[197]. Report of School Medical Officer for Crewe, 1911, p. 23.
[198]. Report of the School Medical Officer for Bournemouth for 1911, pp. 5-7.
[199]. "When a system of medical inspection of school children such as already exists under several Local Education Authorities has been established, the School Canteen Committee, so far as its operations are concerned with underfed, ill-nourished or destitute children, should work in intimate connection with the school medical officer." (Circular issued by the Board of Education, January 1, 1907, in Report on the Working of the Education (Provision of Meals) Act up to March 31, 1909, p. 44.) "It is obviously desirable that any arrangements made by a Local Education Authority under the Education (Provision of Meals) Act, 1906 ... should be co-ordinated, as far as possible, with the arrangements for medical inspection under the Act of 1907." (Board of Education, Code of Regulations for Public Elementary Schools in England, 1908, p. ii.) The general supervision of the administration of the Act was placed in the hands of the Board's Medical Department.
[200]. Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1910, p. 254.
[201]. Ibid. for 1911, p. 276. This course is strongly urged by the School Medical Officer for Portsmouth. "All children, however selected, either by the physical or poverty test, should be examined by the School Medical Officer. This in many areas would involve a good deal of extra work on many medical men who find their time already fully occupied. Yet if any work is worth doing it is worth doing well, and here it is that the value of the School Medical Officer comes in, by culling and recording facts relating to the personal condition of the child, as well as the home conditions and surroundings of his or her life." ("The Importance of a Well-advised and Comprehensive Scheme in the Selection of Children ... under the Education (Provision of Meals) Act," by Victor J. Blake, in Rearing an Imperial Race, edited by C. E. Hecht, 1913, pp. 22-23.)
[202]. Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1911, p. 275.
[203]. Brighton Education Committee, Report of Canteen Joint Branch Sub-Committee, July 17, 1907. There were, of course, also the cases of "necessitous" children who did not appear on medical grounds to be suffering from malnutrition, but who, from the economic circumstances of the parents, were unable to obtain sufficient food. Children to whom the provision of a mid-day meal would be a convenience, and whose parents were able and willing to pay the cost, should also be provided for. (Ibid.)
[204]. We have not been able to ascertain exactly what happens to these children on the "watching" list. In 1910 the School Medical Officer reports that they "are examined at intervals by the school doctor, and their progress is noted, the [Canteen] Committee taking such action as is recommended. Enquiries are also carried out by the school nurse, under the supervision of the school doctor, as to the nature of the meals given at home in these cases." (Report on the Medical Inspection of School Children in Brighton for 1910, p. 134.) These home visits by the school nurse are no longer paid.
[205]. In 1911, out of 1,050 children who received free meals, 54 were not examined, 550 were recommended by the school doctor on medical grounds, 446 were fed solely on economic grounds. (Ibid. for 1911, p. 119.) In 1912, out of 1,070 children fed, 69 were not examined, 422 were recommended on medical and 579 on economic grounds. (Ibid. for 1912, p. 122.)
[206]. Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1911, p. 277.