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more of an adviser and instructor of a mother, who may have
little skill in these specialised duties. And this is true, yet 1
think the objects of medical inspection are better served by this
arrangement. As was pointed out in the first Memorandum on
the subject, "one of the objects of the new legislation is to
stimulate a sense of duty in matters affecting health in the homes
of the people, to enlist the best services anj interests of the
parents, and to educate their sense of responsibility for the
personal hygiene of their children. The increased work undertaken
by the State for the individual will mean that the parents
have not to do less for themselves and their children, but more."
In this spirit at all events the Health Visitors have worked,
I know, with excellent results. Much of their work is very disheartening.
Many of the parents who attend the medical inspection
of their children act upon the advice of the Medical Officer
given at the time, and seek the skilled advice and treatment which
the morbid conditions discovered require. But there is a considerable
residue of parents who accumulate on the lists of the
Health Visitors, on whom neither the sense of duty to their
children nor the appeals and warnings made on behalf of the
sufferers, have any effect. The health of their children is
neglected, the morbid conditions remain untreated, and the considerable
sums publicly spent in the endeavour to educate these
unfortunate waifs is wasted, due to the incorrigible indifference
and brutal insensibility of the parents.
I regard it as a serious handicap of the efforts of the Local
Education Authority, that in such cases they are not empowered
to put into operation the provisions of Sections 12 and 34 of the
Children Act.
ATTENDANCE OFFICERS IN RELATION TO MEDICAL
INSPECTION.
Perhaps the least satisfactory part of the organisation of
school hygiene is its lack of correlation with the work of the