237.Ibid., p. 11. This is the plan still pursued (see post, pp. 86-87).

238.London County Council, Report of the Medical Officer (Education) to Sub-Committee on Underfed Children, 1909. See also "School Feeding," by Dr. John Lambert, in Medical Examination of Schools and Scholars, edited by T. N. Kelynack, M.D., 1910, pp. 240-242.

239.Report of the Education Committee of the London County Council, submitting report of the Medical Officer (Education) for the twenty-one months ending December 31, 1908, p. 17.

240."The determination of the dietary of the children generally, and of individual children whose health or age renders it desirable that special arrangements should be made in their case" is, as the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education points out, a matter "on which the School Medical Officer is particularly competent to form an opinion, and on which, therefore, his opinion should be sought by the Authority." (Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1911, p. 275.)

241.Annual Report of the School Medical Officer for Stoke-on-Trent for 1911, p. 56.

242.See the descriptions of Stoke and Liverpool, post, pp. 89, 90-91.

243.See Bradford Education Committee, Report on a Course of Meals given to Necessitous Children from April to July, 1907, p. 7.

244.For Bradford and some other typical menus see Appendix I.]

245."The Importance of a Well-Advised and Comprehensive Scheme in the Selection of Children ... under the Education (Provision of Meals) Act," by Victor J. Blake, in Rearing an Imperial Race, edited by C. E. Hecht, 1913, p. 24.

246.At one centre that we visited, the second helping consisted only of what was left by some of the children on their plates! Those who wanted more were asked to hold up their hands, and the food was then handed to them, the recipients being apparently selected at random, since there was not enough for all.

247.Report of Chief School Medical Officer for Sheffield, for the year 1910, pp. 26, 27. See post, p. 190.

248."The Importance of a Well-Advised and Comprehensive Scheme in the Selection of Children ... under the Education (Provision of Meals) Act," by Victor J. Blake, in Rearing an Imperial Race, edited by C. E. Hecht, 1913, p. 25.

249.Board of Education, Code of Regulations for Public Elementary Schools in England, 1908, p. ii.

250.Report on the Working of the Education (Provision of Meals) Act up to March 31, 1909, prefatory note by L. A. Selby-Bigge, p. 6.

251.Report on the Working of the Education (Provision of Meals) Act for the year ended March 31, 1910, pp. 8, 9.

252.Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1911, pp. 278, 279.

253.We describe two or three of these schools later. (See post, pp. 121-2.)

254.At Birmingham we note the same defect. "The children are quiet and well-behaved; but all the time is taken in serving the food, and there is no opportunity to teach individual children to eat slowly. The tendency, especially with the cocoa breakfast, is to gulp down the drink, eat part of the bread and jam, and carry the rest away." (The Public Feeding of Elementary School Children, by Phyllis D. Winder, 1913, p. 42.)

255.Report of Bootle School Canteen Committee, 1911-12, p. 10.

256.Ibid., p. 11.

257.Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1911, p. 272.

258.In many towns where meals are usually served at centres, local restaurants are utilised in outlying districts where the number of children is too small to allow of a centre being established.

259.At one school, the children have the meal in the school, the food being sent in by a caterer, the head-mistress preferring that arrangement.

260.In April, 1913.

261.Annual Report of the School Medical Officer for Stoke-on-Trent, 1912, p. 23.

262.This eating-house is situated in the poorest part of Acton, where the great majority of the children who are on the dinner-list live. In a few cases, where the children live in other districts, arrangements are made for them to obtain food at the cookery centres; this food they take home with them. This plan, we were told, is only adopted in cases where the mother can be trusted to see that the dinners are really eaten by the children for whom they are intended.

263.Some were sent to the depÔts of the Food and Betterment Association.

264.Interim Report of the Special Committee appointed to investigate the Insufficient or Improper Feeding of School Children, Liverpool City Council Proceedings, 1907-8, Vol. II., pp. 5, 15.

265.Ibid., pp. 11, 12, 19.

266.Ibid., pp. 17, 22, 23, 24. In one case where five coupons were given daily to five members of a family, it was found that the children took the coupons home every day, and at the end of the week these coupons were presented and value obtained. (Ibid., p. 21.)

267.MS. Memorandum on the Feeding of School Children, by the Liverpool Fabian Society, 1908.

268.The centres at Bradford, Leeds, West Ham and Birkenhead were all visited in the spring of 1913 and the descriptions refer to that date.

269.In the secondary schools, the poorer children are allowed to act as monitors, being given in return a 3d. dinner free.

270.Report of School Medical Officer for Bradford, 1909, pp. 100-1. At Nottingham the conditions are very similar to those at Bradford, the Education Committee having, in fact, modelled their policy on that of Bradford.

271.Leeds Education Committee, Rules for the Management of Dining Centres.

272.Complaints on both these points had, we were told, been made to the Education Committee, but, on the score of expense, nothing had been done.

273.The meals are served at the schools in some room which is no longer needed for teaching purposes; in some cases, we believe, in a room which was specially built as a dining-room. We have included this example in the third class rather than in the first, since in each case the school serves as a centre for children from neighbouring schools.

274.Report of the West Ham Education Committee for the year ended March 31, 1912, p. 52.

275.Where the home conditions are extremely bad, provision is made for children to be fed at eating-houses, but such cases are very rare. At the time of our visit, in July, 1913, there was not one such case.

276.Second Quarterly Report of the Children's Aid Association, November, 1907, to February, 1908, p. 3.

277.Report on the Working of the Education (Provision of Meals) Act up to March 31, 1909, p. 17.

278.The head teachers receive 5s. a week for supervising dinners, and 2s. 6d. for breakfasts; the assistant teachers 4s. and 2s. respectively. At Derby also the teachers are paid. (Report of the School Medical Officer for Derby, 1911, p. 61.) This payment is very exceptional.

279.At Leeds, for instance, the teacher will perhaps be called on for a day or two every two months. At Liverpool a teacher is supposed to attend once a fortnight, but often no teacher at all is present. At Bootle the turn may be one day a week or a fortnight, or perhaps a week at a time; here the teachers, we were informed, voluntarily give their services "under protest," a fact which, when one considers the conditions under which they are asked to serve the meals, is not surprising.

280."The Importance of a Well-Advised and Comprehensive Scheme in the Selection of Children ... under the Education (Provision of Meals) Act," by Victor J. Blake, in Rearing an Imperial Race, edited by C. E. Hecht, 1913, p. 24.

281.Leeds Education Committee, Rules for the Management of Dinner Centres. At Bradford it is noticeable that it is as a general rule the men teachers who supervise the meals; women teachers assist, but the responsibility for the management of the whole centre seems to involve too great a strain upon them.

282.Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1911, p. 280.

283.London's Children: How to Feed Them and How not to Feed Them, by Margaret McMillan and A. Cobden-Sanderson, 1909, p. 11. We have met with this ideal arrangement only at one school—a small "special" school for feeble-minded children at Bradford (see post, pp. 121-2.).

284.Knives were used at Bradford for a time, but were given up, as it was found that the children hurt themselves. Their use demands, of course, much supervision, but they might be given to the elder children at any rate.

285.At Birmingham "in one school the same mugs [for cocoa] were used twice over for different children without being washed. The supply of utensils at several of the schools was too small for the numbers fed." (The Public Feeding of Elementary School Children, by Phyllis D. Winder, 1913, p. 43.)

