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found it necessary to revise the conditions of entry
to the nurseries. During the war period, only two
criteria had been adopted: the fact of the mother's
employment and the date of her application. As a
consequence, a large part of the accommodation was
occupied by the children of mothers whose husbands
were also in full-time employment. At the same time
there tended to be an increasing proportion of war
widows, separated or deserted wives and unmarried
mothers on the waiting list. It was therefore resolved
to adopt a definite order of priority, one that would
take into consideration the social circumstances of the
applicant. The implementation of the scheme necessitated
the removal from the nurseries of a number
of children whose parents had no prior claims in
order to provide vacancies for those on the waiting
list with such claims. This procedure which naturally
aroused a little feeling was initiated at the end of
1946 and satisfactorily completed early in 1947. The
categories entitling to preference in the allocation of
nursery vacancies are as follow:—
Separated or deserted wives.
Widows.
Unmarried mothers.
Married women whose husbands are unemployed,
or frequently ill and unable to
work full time.
Married women with husbands in the forces.
Applications from married women whose husbands
are in full-time employment are dealt with on their
merits (the husband's earnings being one of the factors
considered) when vacancies not required by the