News and Notes
C.A.M.W. Conference, December 2nd and 3rd.
It was a matter of great regret that, owing to the dislocation caused by the General Strike, it was impossible to hold the Conference in May. The number of applicants indicated that we should have had a very good attendance, and we hope that the dates in December, the first dates available since May at the Central Hall, will prove convenient.
C.A.M.W. Courses.
The Medical Officers’ Course, held at the University of London in May, was attended by 56 students, 51 of whom were Certifying Officers or School Medical Officers and Assistant School Medical Officers. The Course comprised Lectures and Demonstrations and Visits to Institutions, including a Demonstration of test material at the National Institute of Industrial Psychology.
The Short Course for Teachers at Hope (with visits to schools in the Manchester area), which was held in April, and the Short Course at Leeds, which is being held at the present time, have again shown the desire of a large number of teachers of dull and backward classes and Special Schools to be better equipped for their task.
The nine-weeks Course in London, just completed, has given other and less experienced teachers a fuller opportunity of study.
Judging by the number of entrants, the Refresher Course at Aberystwyth from August 4th to 11th, which is open to students at previous Courses, has been welcomed.
Commonwealth Fund Enquiry.
An interesting example of Anglo-American co-operation is given by the Commonwealth Fund Enquiry, which was carried out in June. As most of our readers know, the Commonwealth Fund in America (Joint Committee on Methods of Preventing- Delinquency) spends its wealth and energy in exploring the best methods of dealing with delinquent and maladjusted children. Under its auspices a large amount of research work is carried out, and the Child Guidance Clinics in America are some of the practical results of its efforts.
Mrs. St. Loe Strachey came back from a recent visit to the States with enthusiastic praise for what she saw accomplished. Under her chairmanship, a Committee of representatives of the Central Association for Mental Welfare, the Howard League for Penal Reform, the Magistrates’ Association, and the National Council for Mental Hygiene, met and considered a most generous proposal of the Commonwealth Fund, that they should send an investigator to this country on a short visit with a view to seeing the possibilities of developing such work here. The Committee accepted the offer of the Fund. Miss Scoville, the Executive Assistant of the Fund, has accordingly spent a fortnight here, during which she has been given the opportunity of meeting those persons chiefly concerned in this work and the representatives of various associations. In a later number of this magazine we shall hope to give an account of the decision of the Commonwealth Fund, after consideration of her report.
Leicester Health Exhibition.
This Exhibition, held during May, was a very successful undertaking, in spite of postponement due to the General Strike and to disorganised train service. Some 100,000 people visited the Exhibition, and at least a considerable proportion of these persons stopped for a while at the stall of the Central Association for Mental Welfare, or watched the film, showing methods of training low-grade mental defectives.
When the various aspects of health are brought together at one exhibition the inter-relation of physical and mental trouble is the more easily grasped. Practically all the national organisations concerned with the ” Nation’s Health ” took part; and that the people of the Midlands were roused is shown by the attendance. The questions, too, that were put to Miss Ferguson, who was in charge of our stall, testified to the intelligent interest taken, especially in the training of the mentally defective.
It was noted that special interest was shown in the training of low-grades in the Occupation Centres, and surprise was frequently expressed at the fine specimens of work done by high-grade defectives. The problems of sterilisation and segregation were often discussed. There is no doubt that the Exhibition afforded us a good opportunity for sound propaganda.
Red House Farm School, Norfolk.
Vacancies are at present available in this School, which has recently enlarged *ts scope. Originally a Home Office Industrial School of the usual type, it has found, in common with many other of the Home Office Schools, partly on account ?f the extension of the Probation system, that the accommodation exceeds the demand.
Accordingly the Home Office has agreed to use the School, much in the same way as Inval, Haslemere, is used for girls, for those Home Office boys who show some mental trouble, not sufficient to allow of their being certified under the Lunacy or Mental Deficiency Acts. Not all the boys at the School, however, suffer from mental disability.
The Managers of the School are further prepared to accept similar cases from outside sources, and Poor Law Authorities, Social Organisations and private persons may be glad to hear of vacancies for cases which often prove very difficult to accommodate.
The work of the School is inspected on behalf of the Home Office by the Board of Education, but it is not a ” Certified Special School ” under the Mental Deficiency Act.
Fuller particulars may be obtained from the advertisement column. British Social Hygienic Council, Summer School, Oxford.
It is with pleasure that we note that a Summer School is to be held at Balliol from July 26th to 31st by the British Social Hygiene Council. The syllabus states that the Council has realised ” that the attack on Venereal Disease must not merely be made directly in the way of supplying facilities for treatment, but must also be based on character training… . Recognising that the conditions of industrial life have led to a weakening of religious control among young people, the lecturers will endeavour to explain in clear and definite language how this can be supplemented on the basis of scientific knowledge ” Among the lecturers we see the names of Dr Hadfield, Dr W. Brown, Professor Carr Saunders, Dr I. Feldman. The width and scope of the programme seem admirable and we can imagine no more useful Summer School for those engaged in social and remedial work. Fuller particulars can be obtained from the Offices of the Council, Carteret House, Carteret Street, S.W.I. Encephalitis Lethargica.
Weekly notifications (reproduced from the Lancet) :? Week ending Week ending Week ending April 3 42 May 1 63 June 5 44 ,, 10 47 ? 8 41 ? 12 48 ,, 17 64 ,, 15 35 ,, 19 51 ,, 24 52 ,, 22 37 ? 26 52 ? 29 42 205 208 195 Total 603
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