POVERTY AND HEALTH.

Waipukurau Press, Issue 24, 9 March 1906, Page 2

POVERTY AND HEALTH.

—o — The London County Council has been making a series of interesting experiments with the object of discovering the cause of the variation in the physical condition of the children of the metropolis. Over tour hundred boys were weighed and measured, their let th examin ed, and their personal cleanliness and clothing noted for the purpose of determining the conditions of their home life. The medical officer who conducted the examination reports that in the cases of thirty boys the clothing was of the scantiest description possible, consisting of one ragged coat buttoned up and practically with nothing beneath it, whilst boots were either absent or represented by a mass of rags tied upon the feet. A further 144 boys possessed clothing insufficient to retain animal heat and needing urgent remedy, whilst their boots were leaky. The clothing of the next section of 187 was poor but passable. Forty-eight boys were well-clad. The thirty boys in the fiist grade were below the average weight expected for their age, those in the second grade worked out at ihe same average, ana the others were over it. Five per cent, of the boys classified as dull and backward, 17 per cent were below the average, 43 per cent were of average intellect, 24 per cent were over the average, aud 10 per cent were brilliant. Fifteen boys who lived in one-room tenements were under the average height and averageuweight, but those living under more roomy conditions showed no deterioration from the normal. It was also shown that 87.9 per cent of the well-nourished children had the benefit of maternal care, and that those born in a year of low infantile mortality had the better physique. The majority of cases of injury to the health of children were traced directly to a want of cleanliness in the home life, and the provision of school washing baths, quite distinct from swimming baths, is strongly recommended. The mass oi information acquired during the examination forms an important aduiiiou to the data previously collected by the County Council with reference to the tending and housing of the children. It is evident that this progressive public body is not going to allow the old state of things to prevail, and that it realises that if a degeneration of the race has really begun, the only way to stop it is by seeking for the causes.