Summer Fixtures
News and Notes.
PARIS. An International Social Welfare Fortnight will be held in Paris from July 2nd to 13th. This includes four Congresses and Conferences; The In- ternational Housing and Town Planning Congress, the International Congress of Public and Private Welfare, the International Child Welfare Congress and the International Congress on Social Work.
Miss Evelyn Fox is acting as Rapporteur General for the Section dealing with Mental Deficiency which will take place on the afternoon of Saturday, July 7th. The Wayfarers Travel Agency, 33, Gordon Square, W.C.I, is prepared to make arrangements for delegates attending the Conference and details as to accommodation, reduced fares, etc., may be obtained from the Agency. An Exhibition of Housing and Social Progress will be held in Paris from June 15th to July 15th.
For the particulars of the Congress of Public and Private Welfare apply to the Rev. J. C. Pringle, Denison House, Vauxhall Bridge Road, S.W.I. For particulars of the Conference on Social Work apply to The Secretary, The British Institute of Social Service, Stapley House, 33, Bloomsbury Square, W.C.I. VIENNA. The International Association for Research on Defects of Speech and Voice will hold its third conference from July 12th to 14th, in Vienna. For particulars of this conference apply to Miss J. H. Van Thai, L.A.R.M. (El), of 10, Douglas Mansions, London, N.W.6.
AMERICA. The Ninth International Congress of Psychology will be held at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A., in August or September, 1929. This is the first meeting of the Congress in America which has been held twice in England in 1892 and 1923. It is hoped that some foreign lecturers and lecturerships can be arranged in order to increase the foreign attendance and in- ternational solidarity. For particulars apply to the Executive Secretary, Walter S. Hunter, Clark University, Worcester, Mass., U.S.A.
Brighton Summer School.
A Summer School on Psychology is to be held again this year at Brighton under the auspices of the Local Education Authority and the direction of Professor C. Spearman.
The School will be held in the premises of the Municipal Training College from August 3rd to 17th. The following six courses form part of the Programme.
Educational Psychology Along New Lines, by Professor Spearman.
2. Mental Abilities, Their Inter-Relations and the Use of Measuring them in School, by Professor Spearman. 3. Will and Character Formation, by Dr F. Aveling. 4. Mathematical Basis of the Analysis of Abilities, by Professor Spearman. 5. Practical Course in Mental Testing, by Mr. S. Philpott, B.Sc. 6. The Teaching of a Modern Foreign Language, by Miss C. A. Simmins, Mod. Lang. Trip. Various single lectures include Dr Crichton-Miller on The Psychological Background of the Pupil, and Miss Evelyn Fox on Child Guidance Work and Clinics. The Fee for the whole course is ?3 3s. Od. (Registration Fee, 10s. 6d.). A limited amount of accommodation is available at College Hostels. Full particulars and application forms can be obtained from The Secretary to the Education Committee, Mr. F. H. Toyne, B.A., 54, Old Steine, Brighton. Sterilisation Laws. A Bill for the Sterilisation of the Feebleminded has been passed by the Legislature of Alberta, Canada, and becomes operative when it has received Royal Assent.
A Bill providing for the Sterilisation of certain inmates of Institutions for the Feebleminded and Asylums for the Insane has been passed by the Lower House of the Kentucky State Legislature.
Copies of these Bills will shortly be obtainable in England. Board of Control.
Sir Frederick Willis retired at the end of last month from the position of Chairman of the Board of Control, a position which he has held for the past seven years.
It is hardly necessary to recall to readers of this Magazine the great amount of work which has been accomplished for the Mentally Defective through the energy and administrative ability of Sir Frederick, and all workers in the field of mental deficiency will join in expressing their thanks to him for his unflagging interest and help during his years of office.
Sir Frederick is succeeded by Mr. Laurence George Brock, C.B., who was Principal Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Health.
Local Associations for Mental Welfare.
We are glad to announce that schemes have been adopted for the formation of three new Local Associations for Mental Welfare.
In Southampton the Local Association is already at work. The C.A.M.W. Organiser, Miss Laxton, as a result of representations made to the County Borough Mental Deficiency Committee by the Southampton Council of Social Service, was invited to carry out the preliminary organisation of an Association for Mental Welfare, and has been working in Southampton since November, 1927. The Local Association was formed at a meeting held on March 30th, and a permanent Secretary, Miss Charlton, was appointed to start work on April 2nd, 1928. An Occupation Centre is to be opened as soon as possible.
