Chapter V
. of the present work. "As far as the children are concerned, indeed, whether we consider the improvement in physique, mental capacity or manners, there is no doubt that the provision of school meals has proved of the greatest benefit."
But while there is little doubt that the authorities which have made determined attempts to use to the full their powers under the Act of 1906 have been rewarded by an improvement in the health of the children attending school, Miss Bulkley's enquiries show that the Act itself is open to criticism, that many local authorities who ought to have welcomed the new powers conferred by the Act have been deterred by a mean and short-sighted parsimony from adopting it, and that in many areas where it has been adopted its administration leaves much to be desired. The limitation to a halfpenny rate of the amount which a local authority may spend, has resulted in more than one authority stopping meals in spite of the existence of urgent need for them. By deciding--contrary, it would appear, to the intention of Parliament--that local authorities cannot legally spend money on providing meals except when the children are actually in school, the Local Government Board has made impossible, except at the risk of a surcharge or at the cost of private charity, the provision of meals during holidays. To those who regard the whole policy of the Act of 1906 as a mistake, these limitations upon it will appear, of course, to be an advantage. But the assumption on which the Act is based is that it is in the public interest that provision should be made for children who would otherwise be underfed, and, granted this premise, the wisdom of intervening to protect ratepayers against their own too logical deductions from it would appear to be as questionable as it is unnecessary. The bad precedent of authorities such as Leicester, which has refused to adopt the Act, and which leaves the feeding of school children to be carried out by a voluntary organisation under whose management the application for meals is in effect discouraged, does not, unfortunately, stand alone. Of more than 200 authorities who have made no use of their statutory powers, how many are justified in their inaction by the absence of distress among the school children in their area? How many have even taken steps to ascertain whether such distress exists or not? If it is the case, as is stated by high medical authorities, that "the education of the underfed is a positive evil," would not the natural corollary appear to be that, now that the experimental stage has been passed, the Act should be made obligatory and the provision of meals should become a normal part of the school curriculum?
Apart from these larger questions of policy, it will be agreed that, if local authorities are to feed children at all, it is desirable that they should do so in the way calculated to produce the beneficial results upon the health of school children which it is the object of the Act to secure. That certain authorities have been strikingly successful in providing good food under humanising conditions appears from the account of the effects of school meals given by Miss Bulkley. But the methods pursued in the selection of the children and in the arrangements made for feeding them vary infinitely from place to place, and the standards of efficiency with which many authorities are content appear to be lamentably low. It is evident that in many places a large number of children who need food are overlooked, either because the conditions are such as to deter parents from applying for meals, or because no attempt is made to use the medical service to discover the needs of children whose parents have not applied, or for both reasons (pp. 59-75). It is evident also that many authorities do not give sufficient attention to the character of the meals provided (pp. 79-83), or to the conditions under which they are served (pp. 83-101), with the result that "most diets ... are probably wanting in value for the children," and that little attempt is made to secure the "directly educational effect ... in respect of manners and conduct," which was emphasised as a _desideratum_ by the Board of Education. London, in particular, where the necessity for the provision of meals is conspicuous, has won a bad pre-eminence by sinning against light. Reluctant, in the first place, to use its powers at all--"the whole question," said the chairman of the Sub-Committee on Underfed Children in 1908, "of deciding which children are underfed, and of making special provision for such children, should really be one for the Poor Law Authority"--the Education Committee of the London County Council has taken little pains to ensure that the food provided should always be suitable, or that the meals should be served under civilising conditions. That these defects can be removed by care and forethought is shown by the example set by such towns as Bradford, and now that eight years have elapsed since the Education (Provision of Meals) Act was passed, they should cease to receive the toleration which may reasonably be extended to new experiments. Miss Bulkley's monograph will have served its purpose if it makes it somewhat easier for the administrator, whether on Education Authorities or Care Committees, in Public Offices or in Parliament itself, to apply the varied experience of the last eight years to a problem whose solution is an indispensable condition of the progress of elementary education.
R. H. Tawney.
Heights and Weights of 366 Children from Secondary Schools and 2,111 from Elementary Schools in Liverpool.
Boys
Age Secondary Council A Council B Council C Schools
ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in.
7 3 11.4 3 9.33 3 8.8 3 8
7-1/2 4 1.83 3 10.7 3 8.17 3 10
8 4 2.61 3 11.67 3 10 3 8.37
8-1/2 4 2.5 3 11.62 3 11.33 3 9.2
9 4 4.03 4 1.76 4 0.8 3 11
9-1/2 4 4.37 4 1.75 4 1.61 4 0
10 4 6.41 4 3.3 4 1.7 4 0.5
10-1/2 4 6.83 4 3.7 4 3.04 4 0.75
11 4 7.5 4 5.11 4 3.8 4 1.75
11-1/2 4 8.87 4 6.25 4 4.57 4 2.3
12 4 10 4 6.9 4 5.6 4 3.6
12-1/2 4 9.4 4 7.5 4 6.34 4 4.16
13 5 0.55 4 9.05 4 5.9 4 5.61
13-1/2 4 11.77 4 8.62 4 7.23 4 6.5
14 5 1.75 4 10.2 4 8.25 4 7.25
Girls
Age Council A Council B Council C ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. 7 3 10.75 3 8.25 3 9.12 7-1/2 3 10.13 3 9.77 3 8.75 8 3 11.5 3 10.73 3 8.87 8-1/2 4 0.25 3 10.57 3 9.5 9 4 2.62 4 0.25 3 11.16 9-1/2 4 2.25 4 1.2 4 0 10 4 3.25 4 1.76 4 0.17 10-1/2 4 2.75 4 3.35 4 0.3 11 4 5 4 4.12 4 1.06 11-1/2 4 4.75 4 4.25 4 2.7 12 4 7.25 4 5.7 4 4.16 12-1/2 4 9 4 6.14 4 5.16 13 4 8.3 4 7.3 4 7.5 13-1/2 4 10.75 4 8.87 4 7 14 5 0.5 4 5.7 4 8.5
Boys
Age Secondary Council A Council B Council C Schools
st. lb. st. lb. st. lb. st. lb.
7 3 7.3 3 2.1 3 1 3 1
7-1/2 4 0.7 3 6.77 3 0.11 3 4
4 0.7 3 4.44 3 3.64 3 1.87
8-1/2 3 10.5 3 5 3 5.2 3 3.3
4 3.5 3 11.33 3 8.85 3 6.38
9-1/2 4 5.4 3 9.35 3 11.16 3 9.5
4 10.03 3 13.1 3 11 --
10-1/2 4 12.76 4 0.43 4 0.6 3 12.37
11 5 0.27 4 5.45 4 3.05 3 13.5
11-1/2 5 4.75 4 6.8 4 4.79 4 2.3
12 5 7.05 4 10.6 4 7.92 4 6.05
12-1/2 5 4 4 13 4 11.5 4 7.73
13 6 4.25 5 3.42 4 12.75 4 13.33
13-1/2 6 1.72 5 4.26 4 12.5 5 0.63
14 6 10.5 5 5.82 5 5.87 5 1.14
Girls
Age Council A Council B Council C st. lb. st. lb. st. lb. 7 3 1 2 13.1 3 5 7-1/2 3 2.6 3 3 3 8 3 6.85 3 3.9 3 2.16 8-1/2 3 8 3 5.5 3 4.7 3 10 3 7.9 3 6.5 9-1/2 3 10.85 3 10.5 3 8.05 4 1.5 3 12.3 3 10.75 10-1/2 3 13.46 4 3.57 3 11.2 11 4 5.28 4 6.5 4 0.25 11-1/2 4 4.7 4 5.2 4 4.57 12 5 1.31 4 11.07 4 11.7 12-1/2 5 7.3 4 11.7 4 13.12 13 5 0.3 5 3.16 5 3.3 13-1/2 5 10.5 5 5.8 5 4 14 6 9.3 5 4.57 5 12
A is a school where the parents were comparatively well-to-do and the children mostly had comfortable homes.
B is a school where the parents were mostly small shopkeepers or labourers in constant employment.
C is a school where the parents were mostly unemployed or casually employed.
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