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54
Provision of Meals.
The Provision of Meals Act, 1906, is put in force in this
district for those children who are under-nourished, and meals
are provided through the holidays as well.
Some dinners are provided at the Cookery Centres, but most
are given at a Restaurant in Osborne Road, South Acton, at a cost
of 2½d.
The figures are as follows:—
Number of Meals at Restaurant 9,957
Number of Meals at Cookery Centres 1,327
11,284
Cost of Meals at Restaurant £103 14 4½
Cost of Meals at Cookery Centres 13 16 5½
£117 10 10
One of the great difficulties in providing satisfactory arrangements
is the fluctuating number to be catered for. On some
occasions the number dropped as low as 4, and others—as, for
instance, during a strike—the number rose to 94. The Restaurant
is not able to deal satisfactorily with such a number. The children
have to go in in relays, the first-comers hurrying through their
meal, while the later ones are obliged to wait outside till seats
are vacant. If the weather is bad they are often wet and chilled
before they can obtain a meal, and the conditions lead to noise
and disorder.
The food itself is generally of good quality, but it is, of
course, impossible in a public Restaurant to exercise any efficient
control over the children, or to use the meal as a lesson in good
manners and cleanliness. Many of the children rarely sit down
to a properly laid meal, as the mothers who are at work have
no time to prepare one in the middle of the day or to supervise
the children. They come into the Restaurant with very dirty
hands, hurry through their food in an unsuitable manner, and rush