Children over two should be bathed daily when necessary, and in any case two or three times a week. Separate towels, flannels, etc., should be provided for all children, and older children should be taught the regular use of the tooth-brush. () The character of the accommodation required will vary with the number and ages of the children admitted, but it should normally include (i) at least two nurseries, one for infants and one for young children; (ii) suitable provision for receiving and bathing the children and for keeping their clothes; (iii) a kitchen and larder; (iv) a milk larder and safe, and place for the preparation of bottles; (v) proper sanitary arrangements for the children; (vi) adequate provision for daily laundry and keeping soiled garments; (vii) provision for heating water separate from that for cooking; (viii) accommodation for the staff; and (ix) a small isolation room. Proper arrangements should be made for safety, and for ready evacuation of the premises in case of fire, and the efficiency of these arrangements should be subjected to frequent tests. Some space in the open air, where children can play, should be provided, and an open-air playground will be required in the case of nurseries seeking recognition in the future. The Medical Officer of Health of the local authority carrying out the Maternity and Child Welfare Scheme for the district should be consulted, in the case of a voluntary nursery, as to the accommodation to be provided, and the maximum number of children to be admitted. Provision should be made for mothers who come to nurse their infants.

(i) Steps should be taken by home visiting or other means to secure that only those children are admitted for whom adequate care cannot be provided in their home by reason of the unavoidable absence of the mother. The necessary home visiting may be done by the Health Visitor of the district, who should be in close touch with the Day Nursery. Day Nurseries ought not to provide for the children whose mothers might reasonably be expected themselves to bestow on them the necessary care and attention.

() Accurate records, including a register of attendance, must always be kept. The records kept by the Nursery should include information as to the home circumstances of the child, and the grounds on which it was considered suitable for admission. A note should be kept of the extent to which the children attending the Nursery have suffered from measles or other forms of epidemic disease. All infants under one year should be weighed weekly, and the weights recorded. Older children should be weighed from time to time, and a note made of their progress, together with observations of the Medical Officer on their physical condition. records should be placed at the disposal of the School Medical Officer when the child is of age to enter school.

*FF

(k) In some cases it may be possible for a Day Nursery to retain a certain number of children by night as well as by day for a short period as a temporary measure, when this is made necessary by the illness of the mother or some similar reason. Such children should not usually be retained for more than one or two weeks, and the period of residence should not exceed a month unless the circumstances are exceptional. There should be no attempt to utilise Day Nurseries as residential institutions. Special approval of the Ministry is required for the admission of resident children, and will only be given if suitable night nurseries. are available and if there are adequate facilities for play and exercise in the open air. Separate records should be kept of all resident children, stating the reason for admission as residents and the period of stay.

(2) In

some districts Homes have been established for children under five whose parents are temporarily unable to keep them properly at their own homes, and such institutions may be found more suitable than a Day Nursery for the retention of such children. Neither a home for children nor a resident Day Nursery should be regarded as affording a satisfactory permanent home for children under five, who should be brought up in circumstances approximating as closely as possible to home and family life.

(m) Where two or more Nurseries exist in the same neighbourhood, the areas which they serve should be defined, or other steps taken to prevent overlapping. Close co-operation is desirable with institutions dealing with Infant Welfare in the neighbourhood. Infant Welfare Centres will often be able to supply information as to suitable cases for admission to the Nursery, and the Nursery may also in different ways be able to afford useful assistance to the Centres. Where a Treatment Centre or Infant Dispensary exists, arrangements may advantageously be made for that institution to deal with cases requiring specific medical or surgical treatment. No child who is definitely ill should be admitted to a Day Nursery. Children suffering from malnutrition or simple non-infective ailments may be admitted temporarily, but if after a period of observation their condition does not improve they should, if possible, be transferred to a hospital. Hospitals for ailing children have been established in many districts, and arrangements might be made through the Medical Officer of Health for the admission of ailing children into these pending their sufficient recovery for acceptance in the Nursery.

Ministry of Health,

Whitehall, S. W. 1.

November, 1919.

CIRCULAR OF THE BOARD OF CONTROL.

ANNUAL RETURN OF PAUPER LUNATICS.

RULE 33 AND FORM 26 OF THE RULES OF THE COMMISSIONERS IN LUNACY DATED JUNE 26TH, 1895.

The Board of Control,

66, Victoria Street, S.W.1.

December 1st, 1919.

Sir, I am directed by the Board of Control to advert to their circular letter of the 20th December, 1916, in which they consented, for the period of the War, to the substitution of a modified and less complete Return for the one required by the above Rule.

The importance of the complete Return has been emphasized during the intervening period, and the Board have come to the conclusion that the time has now arrived when the requirements of Rule 33 should again be fully met. They must therefore ask that the complete Return in Form 26 may be forwarded in January next and succeeding years to this Office and to the other Authorities referred to in the Rule.

