What is the relation of housing conditions to this problem? It is, as everybody can realize, extremely difficult for families living in bug-infested houses to keep their bodies free from them. The fact that many come out victorious in the daily struggle speaks much for their determination and endurance. But more is needed than a bugloss house to enable a working woman to succeed in the battle with dirt in a city like Manchester, where 42 per cent, of all the houses are st.ll without baths.
Middle-class housewives, accustomed to a bathroom and a plentiful supply of hot water and soap, can have no idea of the work involved in keeping children under these conditions clean, specially when the problem of washing clothes is made worse by the amount of external dirt everybody—but specially children—picks up in a city like Manchester.
The fact that even in the worst housing areas the majority of mothers manage somehow to keep their children clean is not only a tribute to them but proves that the problem is not insoluble. How should it be tackled, assuming that householders stipulate that they shall not be asked to receive any child "whose head is not completely free from nits and vermin' the accepted standard of school medical service'
Public opinion would surely support them in this attitude, but it would present a serious problem for the reception areas. The hostel accommodation which the Government's circular suggests should be provided for children who cannot immediately be billeted, for 5 per cent, and although this figure is only meant as a guide it is hardly sufficient for those areas that are to receive children from the congested parts of the cities.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.