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It has been my view that aged and infirm persons who
cannot be persuaded to accept institutional care should not be
dealt with under this Act unless the conditions are extremely
bad, and I have advised the Council accordingly. An unfortunate
result of this policy is that only those relatives who
abandon their aged ones entirely are relieved of responsibility,
whilst those who struggle on, themselves often in bad health
and economic difficulties, to keep conditions tolerable for
their old folk, have little hope of any relief or assistance from
their heavy burdens. It seems illogical that a State which
provides expensive institutional accommodation for aged
persons in need of care and attention (and places no obligation
on individuals to provide for them) should do nothing
whatever to assist relatives and others to keep them out of
such institutions as long as possible. Home Helps are usually
unobtainable for these long-term cases, but if some of the
women who are obliged to go out to work to supplement the
family income were subsidised to stay at home and look after
their infirm relatives and babies, much would be saved in
nursery and institutional expense, and many staff would be
relieved for the care of the sick or for productive work. I
believe that a scheme of this kind, applied in appropriate
cases, would add immeasurably to the health, happiness and
unity of all members of the families concerned, without any
loss whatever in national economv or production in the
long run.
Food Hygiene. The absence of any outbreak of foodpoisoning
during the year is no cause for complacency ; it is
just a piece of luck. It is true that the District is fortunate in
possessing a number of food and catering establishments
where the highest standards of hygiene are observed, but
there are others where the danger of food contamination is ,
constantly present. Until an outbreak of food-poisoning
illness occurs, the danger goes unrecognised, and by then the
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