286.See preamble to the Education (Provision of Meals) Act Amendment Bill, July 20, 1910. "This Bill introduces no new principle, but simply extends the Act to render permissible the continued operation of the Act during the holidays, a point which, when the original Act was passing through Parliament, it was generally thought was covered."

287.Report on the Working of the Education (Provision of Meals) Act, up to March 31, 1909, p. 48.

288.Hansard, July 12, 1910, 5th Series, Vol. 19, pp. 189-190. In 1910, out of the twenty-five or so Local Authorities who continued the meals during the holidays, about one-fifth paid for them out of the rates. (Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1910, p. 255.)

289.Ibid., p. 254.

290.Ibid., pp. 254-5; Report of West Ham Education Committee for the year ended March 31, 1910, pp. 45-6.

291.The first report which was issued on the Working of the Provision of Meals Act gave the number of authorities who continued the meals during the school holidays—at that date 3 out of the 7 counties, and 32 out of the 105 county boroughs, boroughs and urban districts, who were making some provision under the Act (Report on the Working of the Education (Provision of Meals) Act, 1906, up to March 31, 1909, pp. 34-38). No figures are now available.

292.Report of Bradford Education Committee for the year ended March 31, 1908.

293.See letter from Bradford Ratepayers Association, in Bradford City Council Proceedings, August 10, 1909.

294.In London, during the Christmas holidays, 1911-12, meals were provided out of a sum placed at the disposal of the Chairman of the Council by the General Purposes Committee, from the balance of the account in connection with the erection and management of the Coronation Procession stands. (Minutes of the London County Council, February 13, 1912, p. 2791.)

295.Report of the West Ham Education Committee for the year ended March 31, 1910, p. 46; Ibid. for the year ended March 31, 1911, p. 39.

296.Ibid. for the year ended March 31, 1912, pp. 50-1.

297.The East Ham Echo, August 22, 1913.

298.At Brighton meals were provided on Saturdays by the Local Education Authority out of the rates till January, 1909, when it was declared to be ultra vires. (Report on the Medical Inspection of School Children in Brighton for 1908, p. 99.)

299.Minutes of the London County Council, February 2, 1909, p. 121; Minutes of the Education Committee, November 23, 1910, p. 991.

300.Hansard, March 27, 1911, 5th Series, Vol. 23, pp. 1074-5.

301.See Education (Administrative Provisions) Bills, April 14, 1910 (No. 128), February 19, 1912 (No. 18), April 15, 1913 (No. 101), which all contained a clause for provision of school meals during the holidays; Education (Provision of Meals) Act Amendment Bills, July 20, 1910 (No. 265); April 19, 1911 (No. 181); March 13, 1912 (No. 82); April 16, 1913 (No. 109).

302.Hansard, March 28, 1912, 5th Series, Vol. 36, p. 598.

303.Hansard, July 22, 1913, Vol. 55, pp. 1910-11.

304.See post, pp. 184-7.

305.This may be through lack of funds, as at East Ham (see ante, p. 56), but is not always due to this cause.

306.See, for instance, Hansard, December 6, 1906, 4th Series, Vol. 166, p. 1283; December 7, 1906, pp. 1340, 1344. See also ibid., July 9, 1903, Vol. 125, p. 196, and April 20, 1904, Vol. 133, p. 788.

307.Report on Working of the Education (Provision of Meals) Act up to March 31, 1909, p. 41.

308.Ibid., p. 42.

309.Ibid., p. 33.

310.The amount was £1,570 out of a total of £157,127. (Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1911, p. 332.)

311.For provision made for paying children in Scottish towns, see Appendix II., pp. 242, 245, 246.

312.Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1911, pp. 325-7, 331. In eleven other towns the parents in some cases paid part of the cost.

313."The needs would be met of a host of children who never got a decent meal." (Councillor North, Bradford City Council Proceedings, February 26, 1907, p. 233.)

314.Extracts from the Annual Reports of the Bradford Education Committee for the four years ended March 31, 1907, 1908, 1909 and 1910, pp. 14, 16. The charge is now 2-1/2d.

315.The numbers given in the Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1911 (p. 325) are 182, but some of these were paid for by the Guardians. No record, we were told, is kept of the individual children who pay, but the amount received in 1912-13 from parents who voluntarily paid the whole cost was £169 19s. 8d. Thus only some 16,320 meals were wholly paid for, out of a total of 782,979. (Bradford Education Committee, Return as to the Working of the Provision of Meals Act for the year ending March 31, 1913.)

316.At Finchley as many as two-thirds of the meals are paid for, but the charge is very low, only 1/2d. per meal. We were informed that the price would not cover the cost of food if it were not for the fact that the meat used in connection with the dinners was provided as a voluntary gift.

317.This was the opinion of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical Inspection and Feeding in 1905. (See ante, p. 37.) "If no distinction is made between the paying children and the non-paying children," declared one witness, "I feel sure that the Birmingham artisan would not send his children. He would not let them go to receive a meal in regard to which it was not known whether it was given free or not." (Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical Inspection and Feeding, 1905, Vol. II., Q. 1246, evidence of Mr. George Hookham.) See also the evidence given by Mr. F. Wilkinson, the Director of Education for Bolton. (Ibid., Qs. 3115-3119.)

318.See post, p. 120.

319.See post, pp. 123-5.

320.The amount recovered after prosecution in 1911-12 was £42 10s. 6d. for the whole of England and Wales, London accounting for more than half this sum. (Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1911, pp. 325-7.) To this we must add the amount recovered with more or less difficulty, but without prosecution.

321.See ante, p. 64.

322.Report of the West Ham Education Committee for the year ending March 31, 1912, p. 54.

323.In 1911 proceedings were taken against parents in only eight towns, including London. The number of cases was 219, of which 147 were in London. (Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1911, pp. 325-327.)

324.Report on the work of the Bootle School Canteen Committee, 1910-11, p. 21. Since this date the Committee have accordingly made no attempt to prosecute parents for repayment of the cost.

325.Extracts from Annual Reports of Bradford Education Committee for the four years ended March 31, 1907, 1908, 1909 and 1910, p. 13.

326.At Bradford a child who is underfed through neglect is put on the feeding-list for a month before the bill is sent to its parents, so that it may receive the benefit of the meals for this period at any rate.

327.8 Edward VII., c. 67, sec. 12.

328.Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress, 1909, 8vo edition, Vol. III. (Minority Report), p. 36.

329.Occasionally, as we have seen, the Guardians are represented on the Canteen Committee, as at Crewe.

330.First Annual Report of the Leicester Children's Aid Association, 1907-8, p. 4.

331.Report of the School Medical Officer for Dewsbury for 1911, p. 41.

332.Bradford City Council Proceedings, June 16, 1908, p. 395; April 11, 1911, p. 305.

333.Thus the minimum relief for a widow is 4s., with 2s. each for the first two children, and 1s. each for other children. In addition five dinners a week, amounting in value to 1s. 0-1/2d., are given to all children attending school. (Bradford Poor Law Union, Outdoor Relief Arrangements.)

334.Bradford Education Committee, Return as to the Working of the Provision of Meals Act for the year ending March 31, 1913.

335.Report of the School Medical Officer for Blackburn, 1911, p. 218. Out of 59,537 meals given during the year, the Guardians paid for 17,786, or nearly one-third.

