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health authority to take steps to prevent such disease
occurring in the future, and the child, when it arrives at
school age, should be in a sound and healthy condition,
ready and able to profit by the education provided.
This means actually that the child has to be cared
for from birth up to the age of five years before
it enters school, and, in addition, regard has to be
had as well to pre-natal conditions likely to affect the health
of the offspring. During the year under review 128 children
died before they reached the age of 4 weeks While,
therefore, treatment is not to be disregarded, it should be
considered in relation to the steps which should be taken
to obviate the necessity for treatment in the future. These
are the principles on which any system of state medicine
should be based and would, I am certain, lead to much
diminution in suffering as well as to the development of
healthy habits and a healthy race.
During the year considerable activity has been displayed
in the matter of housing inspection. Three additional
Inspectors of Nuisances were added to the staff and
an organised system of housing inspection is now in vogue.
It will, however, take some years before all the houses
requiring inspection have been dealt with.
1,379 notifications were received during the year of
diseases compulsorily notifiable. Of these, 504 referred to
Scarlet Fever, which is the greatest number since 1909,
when 638 were notified. Similarly, there has been a rise
in the number of notifications of Diphtheria. Last year
the number of notifications was 233, which is the highest
number recorded since 1907, when 254 cases were notified.
These coincident increases during the year have considerably
taxed the hospital accommodation.
In connection with infectious diseases generally, it
should be observed that Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria no