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108
school medical service; and they consider no scheme as wholly
satisfactory unless the School Medical Officer
(a) has the right to nominate for school feeding any children
found at the routine medical inspection or on special
examination to be suffering from mal-nutrition due to
insufficiency or unsuitability of food;
(b) is consulted as to the dietary provided;
(c) has the right and duty of inspecting the actual
ments made in regard to the preparation, distribution,
and service of the meals;
(d) is consulted in all cases of doubt as to the necessity for
retaining a child on the feeding list owing to its physical
condition.
THE TEACHING OF HYGIENE.
Mothercraft and Schools for Mothers.
Six cookery centres in the Borough provide instruction for
1,600 children annually.
The teaching of temperance and hygiene—with the exception
of cookery—does not form part of the syllabus. Optional instruction
is given to the senior pupils by reading lessons in such subjects
as Baby Care, Health, Temperance, Elementary Anatomy,
and Physiology, etc.
Instruction in the care of infants and young children is
becoming increasingly frequent throughout the country as part
of the school curriculum.
From my experience gained in general practice and more
recently in connection with the Infants' Clinic, I am convinced of
the urgent need of systematically instructing the elder girls in
the Care and Management of Infants. I therefore suggest that
a class be started at one of the more central schools.
Thus far East Ham cannot boast of a School for Mothers.
The Infants' Clinic at the Council Offices in Wakefield Street will,
however, form an excellent nucleus. Indeed, at the present time
the work carried on there, as far as its scope extends, compares
favourably with that of schools for which grant is payable.