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41
over 600 children were receiving instruction daily. A
night school for adults is also part of the educational
machinery.
(4) Later in the year the works were opened for the
benefit of those for whom it proved difficult to find outside
employment or accommodation. A large and well
found power woodwork factory was started, with fitters'
and blacksmiths' shops, and in these much useful work
has been carried out, including the construction of army
huts, packing crates, boxes, etc. Basket, toy, tinsmiths'
and mattress making shops have been added. In the
women's workrooms, most of the clothing required for
this camp is made, and many outside orders are fulfilled.
A considerable part of the large English staff required
at the outset, for the ordinary work of the camp, has
been replaced by the refugees themselves. The large
resident population, for which separate cubicles were
constructed, proved hardworking and thrifty, have been
extremely happy and contented for the most part, and
have set an excellent tone to the camp during the winter
of 1915-1916.
The Board of Trade maintain a Labour Exchange in
the camp, through which a very large number of
refugees have been found useful and remunerative work
in the country for which English labour was not available.
Some 5,000 volunteers for the Belgian army have
been obtained from the camp. For many of those
unable to work or fight, hospitality has been found in
the country through the agency of the Aldwych Refugees
Committee.
The health of the refugees has been remarkably good,
and this must be attributed to the close supervision of
the medical and nursing staff. An excellent little
hospital of 36 beds has enabled the medical staff to deal
with all ordinary ailments as a general rule, and with
the most serious in emergencies; while the out-patients'
department, where as many as 200 persons have been
seen daily, and a large creche for babies, coupled with
the weekly medical inspection of children and the medical