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86
The total yearly gains are all in favour of the children on "official milk "; they have an
average greater increase in weight of 0.78 kilo, and of 0.75 cm. in height.
Unfortunately there are no records of weight and height for the Essendine-road open-air
class in the winter, as the children concerned return to in-door conditions.
The results of the Essendine-road open-air class appear satisfactory. The improvements
in height and weight compare favourably with the other two groups; and both parents and
teachers give corroborative evidence of improvement in health.
It is to be noticed that the gain is most marked during the holiday period and that there
appears to be a correlation between the degree of nutrition and the rate of improvement.
Debilitated children appear to put on weight at a faster rate than healthy children, given good
conditions.
On analysis of results of the Barlby-road open-air class, the average increase in weight
over the summer is less than that obtained at Essendine-road open-air class by 0.25 kilo., and
there is also a slower rate of growth; the average gains being 1.83 cm. behind those of Essendineroad.
If Essendine-road open-air class is taken as the measure, the results at Barlby-road
are not up to standard. They were so, however, for the period April to October, 1933.
FIG. 10. GRAPH COMPARING MEAN GAINS IN WEIGHT AND HEIGHT, BARLBY ROAD OPEN-AIR SCHOOL
AND GROUP OF SELECTED MILK CASES, JANUARY, 1933, TO OCTOBER, 1934.
Again the improvement in 1934 is not as satisfactory as that of 1933. There is a smaller
average gain in both height and weight for 1934, and these results are appreciably below those
observed in a very similar group of children on "official milk "(see fig. 10), though their homes
are very much the same as those of the Barlby-road open-air class. It seems likely that, in the
case of the Barlby-road class, "food energy "is being spent on keeping up bodily heat in the
winter months out of doors.
The very excellent figures obtained in the "official milk "group are worthy of note.
Wage-earning employment of school children.
In the year 1934, 3,304 applications (3,274 boys and 30 girls) were dealt with
under the by-laws for medical certificates in connection with the employment of
school children out of school hours.
The nature of the work for which certificates were granted is shown below;
the first numbers are in respect of boys, the figures for girls being given in brackets: