colspan="3" class="style3 right c5">Father: Subnormal. Was a watersider, so dirty in habits that watersiders complained. A sexual case.

Mother: Has always been addicted to periodic fits of insanity. Has been in mental hospital on several occasions. Female, born 1904. Subnormal. Female, born 1909. Subnormal; also delinquent. Female, born 1915. Subnormal. Female, born 1916. Subnormal. Unknown Unknown Unknown These four children were committed to the care of the state in 1917. Not yet brought under State control.

The approximate cost to the State of maintaining these four children will be £5,150, less what is recovered from the father. Up to the present the amount received from him is £176. Should the other three children be brought under State control, the additional cost may amount to approximately £5,000.

This is a glaring case of persons being allowed to marry who are totally unfit to marry. A relative stated that the mother's mentality was in a shocking state at the time of marriage. The father has always been subnormal. The woman is too insane at times to attend to ordinary household duties or matters of ordinary personal cleanliness. At the time the children were committed the home was in a shockingly filthy condition, and at that time was one of the worst brought under the notice of the Department in the district. The second girl (age fifteen) has had her hair cut for the sake of cleanliness by some kindly disposed well-wisher. The mother allowed the dirt to accumulate to such an extent that the whole of the girl's head was covered with a scab of dirt. She had to enter the Hospital to have this removed. This was a most objectionable case. After the State took charge of these children the mother and father were still allowed to cohabit, with the result that three more children have been born. Without doubt, these children will also be supported by the State. The father is a sexual case, and foster-parents of the children have objected to the father visiting them on account of the way he handles them.

Section 4.—Elements of the Problem.

Wallen, in his book "Problems of Subnormality," draws attention to three basic phases of the problem of the feeble-minded:—