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71
knocked down by a bicycle at the age of two years. He hears,
but does not understand the significance of speech. After
five weeks in the school he has learnt to articulate and
know the meaning of 20 nouns (names of objects), and this
newly acquired power of expressing himself has had a marked
effect upon his whole demeanour. The reading and writing
of such words as he can articulate accompanies his progress
in speech, and the result is most gratifying.
WORK OF THE SCHOOL NURSES.
Mrs. Wallace took up her duties as School Nurse in
February, 1912, in the Western portion of the district, Mrs.
Inchcoe continuing her work in the Eastern. Excellent work
has been done by both Nurses, and gratifying results have
rewarded their efforts to obtain a better condition of things
for many dirty and neglected children. Parents are beginning
to realize that they cannot send their children to school
in a filthy,verminous condition with impunity,and to know that
children so found by the School Nurses will be re-examined
repeatedly until a better state of things results. Failure to
make an effort to rid the children of dirt and vermin means
exclusion from school, and will bring the parents to the
Magistrates' Courts, where the School Nurses are often present
as witnesses. The heavy fines generally imposed have a
salutary effect, not only on the offenders who suffer, but also
on those who escape punishment.
During 1912 the Nurses paid 617 visits to school
departments, and made 18,512 examinations and re-examinations
of children's heads. 1706 were found to be actually
verminous on one or more occasions, and 3,543 had "nits"
and were regarded as "unsatisfactory."