152 ADMINISTRATIVE SECTION 



and he asked them to show the same amount of interest 

 in the mothers and to see that they had proper food. They 

 had heard from Sunderland that there were ladies there 

 providing the poor children with milk. He was firmly con- 

 vinced that if only they could see to it that all mothers 

 had sufficient food they would see that the principal cause 

 of infant mortality, not only in Ireland, but also in England, 

 would be materially reduced. The Medical Officer of 

 Dundee had pointed out that one of the principal causes 

 of infant mortality in this country was not only low wages, 

 but also the employment of women in factories. He (Dr. 

 Shufflebotham) came from the Pottery district, where, unfor- 

 tunately, the infant mortality reached a very high figure, 

 although at the present time it was better than it had been 

 for some time, and undoubtedly there the principal cause 

 of infant mortality was the inattention that was paid to the 

 infants because the mothers were working at the factory. 

 The children were not having sufficient food and they were 

 not properly looked after. He sincerely hoped that the 

 members of the Conference would remember what he had 

 said as to the importance of the women who were suckling 

 children having more food and being well looked after. 



The COUNTESS OF ABERDEEN said that, speaking from 

 what she knew in Ireland, it was most difficult to induce 

 the poor mothers there to take proper nourishment. A 

 great proportion of the women were very poor, but they 

 would feed anybody else but themselves. They had made 

 great efforts to try and bring this matter of feeding and 

 the selection of foods which were most valuable before the 

 people, but, as she had said, it was very difficult indeed to 

 get the mothers themselves to take nourishment. Even in 

 the cheap restaurants which they had been trying to intro- 

 duce, where a dinner could be procured from a halfpenny 

 to 4d., the mothers did not seem to benefit. 



Miss T. McCov (Portsmouth) said Dr. Moore and 

 another speaker had told them that the babies born in 

 their towns were visited and brought under the control 

 of the Health Department. That was what they were 

 trying to do in Portsmouth. Every baby that was born 

 was seen by the medical officer of health, and he passed 

 it on to the lady health visitor. She (Miss McCoy) 

 went to see that lady the other day, and said, " Do you only 

 visit the poor mothers? " and she replied, " Oh, no; I visit 

 every mother, whether she be rich or poor." She also took 

 a little book with her which had been drawn up by their 

 medical officer, in which were given rules not only as to 

 the feeding of children, but as to how the mother should 



