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2. That mothers generally who have two or three children under school
age find it difficult to come up for the dinners.
3. That, although everything is done to ensure the comfort of these mothers
at the Restaurant, they do not feel at ease there unless they have changed
into their walking clothes, which oftentimes they find it difficult to do.
4. That unfortunately many of the women whom one would wish to have
dinners are not breast feeding their babies and are therefore not eligible
for free dinners.
5. That, with reference to persons in the Gale Street area, it is not practicable
for them to attend at the Municipal Restaurant for dinners.
My own opinion is that a nursing or expectant mother requires looking after
more than an ordinary woman, and that this might most economically be met by
some special co-ordination between the Local Authority and the Public Assistance
Committee of the County Council. It would be an advantage in these cases if
automatically, where the Medical Officer of Health to the Municipal Borough
said it was neccssai-y, the normal scale of relief to which any family is entitled were
augmented by half-a-crown a week or by special grants in kind—particularly
vegetables and so forth—to the value of this sum of money.
This would, I believe, do away with a great part of the difficulties we encounter,
and we could, in the light of our experience of such an arrangement, come forward
later with any necessary further proposals.