336.Report of the Huddersfield Education Committee, 1911, p. 23.

337.Report of Brighton Education Committee for the year ending March 31, 1912, p. 28.

338.For the arrangements made between the Liverpool Education Committee and the Guardians with regard to payment for children admitted as voluntary cases to the Day Industrial Schools, see post, p. 118 n.

339.Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress, 1909, 8vo edition, Vol. III. (Minority Report), p. 166 n.

340.Thus at Manchester, the Education Committee and the Guardians send lists of their cases to the District Provident Society, and the Secretary lets each Authority know what the other is doing.

341.It is impossible to give any figures as to the overlapping that exists, since the practice varies so much in different towns, and in many cases no records are kept.

342.Elementary Education Act, 1876 (39 and 40 Vic., c. 79), sec. 16 (4); Children Act, 1908 (8 Edward VII., c. 67), sec. 79; "Day Industrial Schools," by J. C. Legge, in Proceedings of National Conference on the Prevention of Destitution, 1911, p. 360.

343.Children Act, 1908, sec. 82 (1).

344.Ibid., sec. 79.

345."Day Industrial Schools," by J. C. Legge, in Proceedings of National Conference on the Prevention of Destitution, 1911, p. 361. For many years an arrangement has been in force by which the Liverpool Select Vestry pay the Local Education Authority 9d. a week in respect of each child in their area admitted as a voluntary scholar. (Ibid.) A few years ago the Guardians of the Toxteth Union agreed, in such cases, where the parent was in receipt of outdoor relief, to increase the relief by 6d. on condition that this was paid to the Education Authority. (Ibid., p. 362.) The West Derby Guardians pay a lump sum of £40 a year.

346.Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws, 1909. 8vo edition, Vol. III., p. 165.

347.Report of the Departmental Committee on Reformatory and Industrial Schools, 1913, p. 62.

348.Fifty-fifth Report on Reformatory and Industrial Schools, 1911, Part I., pp. 28-30; Part II., p. 20. Two of the schools in England have since been closed, and the school at Leeds is shortly to be given up.

349.Ibid., Part I., pp. 267-292; Part II., p. 20.

350.Ibid., Part II., p. 19.

351.Report of the Departmental Committee on Reformatory and Industrial Schools, 1913, p. 62.

352.Report of School Medical Officer for Eastbourne for 1912, p. 46.

353.The majority pay about 6d. a week. In the case of physically defective children the parent's payment is intended to meet the expenses of dinner, any medicines or dressings that may be necessary, and the cost of conveyance. It does not, of course, nearly cover these charges.

354.In 1911 there were only nine Open Air Schools, maintained by eight authorities. (Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1911, p. 215.)

355.At Darlington only a mid-day meal is provided.

357.See ante, pp. 95-6.

358.At one of these schools, the mentally defective children were having their dinner in one room, the physically defective in an adjoining room. All the children stay for the meal. The headmistress supervised, assisted by a teacher for the mentally defective, and the school nurse for the physically defective children. Tablecloths were provided for the latter, but not for the former. The dinner was cooked by the children who had been attending the cookery class in the morning; the children laid the tables, and monitors helped to serve the food.

359.In East Sussex, for instance, where particulars were supplied by the teachers as to the meals brought by eleven of the children, it was found that the food was totally inadequate, in most cases consisting of bread and butter, or cake, with perhaps a small piece of cheese or an apple. Two children of five years old, who had to walk two miles to school, brought, one of them bread and butter only, the other cake. Three children, who had to walk three and a half miles, brought either cake or only bread. ("The Diet of Elementary School Children in Country Districts," by Dr. George Finch, in Rearing an Imperial Race, edited by C. E. Hecht, 1913, p. 29.) In a Bedfordshire school out of 62 children who brought their dinner to school with them, one had an apple tart, three had bread and cheese, while 58 had "bread with a thin layer of butter or lard on it, or else bread and jam, or bread and syrup. This meal was washed down with water, as nothing hot was obtainable." ("How the Family of the Agricultural Labourer Lives," by Ronald T. Herdman, reprinted in Rearing an Imperial Race, p. 341.)

360.Thus at Brynconin, where 85 children are supplied daily with cocoa for a weekly charge of 1d., the week's expenditure on cocoa, sugar and milk amounts to 6s. 6d., and the children's payments to 6s. 10d. (Report of the School Medical Officer for Pembrokeshire for 1912, p. 14.) See also Reports of the School Medical Officer for Hampshire (1910), p. 25; for the Isle of Ely (1910), p. 18; for Gloucestershire (1910), p. 53; for East Suffolk (1910), p. 19; for West Sussex (1911), p. 10. Sometimes the cocoa is provided free through the generosity of the teachers. (See Report of Monmouthshire Education Committee on the Medical Inspection Department for 1910, p. 9.)

361.Report of the School Medical Officer for Hampshire for 1910, p. 25.

362.For sample menus, see Appendix I., p. 236.

363.For instance, the cost of the food for the dinners for twelve weeks amounted to £7 9s. 8d., and the children's payments to £7 9s. 5d. On cold snowy mornings hot cocoa is provided before morning school for all the children. The cost of this is, we gather, borne entirely by the headmaster and his wife.

364.Yorkshire Post, July 9, 1908.

365."The Diet of Elementary School Children in Country Districts," by Dr. George Finch, in Rearing an Imperial Race, edited by C. E. Hecht, 1913, p. 109.

366.Report of the School Medical Officer for Hampshire, 1910, p. 24.

367.Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1911, p. 284.

368.Ibid., pp. 283-4.

369.As we have seen, the Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical Inspection and Feeding in 1905 recommended that managers of country schools should arrange, during the winter at any rate, to provide either a hot dinner or soup or cocoa for children who lived too far away to go home at mid-day. (See ante, p. 38.)

370."The Diet of Elementary School Children in Country Districts," by Dr. George Finch, in Rearing an Imperial Race, edited by C. E. Hecht, 1913, p. 109.

371.See post, pp. 237-8.

372.See ante, pp. 16-27.

373.Report of the Joint Committee on Underfed Children, for 1906-7, p. 2.

374.Fourth Annual Report of the Joint Committee on Underfed Children, 1904, pp. 1-2; Report of Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical Inspection and Feeding, 1905, Qs. 1649, 1650 (evidence of Mr. T. E. Harvey). Even in 1908 there were 74 schools at which feeding took place which had not a properly constituted committee. (London County Council, Report by Executive Officer (Education), Appendix A to agenda of Sub-Committee on Underfed Children, July 6, 1908.)

375."There is supposed to be a committee in every school," said one headmaster, "but the committees never meet in the vast majority of cases, and if they do, they never undertake personal investigation." (Report of the Select Committee on the Education (Provision of Meals) Bills (England and Scotland), 1906, Q. 849, evidence of Mr. Marshall Jackman.) "There is [a Relief Committee] in accordance with the rules," declared another headmaster, but "the Committee acts really through the head teachers.... The Committee say that the teachers have their confidence, and they could not do any good by attempting themselves to help as a committee, and therefore they do not help." (Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical Inspection and Feeding, 1905, Q. 5149 (evidence of Mr. T. P. Shovelier.) See also Ibid., Qs. 4773 A, 4937-4939, 6233, 6265.

376.See, for instance, Report of Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical Inspection and Feeding, 1905, Qs. 185, 5154.

