Maternal mortality and morbidity : an address / by Edward Mellanby.

  • Mellanby, Edward, Sir, 1884-1955.
Date:
[1930?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Maternal mortality and morbidity : an address / by Edward Mellanby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    1/18 (page 85)
    h KT E 9 k fr L 85 development of open spaces. Of course, we have this bugbear of finance. I am quite sure Apollyon was never such an oppressor to Christian as finance is to a local authority. As I have to do with several other spheres of local government work, I am not ignorant of the necessity of balancing the claims of one section with another ; but the burden of my address in this matter is this : You can get 20s. out of your 20s., or in some cases you only get 5s., or you can get 20s. out of 10s. expendi¬ ture, and it largely depends on the way you go about your job and the amount of fore¬ thought that is put into it. At present we have to economise; that is why we have to make a penny go as far as possible. Dealing with the suggestion which Councillor Steen made, I am after some¬ thing more than a five years’ programme. The time is overdue when every public ^dthority ought to have a considered plan decided on after consulting all the interests, forecasting, as far as they possibly can, future require¬ ments. (Hear, hear.) That is not a plan which is going to stand for ever : you ought to revise it in the light of prevailing conditions every five years or sc^but I have no hesitation in saying that without that plan in public services you will be throwing away money; but with that plan you can make every penny of expenditure do double duty. Even more important to-day than money in the work of local government, and of central also, is fore¬ thought and action based on it. (Cheers.) The Chairman : This meeting will desire to pass a unanimous vote of thanks, I know. One of the most important points raised was the indication of possible co-ordination between the London County Council and the local councils. We have also had an interesting discussion on the question of mechanical appliances. I know Ministers and Civil Servants always speak the same ; but I stand with the lady from Northumberland, and I am glad to see sandpits, swings and paddling pools as we see them in London. (Hear, hear.) (The vote of thanks was carried unani¬ mously.) Mr. Gibbon : There was one question I did not answer : Do I think that, in order to avoid the spreading all over the country of small houses, it is advisable to encourage groups of flats with communal gardens? This point about building all over the country is greatly overdone. There is plenty of land outside London that is not likely to be built on, not only in our time but for many generations. The real problem is to control building so as to obtain advantageous, instead of sporadic, grouping. (Sir Frederick Willis proposed a vote of thanks to the Chairman : carried unani¬ mously.) (The meeting then terminated.)