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say it was ignorance. (Laughter.) The people were quite 

 willing to be taught and he hoped that to-day they had no 

 children in Sunderland who were being fed on radishes 

 and tea. As the lady visitors got amongst them they were 

 extremely pleased to be visited and were glad to take the 

 advice given them. Of course, there were some mothers 

 who knew better than anybody else, and who would go on 

 killing their children through ignorance, but they hoped 

 eventually to stamp that sort of feeling out. His advice to the 

 Conference was that they should do what they could with the 

 machinery which they had, all of which could be readily 

 established. He quite agreed that they should not send giddy 

 young girls to visit these mothers girls who did not know 

 anything at all but there must be hundreds of mothers 

 with leisure who, although they had no baby of their own, 

 had a mother's heart and who would be only too pleased 

 to help in this work amongst the babies of the poor. 



Mrs. J. KINGSWELL (Portsmouth) said she had listened 

 with great interest to the very excellent papers which they 

 had had, but she was afraid she was going to strike a little 

 note of discord. She hoped she would not offend anyone, 

 but she felt very strongly in regard to one or two aspects 

 of the question which had not been referred to. They had 

 heard a 'good deal said in the discussion about the decrease 

 of infant mortality in all parts of the world. She had been 

 thinking to herself was that a matter to them for con- 

 gratulation or not ? She agreed with the splendid address 

 of Mr. Burns on almost every point, but there was one 

 little point in which she did not agree with him, and that 

 was when he said he was not a member of the " better 

 dead " school. She would rather put it, the " better not 

 have been born " school. Some two or three years ago, 

 or perhaps a little longer than that, Mrs. Sydney Webb 

 and other ladies were touring the country speaking of the 

 infantile mortality under the guardians. She (Mrs. Kings- 

 well) was at a drawing-room meeting on one occasion, and 

 a lady said it was a very shocking thing to know that there 

 were 40 per cent, of the children who died under guardians 

 in institutions. She (the speaker) asked leave to say a few 

 words at the meeting, and she said would that lady be sur- 

 prised to hear that she wished that 100 per cent, of the 

 children under the guardians would die! She (Mrs. Kings- 

 well) was a guardian and she wanted to say that the 

 children born under their charge, or nearly every one that 

 was born, was born in disease ;*nearly every one had some- 

 thing most terrible the matter with them, and the little 

 children in their infirmary were rocking themselves to and 