377."The duty of making enquiries by the managers, or by outsiders working for them, into the home conditions of the children is, with some remarkable exceptions, seldom well done, and often not done at all. They are authorised to invite assistance from attendance officers, ... from Charity Organisation Society visitors, district visitors, country holiday fund visitors, and similar persons, but we have very seldom found that this class of person has been consulted." (Report of the Joint Committee on Underfed Children for 1906-7, p. 23.)

378.Ibid. for 1904-5, p. 5.

379.Ibid. for 1906-7, Appendix G., p. 23.

380.Ibid., p. 2.

381.Fourth Annual Report of the Joint Committee on Underfed Children, 1904, p. 2. Evidence was given before the Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical Inspection and Feeding in 1905, which showed that difficulty was experienced in collecting sufficient funds. The London Schools Dinner Association found that people would contribute at Christmas time, but in the early spring, when the work was heaviest, the subscriptions ceased. (Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical Inspection and Feeding, 1905, Qs. 2074, 2081-2083.) See also evidence of Mr. Marshall Jackman before the Select Committee on the Education (Provision of Meals) Bills (England and Scotland), 1906, Qs. 780, 788-790.

382.Report of Inter-Departmental Committee on Physical Deterioration, 1904, Q. 477.

383.Minutes of the London County Council, April 11, 1905, p. 1381.

384.Ibid., July 11, 1905, p. 297.

385.Ibid., p. 298.

386.The experiment was later extended to fifteen schools.

387.Report of the Select Committee on the Education (Provision of Meals) Bills, 1906, Qs. 451, 500, evidence of Mr. A. J. Shepheard.

388.Ibid., Q. 327.

389.The tables were "nicely laid and with tablecloths, with all the ordinary appliances and requirements of a table put there, such as salt cellars, knives and forks, and everything of that kind. The tables were laid out with flowers ... I think I may quite certainly say that some of these children had never sat down to a meal of that description in their lives." (Ibid., Q. 331.)

390.Minutes of the London County Council, December 19, 1905, p. 2138. About eighty per cent. of the meals were paid for by the parents, the remaining twenty per cent. being paid for by friends or voluntary agencies. (Report of the Select Committee on the Education (Provision of Meals) Bills, 1906, Q. 326.)

391.When, in 1904, the London School Board was superseded by the London County Council, the Joint Committee on Underfed Children had been continued by the latter body, its constitution remaining practically unaltered. (London County Council, Report of Education Committee, 1908-9, Part II., p. 3.)

392.This Sub-Committee was known at first as the Sub-Committee on Underfed Children. In December, 1908, the name was altered to the Children's Care (Central) Sub-Committee. (Ibid., p. 4.)

393.See Minutes of the London County Council, November 24, 1908, p. 1120.

394."State Feeding of School Children in London," by Sir Charles Elliott, in Nineteenth Century, May, 1909, p. 866.

395.London County Council, Report of the Education Committee for 1908-9, Part II., p. 4.

396.The local Relief Committees had been re-organised under the name of Children's Care Committees in July, 1907. (Ibid.)

397.The numbers greatly increased during the winter of 1907-8, and reached a maximum of 49,043 in March, 1908. (London County Council, Report on the Home Circumstances of Necessitous Children in twelve selected schools, 1908, p. 2.)

398.Ibid.

399.Ibid., pp. 7-8, 22.

400.Ibid., p. 24.

401.Ibid., p. 25.

402.Ibid., p. 25. See also the description of the methods employed at typical schools. (Ibid., pp. 19, 20.)

403.Ibid., p. 22.

404.Ibid., p. 27.

405.A few Care Committees were already carrying out these functions. See, for instance, the description of the methods adopted at one school (Ibid., p. 19, No. C.)

406.Minutes of the London County Council, April 6, 1909, pp. 855-6.

407.Minutes of the London County Council, April 6, 1909, pp. 856, 857; Handbook containing general information with reference to Children's Care, 1912, pp. 7-8, 88.

408.Report on the Home Circumstances of Necessitous Children in twelve selected schools, 1908, p. 3.

409.Thus at St. Giles'-in-the-Fields the expenditure on the provision of food is still met from voluntary funds. At Hampstead, in all the schools except one or two, the provision of food for necessitous children is paid for by the Hampstead Council of Social Welfare. The Care Committee refers to the Council of Social Welfare cases which are suitable for home relief, i.e., cases where the mother can be trusted to look after the children at home; in these cases adequate relief for the whole family is given by the Council. If the mother cannot be trusted or if she goes out to work all day, the children receive meals at the feeding centre, the Council paying for these meals.

410.These are necessitous children only. This number includes the necessitous children in the Defective Schools, except the Cripple Schools, where the meals are provided by the Cripple Children's Dinners Committee. (See post, pp. 155-6.)

411.Annual Report of London County Council for 1911, Vol. IV., p. 33. The figures for the earlier years are not reliable owing to the multiplicity of agencies providing food.

412.The teachers are asked to point out to the school doctor any children about to be inspected whose names are on the necessitous register. (London County Council, Handbook containing general information with reference to Children's Care, 1912, p. 18.)

413.For examples of Care Committees in provincial towns, see ante, pp. 65-66. In one or two Scottish towns also Care Committees have been formed (see post, pp. 240, 241, 244-5.)

414.In addition to the ordinary elementary schools, Care Committees have been formed also for the Special Schools for Defective Children, with the exception of the Physically Defective.

415.In a few cases the committees are composed entirely, or almost entirely, of working men.

416.In 1908 the Care Committees were very largely composed of teachers. Out of the total membership of 2,939, 1,278, or about three-sevenths, were teachers, 1,391 were school managers, and only 270 were voluntary workers. (London County Council, Agenda for Sub-Committee on Underfed Children, Appendix A, July 6, 1908.)

417.London County Council, list of members of Children's Care (School) Committees, 1912.

418.At the end of 1911, organisations for the supply of boots were in existence in 1,012 schools. These organisations were controlled by the Care Committees, managers, or head teachers. (Report of the London County Council for 1911, Vol. IV., p. 38.)

419."Care Committee Work in Liverpool," by F. J. Marquis, in the School Child, September, 1913, p. 11.

420."Care Committees," by A. S., in the School Child, March 1913, pp. 4-5.

421.See ante, pp. 139-140.

422.Enquiries from the employers may not be made by the Care Committee without the consent of the parent or guardian. Where the committee is doubtful of the accuracy of the parents' statements, the case can be referred to the Divisional Superintendent, who may make such enquiries.

423.London County Council, Handbook containing general information with reference to Children's Care, 1912, pp. 18-19.

424.Thus in three schools in South London, attended by children whose home circumstances were very similar, the majority of the parents being casual labourers, the percentages of children who were receiving free meals in March, 1913, were 1.8, 2.9 and 7.5. In another neighbouring school, where the children were very little poorer, nineteen per cent. were being fed.

425.The most extreme example of the "strict" type is the committee which deals with a group of schools in St. George's-in-the-East. It is held that, the provision of meals being merely a form of relief, the work should be as far as possible dissociated from the school; the parents do not make application to the teachers but to a central office.

426."Having regard to the varying circumstances and conditions of families, it is considered undesirable to fix a minimum wage which would justify children being provided with school meals, and each case should therefore be considered upon its own merits." (London County Council, Handbook containing general information with reference to Children's Care, 1912, p. 22.)