In Darlington where the C.A.M.W. Organiser, Miss Laxton, was working from August to October, 1927, at the request of the County Borough Council, a scheme for the formation of a Local Association has been approved, and the first meeting of the Association will be held on April 25th, 1928. It is hoped that at that meeting a permanent Secretary (who will at first act also as Supervisor of an Occupation Centre) will be appointed.
In Sunderland, approval has been given by the County Borough Council for the formation of a Local Association, as a result of the work carried out in the area by the C.A.M.W. Organisers during the Spring and Summer of 1927.
Hollington Special School Success.
fhe Hollington Special School were very successful in the Hastings Musical Festival held last month. At the prize-giving they received the Challenge Banner for the Country Dance Competition, a First Class Certificate and a prize of ?1 for obtaining the highest marks in the three classes entered. This is not the first time^ the Hollington pupils have entered and on other occasions they have won Certificates of Merit.
This must be very encouraging for the staff of the School when it is realised that the Special School was competing with Secondary and Central Schools, Ladies’ Colleges, etc. We offer our congratulations to both children and staff for giving us a demonstration of what our modern Special Schools can achieve. Manor House, Bucks.
The Bucks County Council have recently acquired the Manor House, Ayles- bury, as a home for Mental Defectives. There will be accommodation in the home for 44 cases, young children, girls and women.
The Manor House was purchased for ?8,250 and is a fine building with grounds extending to nearly seven acres with greenhouses and stables. The house having large airy and sunny rooms and a simple ground plan, is well adapted for the purposes of a home.
Three types of defectives will be taken at first, crippled children, active girls who though not crippled are unable to do much for themselves, and higher grade girls and women who can do unskilled work under supervision in a laundry or kitchen. Little alteration has been needed in the house and the transformation of the old stables into a laundry and the addition of a glass verandah on the sunny side of the house have been the two principal changes made. The vegetable gar- den has been got into good order, the unskilled labour being supplied by mentally defective boys housed in the Aylesbury Poor Law Institution at the expense of the County Council.
Miss Ethel Boughton (who was Assistant Matron at the L.C.C. home at Rayners) has been appointed to act as Matron with a staff of three nurses. Durham.
The County Council of Durham have entered into a Contract for the purchase of 350 acres of farm land at School Aycliffe for the purpose of establishing an Institution for the care of the mentally defective. The purchase of the site has had the approval of the necessary Government Departments and the intention is to provide eventually for the accommodation of 1,000 patients.
Shotley Bridge Colony.
The Shotley Bridge Colony (Newcastle-on-Tyne Mental Deficiency Com- mittee) was formally opened on 31st August, 1927. The buildings which were provided and opened in 1913 by the Gateshead Board of Guardians as a Home of Rest for the Aged, had latterly been used as a Hospital by the Ministry of Pensions.
The site comprises 54 acres of land with main buildings, consisting of an administrative centre with patients’ pavilions?one for each sex?each having three floors, a Sanatorium, small homestead, power house and entrance lodge. The Colony is beautifully situated, 550 feet above sea-level and there are unin- terrupted views over the Derwent Valley.
The present accommodation at the Colony is for 344 patients, viz., 186 males and 158 females, the first patients being admitted in July last year. The Colony although so recently established is, along with its laundry and workshops, in good working order. The Committee are considering plans for the erection of a Low- Grade Block, while a School has just been started. It is anticipated that ultim- ately some 500 patients will be accommodated in the Institution. At present there are over 200 patients in the Colony.
Scottish Association for Menial Waifare.
A Conference is to be held by this Association on May 11th, at 11.15 a.m., in the United Free Church Assembly Hall, the Mound, Edinburgh.
A Paper will be read in the morning session by G. A. Auden (School Medical Officer, Birmingham), on ” The Borderland of Feeblemindedness.” At the after- noon session Dr Kate Fraser will read a Paper on ” Mental Welfare in the United States ” and James Drever (Reader in Psychology, University of Edinburgh) on ” The Basal Principles of Mental Testing.” All papers will be followed by dis- cussion.
The Railway Companies have agreed to issue tickets at reduced fares. All particulars can be obtained from The Hon. Secretary and Treasurer, Scottish Association for Mental Welfare, Education Office, Paisley.
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