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Advice was given to departmental heads and
staff on health precautions necessary when using
these substances. It was possible to recommend
the substitution of less toxic substances in certain
cases, such as trichlorethane for carbon tetrachloride
in the cleaning of office machinery. It is
intended to carry out a survey of toxic compounds
used by employees every year.
'Several investigations of conditions of the
working environment were carried out at the
request of heads of departments. These included
problems of illumination for special work, fumes
from office machinery and skin sensitisation to
polythene, epoxide resins and solvents.
'During November the Staff Health Advisory
committee was established. This committee has
members who in turn also sit on the joint
Council-Staff consultative committees. The
establishment officer and staff medical officer act
as specialist members. This committee advises the
council on staff health matters and should be of
much help in the early detection of those factors
which have an adverse effect on the health of
employees.'

Mental Health
Subnormality
The number of subnormal and severely subnormal
persons in the borough at the end of the year was
358, a decrease of 12 from the previous year. The
decrease was due largely to the removal from
active supervision of a number of adults who
were living in good homes without serious
problems. The number of new cases referred was
35 including 16 children under 16 years of age
of whom 5 were referred for supervision after
leaving school.
During 1967, 13 severely subnormal persons
were admitted to hospitals for long term care and
at the end of the year there were 13 persons on
the waiting list for admission including 5 urgent
cases. The catchment hospital is about 22 miles
from the centre of the borough and I would like
to re-iterate the need for a small hospital unit
nearer to or within the borough.
Counselling clinics were held at five premises
in the borough and a number of home visits was
paid for the same purpose. It is found in practice
that if these sessions are offered at too short an
interval that the failure rate of attendance rises
markedly. The Medical Superintendent of the
catchment hospital attended three clinic sessions
and arrangements were made for him to see some
of the children awaiting admission to hospital.
The amount of support that mental health social
workers were able to give to families where the
presence of a subnormal member causes no great
problem was reduced somewhat because two such
officers were away on full time social work courses
and it proved impossible to fill one vacancy in the
establishment. The greatly increased number of
visits needed to mentally ill patients also
contributed to this situation.
The two local parents' associations were very
active during the year and both junior training
schools have benefited from their interest and
generosity.
Junior Training Schools
Both schools ran to full capacity throughout the
year and at the end of December there were 21
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