so small that it can hardly be expected that this will materially
be reduced; the infantile mortality is so satisfactory that one
could scarcely anticipate a further reduction. For any conception
of the advantages conferred upon the district by the unceasing
vigilance of the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee, one must
look to the mothers and children themselves. The healthy appearance
of the mothers, infants and toddlers attending the Centres,
a fact which must be apparent to anyone visiting the Clinics; the
high nutritional standard of the child population of the Borough
as a whole; the low sickness and morbidity rates; and above all,
the splendid standard of physique exhibited by our school children
—those are the living memorials to the Committee's continued
endeavours. There can be little doubt that the Maternity and
Child Welfare Committee is making a magnificent contribution to
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