427.That is, 3s. for an adult and 2s. 3d. for a child. (Poverty, by B. Seebohm Rowntree, 1901, p. 110.)

428.Handbook containing general information with reference to Children's Care, 1912, p. 20.

429.The County Council, a few months ago, drew attention to the lack of uniformity prevailing. "In a number of cases it has been found that the form has not been issued, with the result that Care Committees dealing with part of a family are unacquainted with the relief afforded by another Care Committee." (London County Council Gazette, March 3, 1913, p. 210.)

430."School Care Committees," by Maude F. Davies, in Progress, July, 1910, p. 177.

431.At St. George's-in-the-East five committees have been amalgamated and then re-divided into two, one dealing with all the Jewish, one with all the Christian, children of the group. Overlapping is thus almost completely avoided.

432.London County Council Minutes, November 2, 1909, p. 841.

433.The charge includes the cost of preparation and service of the meals, and is calculated to the nearest farthing. (London County Council, Handbook containing general information with reference to Children's Care, 1912, pp. 27-28.)

434.In 1912-13 the number of individual children who paid the full cost of the meals was 2,521, that is, only one-fortieth of the number of "necessitous" children who were fed. The amount so received was £863.

435.In 1911-12 the expenditure on food materials amounted to £4,273 2s. 0d., and the payments for dinners to £4,206 15s. 9d. Out of a total of 523,266 dinners supplied, only 33,043, or 6·3 per cent., were given free. The average cost of the dinner, for food materials only, was 1·96d. (Report of Cripple Children's Dinners Committee for 1911-12, pp. 10, 11.)

436.London County Council, Agenda for Sub-Committee on Underfed Children, Appendix A., July 6, 1908.

437.London County Council, Report on the Home Circumstances of Necessitous Children in twelve selected schools, 1908, p. 25.

438.For menus, see Appendix I.

439.Minutes of London County Council, December 20, 1910, p. 1491.

440.Frequently the infants are placed with the older children at the ordinary tables, which are too high for them to reach up to with any comfort; it is sometimes impossible for them to eat without spilling their food. (See the description of a feeding centre, post, p. 167.)

441.London County Council, Handbook containing general information with reference to Children's Care, 1912, p. 31.

442.The payment is 7s. 6d. a week. (Ibid., p. 34.)

443.Ibid., pp. 29-30.

444.Ibid., pp. 32-33.

445.These centres were all visited in the spring, summer or autumn of 1913. We describe some typical examples in the Appendix to this chapter.

446.In 1911, as the result of an inspection of all the feeding centres by the school doctors, it was reported that "in one-fifth ... the conditions required material improvement, to make the giving of these meals an educational function, and to impress the hygiene of proper eating and cleanliness on the children." (Annual Report of the London County Council for 1911, Vol. III., p. 170.)

447.London County Council, Report on the Home Circumstances of Necessitous Children in twelve selected schools, 1908, p. 22.

448.Annual Report of London County Council for 1910, Chapter XLI., p. 7.

449.Minutes of the London County Council, February 15, 1910, p. 175.

450.Ibid., July 26-27, 1910, p. 319.

451.London County Council Gazette, May 29, 1911, p. 370.

452.School Child, February, 1912, p. 4.

453.Minutes of London County Council, November 5, 1912, p. 1093; London County Council Gazette, January 20, 1913, p. 65.

454.See ante, p. 141 n.

455.Most of the cases of overlapping are, of course, cases in which the Guardians are granting out-relief. There are also the cases where the Guardians are relieving a widow by maintaining some of her children in Poor Law schools, but the mother has not sufficient income adequately to maintain the remaining child or children.

456.Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1910, p. 26.

457.Ibid., p. 1.

458.Ibid., p. 26.

459.Hansard, April 10, 1913, Vol. 51, p. 1381; The Health and Physique of School Children, by Arthur Greenwood, 1913, p. 48.

460.Ibid., p. 50.

461."The Medical Examination of School Children," by Dr. A. S. Arkle, a paper read at the North of England Education Conference, January, 1907 (reprinted in School Government Chronicle, Supplement, January 12, 1907, pp. 77, 89). As we have already said, the nutrition cannot be determined solely by weight. "In fact," as a School Medical Officer points out, "an ill-nourished child may be above the average weight, or, on the other hand, a healthy child may be much under the average and yet not be ill-nourished." (Report of the School Medical Officer for Leeds for 1910, p. 27.) But when dealing with large numbers of children, the average weight furnishes a reliable index of nutrition.

462.Report by Dr. Leslie Mackenzie and Captain A. Foster, on the Physical Condition of Children attending the Public Schools of the School Board of Glasgow, 1907, p. v.

463.Report of the School Medical Officer for East Ham for 1911, p. 56.

464.Ibid., p. 57.

465.The School Medical Officer for Cumberland found that whilst, at the age of 3 to 4, 28·4 per cent. of the boys and 38·7 per cent. of the girls were classified as good, "the percentages diminish gradually till at the age of 7 to 8 they are only 12·8 and 15·9, but from 20·4 and 29·7 at the age of 12 to 13 they gradually rise to 36·0 and 34·6 at the age of 14 to 15. Probably in most cases the condition of the teeth is responsible for this falling off in condition. In the early years of life, before the teeth begin to go bad, the nutrition is good, but gradually gets worse as time goes on and more teeth decay, but nutrition again improves after the eruption of the permanent teeth, which, of course, are in the majority of cases sound for some little time." (Report of the School Medical Officer for Cumberland for 1911, p. 20.)

466."The cleanliness of the houses and especially of the bedrooms ... has an important bearing on nutrition." (Report of the School Medical Officer for Congleton for 1911, p. 4.) A School Medical Officer in London told us that if a child improved in the point of cleanliness there was a marked improvement also in nutrition.

467.Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1910, pp. 29-30.

468.Ibid., for 1911, p. 30.

469.Report of the School Medical Officer for Bootle for 1912, p. 17.

470.Report of the School Medical Officer for Wolverhampton for 1911, p. 28.

471.Ibid., p. 32.

472.Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1911, p. 25.

473.Report of the School Medical Officer for Congleton for 1911, p. 4.

474.Report of the School Medical Officer for Hornsey for 1911, p. 14.

476.Report of the School Medical Officer for Kidderminster for 1911, p. 2.

477.Report upon a Study of the Diet of the Labouring Classes in the City of Glasgow carried out during 1911-12, by Dorothy E. Lindsay, B.Sc., 1913, pp. 5-6.

478.Ibid., p. 27. The numbers in each group are so small that the average does not furnish a reliable index, but that the conclusion drawn from the figures is warranted is shown by the fact that of the 27 families in the first four groups (excluding one case where the circumstances are abnormal), 8 have a dietary yielding over 3,500 calories of energy and only 6 fall below the minimum of 3,000, while of the 22 families in the remaining groups (excluding two abnormal cases), only one has a dietary yielding over 3,500 calories, while no less than 16 fall below the minimum. (Ibid., pp. 12-23.) Here, of course, again we have the question of wrong feeding. In many cases the income could have been laid out to better advantage. "Where one family gets nearly their minimum adequate diet on an expenditure of 5·1 pence per man per diem ... others on an expenditure of nearly 9d. fail to secure it." (Ibid., p. 29.)

479.Ibid., p. 30.

480.The actual number of children examined is not stated.

