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restaurants, and eating-houses, re kitchens, &c., public
lavatories, houses where certain infectious diseases (e.g.,
measles) occurred, and houses reported as being verminous
or in a dirty condition. During recent years special efforts
have been made by the school authority to deal with verminous
children, and for these efforts to be successful it has
been necessary to inspect the homes of such children, and
arrange for the cleansing of those found to be verminous.
This work naturally fell on Miss Middlebrooke, and has grown
to such an extent as to take up the greater part of her time.
Consequently she was unable to attend to houses registered
under the by-laws nor to measles cases, and it was necessary
to leave this work to a male inspector.
I have shown above that the by-laws mainly deal with the
habits of tenants, especially the housewife's habits, and can
consequently be more effectively enforced by a woman who
understands women's work and difficulties.
Miss FitzGerald's duties comprise advising mothers as to
the care of infants, and the prevention of infant mortality,
visiting houses where phthisis exists, and notified cases of
certain infectious diseases as enteritis and ophthalmia neonatorum.
Miss FitzGerald has never been able to do as
much of this work as was desirable, and has been obliged
especially to neglect the visiting of cases of infectious disease.
The visiting of such cases necessarily nursed at home, as
phthisis, measles, enteritis, etc., is work which cannot be
properly performed by male inspectors. There is, therefore,
very great need of an additional woman inspector for registered
houses, infectious disease, and other work done by
female inspectors.