THE PROFITEERING ACT, 1919, ORDER (No. 2), DATED OCTOBER 14TH, 1919, MADE BY THE BOARD OF TRADE UNDER SECTION I OF THE PROFITEERING ACT, 1919 (9 AND 10 GEO. 5, c. 66).

Whereas Section 1 of the Profiteering Act, 1919, provides that the Act may be applied by Order of the Board of Trade to any article or class of articles declared by the Order to be one or one of a kind in common use by the public, or being material, machinery or accessories used in the production of such articles, but that the Act shall not apply to any articles which are from time to time declared to be controlled articles.

Now, therefore, the Board of Trade do hereby declare that the articles or class of articles set out in the Schedule annexed hereto are articles of a kind in common use by the public and are articles

which are not controlled, and do hereby order that the Profiteering Act, 1919, shall apply to each and every article or class of articles contained in the Schedule to this Order.

This Order shall come into force forthwith, and may be cited as the Profiteering Act, 1919, Order (No. 2).

Dated this 14th day of October, 1919.

By the Board of Trade.

A. C. GEDDES,

President of the Board of Trade.

SCHEDULE.

F. ALL DRUGS (excluding Quinine Sulphate, which is controlled) and medicinal preparations, including Tooth Powders, Talcum Powders and Fullers Earth.

G.

MEDICAL AND SURGICAL APPLIANCES AND DRESSINGS including
Thermometers.

H. ALL ARTICLES USED FOR FUEL AND LIGHTING (except coal),
Including:-

1. Candles.

2. Lamp oils.

3. Kerosene.

4. Petroleum.

5 Paraffin.

6. Firewood and firelighters.

7. Methylated spirit.

8. Matches.

I. TOOLS, including farm, gardening, engineering and carpentry

tools and implements.

J. WEIGHTS, Measures, Weighing Instruments and Measuring In

struments.

ORDERS OF THE FOOD CONTROLLER.

1919, No. 1317.

THE LIVE STOCK (SALES) ORDER, 1919, DATED 27TH SEPTEMBER. 1919, MADE BY THE FOOD CONTROLLER UNDER THE DEFENCE OF THE REALM REGULATIONS.

In exercise of the powers conferred upon him by the Defence of the Realm Regulations and of all powers enabling him in that behalf, the Food Controller hereby orders that except under, the authority of the Food Controller, the following regulations shall be observed by all persons concerned :

Pregnant Animals not to be sent or sold for Slaughter.

1. A person shall not bring or send or cause to be brought or sent to any market for sale for slaughter or sell or buy for slaughter or

cause or permit to be slaughtered, any in-pig sow of any age, in-lamb ewe of any age, in-calf cow or in-calf heifer.

Beasts and Sheep not to be Slaughtered unless sold in a Market. 2.-(a) A person shall not slaughter or cause or permit to be slaughtered any beast or any sheep unless such beast or sheep has within the 14 days immediately preceding the date of slaughter been bought and sold in a market in Great Britain and in accordance with the provisions of this Order relating to the sale of beasts or sheep for slaughter.

(b) The restriction of slaughter imposed by this Clause shall not apply to:

(i) Slaughter of an animal under the powers conferred by the Diseases of Animals Acts, 1894 to 1914, or any Order made thereunder; or

(ii) Slaughter of an animal when such slaughter is authorised by an officer of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries or the Board of Agriculture for Scotland; or

(iii) Slaughter of an animal when such slaughter is immediately necessary or desirable on account of accidental injury to the animal or its illness, or for any other exceptional reason or purpose; or

(iv) Slaughter by a farmer for consumption in his own household of a sheep owned by him;

but notice of such slaughter and such other particulars as may from time to time be required shall be given within two days thereafter to the Live Stock Commissioner for the area in which the owner of the animal at the time of slaughter is at such time residing, or to any other person duly authorised in that behalf by the Food Controller, and any directions issued by or under the authority of the Food Controller in respect of any such slaughter or the disposition of the carcases of animals so slaughtered shall be observed by all persons concerned.

Sales of Beasts or Sheep to be at a Market.

3. A person shall not sell or buy or offer to sell or buy any beast or sheep for slaughter unless such beast or sheep is at the time of such sale or offer in a market and except in accordance with the provisions of this Order relating to the sale of beasts or sheep for slaughter.

Restrictions on Sales of Beasts in Markets.

4. Except as otherwise provided by this Order no beast shall in any market be bought or sold for slaughter except in accordance with the following provisions :

(a) The beast shall before sale be graded as belonging to one of the four grades mentioned in Part 1 of the First Schedule to this Order by a person authorised in that behalf by the Food Controller;

(b) The beast shall be sold only to a person who is authorised by the Food Controller to buy livestock in a market on his behalf (hereinafter called a Government buyer);