481.The Medical Inspection of School Children, by Dr. W. Leslie Mackenzie, assisted by Dr. E. Matthew, 1904, p. 196.

482.Report of the School Medical Officer for Blackburn for 1911, p. 190.

483.Report of the School Medical Officer for Leeds for 1912, p. 30.

484."The Physical Conditions of School Children," by Dr. Ralph H. Crowley, North of England Education Conference, January, 1907 (reprinted in the School Government Chronicle, Supplement, January 12, 1907, pp. 80-81).

485."The Medical Examination of School Children," by Dr. A. S. Arkle, in School Government Chronicle, Supplement, January 12, 1907, p. 78.

486.Report of the School Medical Officer for Wolverhampton for 1911, p. 24. (Quoted in Report of Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1911, p. 24.)

487.Report of Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1911, p. 24.

488.Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1911, p. 286.

489.Bradford Education Committee, Report on a Course of Meals given to necessitous children from April to July, 1907.

490.Ibid., p. 3.

491.Ibid., pp. 4, 5.

492."The average gain per year of children of this class and size," Dr. Crowley points out, "is not more than two kilos (4 lbs. 6 oz.) for the whole year." (Ibid., p. 9.)

493.Ibid., pp. 9-11. As Dr. Crowley points out, several points have to be considered in interpreting the effect on weight. "The increase in the weight of children normally varies greatly at different seasons of the year," and "at any given season fluctuates much, sometimes, comparatively, even from week to week. The proportional increase in weight varies with the age of the child, or rather with the weight to which the child has already attained." (Ibid., p. 8.)

494.Ibid., p. 8.

495.Report on the Working of the Education (Provision of Meals) Act up to March 31, 1909, pp. 14-15.

496.MS. Report on Lambeth School Children Feeding Experiment, by Dr. L. Haden Guest, 1908.

497.We have, unfortunately, not been able to obtain a copy of the figures on which Dr. Haden Guest's report is based.

498.In the case of the boys, their weights, during this week, only increased a little; those of the girls remained stationary.

499.Report of Chief School Medical Officer for Sheffield for 1910, pp. 26-27. We may quote here striking results observed in the improved physique of the children at a special school for cripple children in London consequent on an improved dietary. A two-course dinner of meat, potatoes and pudding had been previously given, but in the summer of 1901 it was decided to provide a more liberal and varied dietary, e.g., more hot meat, eggs, milk, cream, vegetables and fruit. The results were soon apparent. "Partially paralysed children," writes Mrs. Humphry Ward a few months after the change, "have been recovering strength in hands and limbs with greater rapidity than before. A child who, last year, often could not walk at all from rickets and extreme delicacy and seemed to be fading away, and who in May was still languid and feeble, is now racing about in the garden on his crutches; a boy who last year could only crawl on his hands and feet is now rapidly and steadily learning to walk, and so on.... Hardly any child now wants to lie down during school time, whereas applications to lie down used to be common, and the children both learn and remember better." (Letter from Mrs. Humphry Ward, The Times, September 26, 1901.)

500.Brighton Education Committee, Report on the re-examination of children receiving free meals during the winter session, 1912-13.

501.Annual Report of London County Council for 1910, Vol. III., p. 130.

502.MS. Report by Dr. L. Haden Guest on Lambeth School Children Feeding Experiment, 1908.

503.Report of School Medical Officer for Macclesfield for 1911, p. 18.

504.Ibid. for Workington for 1911, p. viii.

505.Ibid. for Hastings for 1911, p. 14.

506.Report of School Medical Officer for Newcastle-on-Tyne for 1910, p. 49.

507.Report of School Medical Officer for Manchester for 1911, pp. 256-7. In the following year he reports that out of over four hundred children attending eight feeding centres, only ten cases of markedly bad nourishment were recorded. (Ibid. for 1912, p. 31.)

508.The Health and Physique of School Children, by Arthur Greenwood, 1913, pp. 65, 66. "It may perhaps be urged," he continues, "that this progress is purely accidental; but a close examination of a large number of school medical officers' reports does not show any general increase during the few years for which records are available. There are variations from year to year, of course, but no apparent regular improvement, except in isolated instances, of which Bradford is one." (Ibid., p. 65.)

509.Annual Report of the London County Council for 1910, Chapter XLI., p. 8.

510.Ibid., pp. 8, 9.

511.Ibid., p. 9.

512.Report of School Medical Officer for Bootle for 1912, p. 56; Ibid. for Worcester for 1911, p. 14.

513.As we have seen, this result was noticed during the feeding experiment at Lambeth (see ante, p. 188.)

514.At Bootle, on the other hand, where "it was anticipated that the movement would have a beneficial effect upon the regularity of the attendance ... there is no evidence to show that such has been the case, and it is very doubtful whether the attendance has been appreciably affected." (Report of the Bootle School Canteen Committee for 1910-11, p. 8.)

515.Report of School Medical Officer for Leeds for 1910, p. 41. The chairman of the Leeds Education Committee, in giving evidence before the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws, stated, "the supply of three good meals a day has been of great benefit to the children in attendance, who compare favourably with the children attending the ordinary public elementary schools.... They take a good position in school competitions for swimming, etc., and are particularly smart in school drills and exercises." (Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws, 1909, Vol. IV. of Evidence, Appendix LXXXII. (12).)

516.Hull Education Committee, Appendix to Minutes of the Provision of Meals Sub-Committee, October 20, 1911.

517.Report of Bradford Education Committee for the 16 months ended July 31, 1912, p. 10.

518.Annual Report of the London County Council for 1910, Chapter XLI., p. 9.

519.Ibid.

520.Ibid.

521.Annual Report of the London County Council for 1910, Vol. III., p. 129.

522.Report of Darlington Education Committee, 1908-10, p. xii.

523.Child Life and Labour, by Margaret Alden, M.D., 1908, p. 108.

524.Thus, to quote one of many instances, at Bradford, when porridge breakfasts were given in the experiment of 1907, it was found that the first morning thirteen refused to eat it; the next morning only two refused, and after that all ate and enjoyed it. (Bradford Education Committee, Report on a Course of Meals given to Necessitous Children from April to July, 1907, p. 4.)

525.Report of the Special Committee of the London School Board on Underfed Children, 1895, Appendix I., p. 7.

526.Report of the General Purposes Committee of the London School Board on Underfed Children, 1899, Appendix I., p. 12.

527.A Health Centre and Dental Clinic in a Rural District, Newport, Essex, 1911, p. 6.

528."Charity and Food," report of a Special Committee of the Charity Organisation Society, 1887, p. 16. For later expressions of the same line of criticism, see, for instance, "The Relief of School Children," by M. Clutton and E. Neville (C.O.S. Occasional Paper), March, 1901, pp. 4, 6; "Underfed School Children," by Arthur Clay (C.O.S. Occasional Paper), May, 1905, p. 3; "The Feeding of School Children," by Miss McKnight, in Charity Organisation Review, July, 1906, p. 37; "A New Poor Law for Children," by Rev. H. Iselin, in Charity Organisation Review, March, 1909, p. 170.

