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*Reduced to 1½ as from 28-4-19.
CONCLUSIONS.
Having considered all the matters raised in the reference to us, we are of opinion—
(1) That the present system under which meals are provided on the basis of a necessitous
income line is not ineffective; that by this method of selection the majority of children
requiring to be fed receive the necessary meals; that the regular review of the economic
circumstances of all cases fed and the further enquiries of the employer as to the earnings
in the family prevent any serious abuse of this method; and that the cost is not needlessly
high.
(2) That as no child can be maintained in physiological health unless the parents are in a
position to allot to it the sums indicated in this report for food, clothing, etc., children
should be fed in all cases where poverty in this sense exists; that certain children in whose
cases the economic circumstances are above the scale may yet require to be fed, and we
make below certain recommendations in connection therewith.
(3) We do not think that an examination of the physical need of the children attending schools
is the only means by which the Act of Parliament can be achieved. In this connection
we desire to quote paragraph 308 of the report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board
for 1910, as follows :—
"There are, in practice, two tests, either or both of which will formally be applied
by a Local Education Authority in deciding first, whether to apply their funds to the
feeding of school children, and, secondly, which children shall be admissible and which
inadmissible, to the meals provided—namely, the physical test and the poverty test. By
the physical test I mean that regard is principally paid to physical evidence of bad or
insufficient nutrition, whether arising from poverty or some other cause ; by the poverty
test that the relief of the necessitous is the primary consideration, the question of nutrition
being investigated subsequently, if at all. The majority of the children fed will no doubt
be the same on either system, but where the Act is already in operation for the benefit
of children who would be admitted to the meals whichever test was applied, there may
be exceptional cases, in addition, who would satisfy only one of these two tests.
"Thus it is by no means uncommon to observe children who do not appear under-nourished
and yet to know enough of the home conditions (e.g., that the father is recently out of
work, that there is much illness in the family, &c.) to predict with confidence that, owing
to poverty, the child will quickly deteriorate in condition if not admitted to the meals.
On the other hand there may be children from homes that are known not to be necessitous,
who yet would obviously profit from a course of regular meals. In admitting the latter
class of children to the meals, care will have to be taken no doubt to secure due payment
from the parent."
We desire to record our thanks to Mr. Councillor Hogg for raising the important points contained
in the reference to us. We are of opinion that the provision of School Meals could practically
be abolished if social conditions were such that the mother and family were provided for by the State
by way of mothers' pensions or mothers' wages apart altogether from the earnings of the husband.
We recommend—
(1) That children be provided with meals in whose cases the family circumstances come
below the scale.
(2) That as and when Medical Inspection is again in operation—
(a) Children be not removed from the Feeding List except after medical examination ;
(b) That the cases of all Children noted at routine Medical Inspection as suffering
from malnutrition be specially investigated and referred for meals or other
appropriate action as may be necessary; and
(c) That the Medical Officer include in his Annual Report a report on the effect
of the meals on the physical and mental condition of the children.
H. MARTIN THORPE,
To be submitted to the Chairman,
Children's Care Committee on 16th June, 1919, Children's Care Committee.