LONDON’S WELL-FED CHILDREN

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 August 1936, Page 13

LONDON’S WELL-FED CHILDREN

FEW. UNDER-NOURISHED.

The- report of the School Medical Officer of the London County Council for 1935 shows that of more than 189,000 children examined in 1935 over 94 per cent were satisfactorily nourished. Of these about. 77 per cent showed normal nutrition and more than 17 per cent, were exceptionally well nourished. The remaining 5i per cent were under-nourished but only -08 per cent (152 out of the 189,000 examined) showed definite pathological malnutrition.

The organisation of nutrition was a new departure during the year. Tne object of the centres is to investigate and assist cases of malnutrition in their earliest stages. These cases were formerly referred to hospitals, where they were frequently dismissed without treatment as they had no disease—a state of affairs unsatisfactory to all concerned which these new centres are designed to remedy. Another innovation in 1935 was the regular weighing and measuring of all school children.

Arrangements initiated in 1934.f0r testing the hearing of the school children by the gramophone audiometer have been systematically developed. More than 28,000 children were tested last year, of whom 7.8 per cent, failed and were examined by., otologists to discover the cause of their defective hearing. Many difficulties arise in dealing with the “maladjusted” child, and the report describes the endeavours made to solve this difficult social problem |by organised “child guidance.” I Dr. W. A. Scott undertook an investigation into the physique of athletic boys in elementary schools compared with that of their non-athletic classmates, and it was made clear, that there is no significant difference between the two groups from the point of view of physical measurements.