529."Working-Class Households in Reading," by Professor A. L. Bowley, in The Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, June, 1913, p. 686. The minimum standard for food was computed by Mr. Rowntree, in 1901, as 3s. for an adult, and 2s. 3d. for a child. This standard has been raised by Professor Bowley to 3s. 6d. and 2s. 7d. respectively, since prices in Reading in 1912 were about sixteen per cent. higher than at York in 1901. The diet on which Mr. Rowntree based his computations was mainly vegetarian, and his minimum standard assumed a knowledge of food values and perfectly scientific expenditure. (Ibid., p. 684.) Taking a slightly different standard, Professor Bowley computes that "more than half the working-class children of Reading, during some part of their first fourteen years, live in households where the standard of life in question is not attained." (Ibid., p. 692.)

530.Ibid., p. 693.

531.The figures for Birmingham are taken from The Public Feeding of Elementary School Children, by Phyllis D. Winder, 1913, pp. 47-55; those for St. George's-in-the-East, from "The Story of a Children's Care Committee," by Rev. H. Iselin, in Economic Review, January, 1912, p. 47; those for Stoke, Bradford, St. Pancras and Bermondsey from case papers that we have analysed. These figures must not be taken as more than a somewhat rough indication of the state of affairs, for it is not always easy to determine precisely into which category a particular case should be put. Probably the proportion of casually employed is somewhat understated; of the twenty-six, for instance, who are classed as unemployed at Birmingham, roughly one-third belonged to the class of permanent casuals, but were totally unemployed at the date of the enquiry. (The Public Feeding of Elementary School Children, p. 48.)

532.We may note that there are very few cases where the fathers of the children who are receiving school meals are, at the time, in regular work. (See table on page 211.) Many authorities refuse to consider such cases, while, where they are not necessarily barred, they amount as a rule, so far as we have found, except at Bradford, to a very small proportion of the total number of cases dealt with. In London a few committees have several such cases on their feeding-lists—a member of one committee, indeed, informed us that the fact that a man had a large family and low wages was, till recently, taken as a reason for granting meals to his children—but the great majority of committees either refuse to feed such children at all, or only do so in infrequent and exceptional circumstances. One or two instances were quoted to us where, as it was alleged, the provision of meals for the children had induced the father to acquiesce in the acceptance of a low wage without demanding an increase or seeking more remunerative employment. Thus we were told of a man who was formerly in charge of two furnaces at a wage of 24s. a week; one furnace was shut down, and he was offered the charge of the remaining one at 15s. This he accepted and the Care Committee had been feeding his children for a whole year. In another case, a man who was out of work, and was having all his children fed at school, took a job at 15s. a week, a wage which, it was asserted, he would not otherwise have agreed to. But in such instances, infrequent and isolated as they are in any case, it is often found on analysis that the father, through some physical or mental infirmity, is incapable of performing a man's work, and unable, therefore, to earn more wages.

533.At Bradford a few years ago an enquiry was made with the object of discovering how far parents were obtaining the meals under false pretences. Two criteria were taken, firstly, whether the parents' statements as to the income earned were corroborated by their employers; secondly, how far the parents voluntarily withdrew their children from the school meals when their circumstances improved. As a result of this enquiry it appeared that not more than 2-1/2 per cent. were unduly taking advantage of the meals. In many cases, where the parents' statements as to income did not tally with the employers' statements, it was found that the parents, in giving their average earnings, had overstated instead of understating them.

534.Report of Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1910, p. 1.

535.Report of Select Committee on Education (Provision of Meals) Bills (England and Scotland), 1906, Qs. 2290, 2312. (The italics are mine.)

536.See post, p. 222.

537.Report of School Medical Officer for Leicester for 1912, p. 34.

538."A New Poor Law for Children," by Rev. Henry Iselin, in Charity Organisation Review, March, 1909, p. 170.

539.Report of Proceedings of University Extension Oxford Summer Meeting, 1913, p. 17.

540.See ante, pp. 120, 123-5, 155-6.

541.In the ordinary elementary schools in some of the Scottish towns, large numbers of children pay for the dinners. (See Appendix II., pp. 242, 245, 246.)

542.The cost depends, of course, on the kind of food provided. At Bradford, where a two-course dinner is given, the total cost per meal, for administrative charges (the upkeep of the Cooking Depot, the rent of the dining-rooms, the wages of the staff, payment for supervision, the carriage of the food, sinking fund, etc.), amounted in 1912-13 to 1·2d., and for food to 1·26d., making a total of 2·46d. About one-third of the meals supplied were breakfasts, which are usually rather cheaper than dinners, so that the cost per dinner would be slightly more. (Bradford Education Committee, Return as to the Working of the Education (Provision of Meals) Act for the year ending March 31, 1913). At Edinburgh, where a one-course dinner is given, the cost is ·9d. for food and 1d. for administrative charges. (Report of the Edinburgh School Board for 1912-13, p. 35.)

543.We must add one other item of expenditure, which will be necessary whatever course be adopted with regard to the provision of meals, namely, the appointment of salaried organisers for each group of schools, to supervise the work of medical treatment, after-care, and all other activities directed to the physical well-being of the child.

544.Report of Proceedings of University Extension Oxford Summer Meeting, 1913, p. 17.

545.There appears to be no fixed dietary, the dinners being varied each week.

546.See ante, p. 48.

547.8 Edward VII., c. 63, sec. 3 (2).

548.Ibid., sec. 6 (1).

549.Ibid., sec. 6 (2).

550.Ibid.

551.During the coal strike in the spring of 1912, some Boards in the Fife district took action under section 6 and provided free meals. (Report of the Chief Inspector for the Southern Division for 1912, p. 11.)

552.Report of the Committee of Council on Education in Scotland, 1912-13, p. 4.

553.For the following account I am mainly indebted to the kindness of Mrs. Leslie Mackenzie and Mr. I. H. Cunningham.

554.Report of Select Committee on Education (Provision of Meals) Bills (England and Scotland), 1906, Q. 4211; Report of Royal Commission on Physical Training (Scotland) 1903, Vol. II., Q. 2396.

555.Report of Special Sub-Committee on Meals for School Children, in Minutes of London School Board, July 25, 1889, Vol. 31, p. 382.

556.Edinburgh School Board, Memorandum on the Feeding of School Children, 1910, pp. 5-6.

557.Two special officers have been appointed to make enquiries.

558.There is no fixed scale in determining which children are necessitous, but free meals are usually granted if the gross income of the household is less than 3s. a head.

559.For the week ending December 19, 1913, the number of children fed was:—

560.Evidence before the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws, 1909, Vol. VI., Qs. 61553-5.

561.Ibid., Q. 61371 (12).

562.Ibid., Q. 55247 (31).

563.Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws, 1909, 8vo edition, Vol. III., p. 148.

564."Administrative problems arising out of Child Feeding," by J. A. Young, in Proceedings of the National Conference on the Prevention of Destitution, 1911, pp. 339-340.

565.Report of Select Committee on Education (Provision of Meals) Bills (England and Scotland), 1906, Qs. 3075-8.

566.Evidence before the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws, 1909, Vol. VI., Q. 59728 (18); Report of London School Board on Underfed Children attending School, 1899, p. 253.

567.See Dundee School Board, Report on the Feeding of School Children, 1913, p. 31.

568.Report of Glasgow School Board for 1911-12, p. 13.

569.Report of Chief Inspector for Southern Division for 1912, pp. 11-12.

570.Perth School Board, Officers' Report on the supplying of Meals and Boots to School Children, 1912-13, pp. 1-3.

571.Report of Chief Inspector for Southern Division for 1912, p. 12.

