The main provisions of this memorandum are printed on page [135].
The increase of work since that date may be gathered from the following table, which shows the increase each year in the number of health visitors, of child welfare centres, and of grants given on the 50 per cent. basis by the Local Government Board and the Board of Education.
Amounts of Grants (pounds sterling) in Each Financial Year to Local Authorities and Voluntary Agencies, on the Basis of 50 Per Cent. of Total Approved Local Expenditure
| Financial Year | Local Government Board | Board of Education | ||
| 1914-15 | 11,488 | 10,830 | ||
| 1915-16 | 41,466 | 15,334 | ||
| 1916-17 | 67,961 | 19,023 | ||
| 1917-18 | 122,285 | 24,110 | ||
| 1918-19 (estimated) | 209,000 | 44,000 | ||
These grants do not cover the entire scope of child welfare work carried out throughout the country, and their amount must not be taken as a complete indication of the extent of this work.
The increase during the war period has been very great; and this can be attributed to the desire to do everything practicable for mothers and children, especially those belonging to soldiers and sailors who were risking their lives for the country; and to the increased realisation of the importance of preserving and improving our chief national asset which consists in a healthy population. During this period there was a great increase in the industrial employment of women, including married women, in factories including munition and other works. This increase it is believed amounted to a million and a half workers.
Notwithstanding the many adverse influences, to which must be added great overcrowding in many industrial areas, especially those in which new industries were hurriedly started, and the increasing cost of food and especially of milk with a scarcity of supply, it has been seen that infant mortality remained low and on the whole declined during the whole period of the war.
To what circumstances can this be ascribed?
It is unnecessary to assume that this result was entirely due to the active measures favorable to maternity and child welfare which were taken as an unexampled scale, though these measures can claim an important share in the result.
A number of contributory factors were at work: