View report page

them to cater not only for recreation of the body, but recreation of the
mind, if I may be allowed to divorce these two from one another,
when in reality they are, in fact, one.
"The point is that the boredom of repetitive work in which so
many people are engaged to-day, means they cannot work so many
hours as did our forefathers, and what is more, the boredom of this
work also means that we must cater increasingly for self-expression
during our periods of leisure.
"A craftsman making a Chippendale chair had a lot of fun
during the day, and all he required at night was a pint of beer in the
evening sunshine outside "The Cauliflower," but a man sticking
bits of wood together in one approved pattern, aided by every
mechanical device possible, requires something much more with
which to occupy his leisure; something that will compensate him
for the dreary routine of factory life.
"The cinema cannot do this. It is enough to look at a queue
outside a cinema to see that the people have dull, vacant faces; they
are utterly bored, obviously they have not even the art of amusing
themselves, and for a shilling or two, when they have got to the
head of the queue, they wallow in an atmosphere of fictitious excitement.
They identify themselves with the heroes and heroines and the
villains, their emotions are titillated and they have not genuinely
'lived,' in the same sense that a man does when he plays a game
of rugger, or when he plays an exciting and strenuous game of tennis.
"We must look to you above everybody to provide this healthy
recreation. The days in the year in this country when we can get
this healthy recreation out of doors are all too few, and as you know,
we have to make the best use of these too few days. If you cannot
help to teach us how to spend our leisure, we may as well spend
more time at work, because truly is it said—'For Satan finds some
mischief still, for idle hands to do.' "
DAY NURSERIES
There are in Barking four Day Nurseries and these have accommodation
for a total of 234 children.
We were in a chronic state so far as waiting lists were concerned,
because throughout the year they were far higher than the total number
Page 17