View report page

10
person responsible for the custody of the child becomes liable to
prosecution.
The procedure in this district is to allow the parents or
guardians a variable period, but at least 14 days, in which to
cleanse the child, and, if they fail, to order a prosecution. It will
be noted that the Local Education Authority, by omitting to provide
cleansing facilities, neglects its duty and incidentally loses considerably
in grant on account of lost attendances.
The provision of a centre with proper bathing accommodation
would also enable Scabies, of which there have been 62 cases
during 1919, to receive adequate treatment; for in many instances
Scabies ran a protracted course simply because treatment was
ineffectually applied. To counterbalance the expense the establishment
of such a centre would entail, one might set off the gain
that would accrue from the increase in grant to be obtained by
reason of a speedier return to school, quite apart from the larger
question of lessening the risk of vermin-borne disease.
It must be understood that a large number of mothers exercise
the greatest care to prevent their children from becoming infested
with vermin ; and, it is not unnatural for such to attribute blame
to the school when their children, perhaps for the first time, are
found to harbour lice some weeks after they begin attending
school. In this connection, therefore, greater care is necessary in
the arrangement of pegs in school cloakrooms, so that each child
has its separate place where garments may hang untouched by
those of another child.
MEDICAL TREATMENT.
Re-examinations at School.
The table shewing the results of re-examination in cases found
at medical inspection to be in need of treatment reveals the fact
that treatment is not being obtained in a large number of cases.
It will be noted that 668 children who were found at previous
medical inspections to be in need of treatment have been reexamined
to see whether such treatment had been obtained. The
results of the re-examinations showed that 51 per cent. had not
received treatment.