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milk, for example, has been made, it may be that this milk becomes
general stock for the whole family, and that the gift of free milk
does away with the purchase of milk for the lest of the family.
There is among many of the applicants for milk a spirit of
greed taking the place of the good old spirit of scorn of charity
and of independence and self-reliance which we like to associate
with the character of Englishmen. Recently an application was
made by a married couple without children, having a weekly income
of £3 5s., on the ground that the wife was " expectant " ; the application,
of course, was refused. On the other hand, an application
was received on behalf of a family of ten persons, father
out of work, three daughters in work, who gave the mother 29s.
a week jointly, and this was all they had to live on and to pay the
rent, which was 13s. 6d. per week.
These circumstances were brought to the notice of the
Maternity and Child Welfare Committee with a suggestion that payment
by parents commensurate with their means should be
instituted, and that a calculation might be made by dividing
the weekly income of a family by the number in the family, which
would give the weekly allowance per head, and a limit per head
per week fixed above which payments should be made which would
not involve any loss to the Council.
The following scale was suggested—
Families with an income of 10s. and upwards per head—No
allowance.
„ „ „ 9s. to 10s. ... To pay 75 %
,, ,, w 8s. to 9s. ... „ 50 ,,
„ „ „ 7s. to 8s. ... „ 25 „
Under 7s. ... Given free.
Under the above scale for a family requiring a quart of milk
daily, and whose circumstances were such that they should pay