50 ADMINISTRATIVE SECTION 



such future inquiry, the comparison of the infant 

 mortality rates from all and from various causes in 

 those rural areas well supplied for in rural areas 

 social problems are more distinct and those not well 

 supplied with district nurses ? The result would, I 

 believe, show a very close relationship between 

 nursing and infant health, which would be of great 

 practical value. But to be of value the inquiry must 

 cover a very large area, and must therefore be under- 

 taken by the central department of the State. It is 

 to be 'hoped, therefore, that this inquiry will be con- 

 tinued in detail and the results presented and retailed 

 in various forms by leaflets, lectures, and cinemato- 

 graph, as well as in book form, suitable to the intelli- 

 gence of ignorant mothers as well as of students, public 

 men, and philanthropists. 



Ignorance and Voluntary Effort. The report of 

 1910 brought out one striking factor which had been 

 gradually revealed by medical officers of health, viz., 

 the relationship between infant mortality and ignor- 

 ance. Here, then, is one of the most important spheres 

 of action of the State, to secure the instruction of 

 mothers in the feeding and care of infants : 



(1) Through leaflets and health visitors directly 

 appointed by sanitary authorities ; 



(2) Through the invaluable schools for mothers, 

 mothercraft clubs and babies' welcomes, which are 

 mainly the result of private enterprise ; 



(3) Through the recognition by every midwife, 

 that her responsibility extends over the whole period 

 of infancy ; 



(4) Through the visits of district nurses to house- 

 wives in their homes ; 



(5) Through direct State assistance in the training 

 of district nurses on a preventive basis, every county 

 being permitted and encouraged to have its own 

 training home as a technical school maintained by the 

 education authority in co-operation with the health 

 authorities ; 