572.Perth School Board, Officers' Report, 1912-13, p. 4.

573.Dundee School Board, Report on the Feeding of School Children, 1913, p. 11.

574.Ibid., p. 15.

575.Ibid., pp. 13-14.

576.In the special schools for defective children at Paisley a two-course dinner is provided at a charge of 8d. a week.

577.Report of Chief Inspector for the Northern Division for 1911, p. 24.

578."Can a sufficient mid-day meal be given to poor school children ... for ... less than one penny?" by Sir Henry Peek, 1883, p. 13.

579.Report of Chief Inspector for the Southern Division for 1911, p. 27.

580.Ibid., pp. 27-8.

581.First Report on Medical Inspection of School Children in Scotland, by Dr. Leslie Mackenzie, 1913, p. 51.

582."The Diet of Country Elementary School Children," by Dr. Gordon A. Lang, in Rearing an Imperial Race, edited by C. E. Hecht, 1913, p. 116.

583.Report of Chief Inspector for Northern Division for 1906.

584."The Free Feeding of School Children," a reprint of the reports by the Special Sanitary Commissioner of the Lancet, 2nd edition, 1907, p. 7.

585.Ibid., p. 8.

586.Ibid., p. 9.

587."The Cantines Scolaires of Paris," by Sir Charles A. Elliott, in the Nineteenth Century, May, 1906, pp. 834-5.

588."Organisation des Cantines Scolaires À Paris," a manifold manuscript report issued by the Direction de l'Enseignement primaire, 3me bureau, 1912.

589."The Cantines Scolaires of Paris," by Sir Charles Elliott, in the Nineteenth Century, May, 1906, pp. 835-6.

590.According to the latest figures 70 per cent. of the children for whom meals are provided receive them free.

591."Organisation des Cantines Scolaires À Paris," report by Direction de l'Enseignement primaire, 3me bureau, 1912.

592.Ibid.

593.Ibid.

594."Caisse des Écoles du 18e arrondissement," Exercice de l'annÉe 1911, p. 34.

595.Proposition tendant À l'ouverture d'un crÉdit de 10,000 francs en vue de permettre À la Caisse des Ecoles du XVIIe arrondissement d'organiser, À titre d'essai, une classe de garde prolongÉe jusqu'À huit heures et une cantine du soir, dÉposÉe par M. FrÉdÉric Brunet, conseiller municipal, Septembre 19, 1912.

596."Organisation des Cantines Scolaires À Paris," report issued by Direction de l'Enseignement primaire, 3me bureau, 1912; "Necessitous Children in Paris and London," by George Rainey, in School Hygiene, November, 1912, Vol. III., p. 198.

598.Ibid., pp. 198, 200.

599.For the above description, see, besides the references already quoted, Report of London School Board on Underfed Children attending School, 1899, Appendix IX., pp. 262-5; "The Cantines Scolaires of Paris," by Marcel Kleine, in Report of Proceedings of the International Congress for the Welfare and Protection of Children, 1906, pp. 65-82; "Feeding School Children: The Experience of France," in the Manchester Guardian, February 22, 1906; "Children's Care Committees in Paris," in the Morning Post, March 19, 1909; "School Canteens in Paris," by Miss M. M. Boldero, in the School Child, July, 1910; School Feeding, its History and Practice at Home and Abroad, by Louise Stevens Bryant, 1913, pp. 77-93; Conseil Municipal de Paris, ProcÈs Verbal, June 25, 1909, December 31, 1909, March 23, 1910.

600.School Feeding, by Louise S. Bryant, 1913, pp. 93-94.

601.London School Board, Report on Underfed Children attending School, 1899, p. 265.

602.Lancet Reports, 1907, pp. 50-56.

603.Ibid., pp. 41-43.

604.School Feeding by Louise S. Bryant, 1913, pp. 80, 94-97.

605.Report of London School Board on Underfed Children attending School, 1899, pp. 271-2.

606.The Bitter Cry of the Children, by John Spargo, 1906, p. 277.

607.School Feeding, by Louise S. Bryant, 1913, p. 133.

608.Report of London School Board on Underfed Children attending School, 1899, p. 267.

609.Lancet Reports, 1907, pp. 31, 33.

610.Minutes of London School Board, May 26, 1898, Vol. 48, p. 1810.

611.Lancet Reports, 1907, p. 20.

612.[Footnote 5: For the following account, see Lancet Reports, pp. 24-30. It is interesting to note that this scheme for making universal provision was introduced by the Conservative party.]

613.School Feeding, by Louise S. Bryant, 1913, p. 141; Il Patronato Scolastico Umberto 1° in Vercelli e la sua Opera al 31 Dicembre, 1912, pp. 5, 6.

614.[Footnote 2: Ibid., p. 140.]

615."Prize Essays on Feeding School Children," 1890, pp. 65, 212-4.

616.Ibid., p. 65.

617.School Feeding, by Louise S. Bryant, 1913, pp. 17-18, 104.

618.Ibid., pp. 18, 105.

619.Ibid., pp. 99, 106.

620.Ibid., pp. 114-5.

621."Prize Essays on Feeding School Children," 1890, pp. 66-70, 181-7, 197-8.

622.Ibid., pp. 138, 198.

623.London School Board, Report on Underfed Children attending School, 1899, pp. 258, 260-261.

624.Feeding of School Children in Continental and American Cities, 1906, p. 6.

625.School Feeding, by Louise S. Bryant, 1913, p. 143.

626.London School Board, Report on Underfed Children attending School, 1899, p. 256.

627.Ibid., p. 255; Board of Education, Reports on Educational Subjects, Vol. II., 1898, p. 682.

628.London School Board, Report on Underfed Children attending School, 1899, p. 256.

629.Lancet Reports, 1907, pp. 14-15.

630.Feeding of School Children in Continental and American Cities, 1906, p. 2; London School Board, Report on Underfed Children attending School, 1899, pp. 259, 260-1.

631."Prize Essays on Feeding School Children," 1890, pp. 204-5.

632.Feeding of School Children in Continental and American Cities, 1906, pp. 2, 4, 6.

633.School Feeding, by Louise S. Bryant, 1913, p. 130.

634.School Feeding, by Louise S. Bryant, 1913, p. 146.

635.The Feeding of School Children in Continental and American Cities, 1906, pp. 3, 5, 7.

636.London School Board, Report on Underfed Children attending School, 1899, p. 268; School Feeding, by Louise S. Bryant, 1913, p. 145.

637.The Bitter Cry of the Children, by John Spargo, 1906, pp. 114-115, 275.

638.Ibid., p. 276.

639.School Feeding, by Louise S. Bryant, 1913, pp. 143-4.

640."Prize Essays on Feeding School Children," 1890, pp. 71-75.

641.London School Board, Report on Underfed Children attending School, 1899, pp. 270-271.

642.Ibid., p. 270.

643.Ibid., p. 269.

644.See for a full description of the provision made in America, School Feeding, by Louise S. Bryant, 1913.

645."Prize Essays on Feeding School Children," 1890, pp. 225-35.

646.Poverty, by Robert Hunter, 1904, p. 216.

647.School Feeding, by Louise S. Bryant, 1913, pp. 147-50.

648.Ibid., pp. 151-164.

649.Ibid., pp. 164-8.

650.Ibid., p. 19.

651.Ibid., pp. 20, 182-3.