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105
of Education and is shown in the various tables in the
appendix to this report. Rather than showing only the
record of defects, one would like to see the tables altered
so as to give a clearer indication of the defective children,
showing the comparison between those suffering from
remediable defects and those which are irremediable.
Findings at Medical Inspections.
These are recorded in detail in the appendix (Table
Ic. and Tables Ila. and lib.), and here one can but draw
attention to some of the conditions there recorded.
Malnutrition.
Table IIb. shows that five per cent, of children
examined at routine medical inspections are below the
average normal physique of children in Bromley, but as
this refers only to some 1,571 children examined, it must
not he taken as applying to all children attending school.
I have dealt with this defect in previous reports, but
I would again stress the fact that this does not necessarily
imply that the children are under-nourished as a consequence
of incorrect or deficient dietary.
In cases where dietary appears to be the cause of
malnutrition the scheme for milk in schools is proving of
value. In other cases where home circumstances do not
permit of the provision of adequate food, either on the
grounds of poverty, or of mismanagement, the mother is
referred to the Bromley Children's Care Committee, or to
the school nurses, who visit the home and provide the
necessary assistance and advice.
It is seldom indeed that one finds wilful neglect to
provide adequate nourishment for the growing child;
ignorance is the main factor, and mucli still remains to be
done in public education of correct dietary and correct
home management.
The environmental factors that handicap many
families living as one-room sub-tenants, where adequate
cooking and washing facilities are not available, are slowly
being dealt with by regulations dealing with housing
conditions of the people. This is one of the reasons why