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this purpose. These voluntary agencies had in view the
giving of charitable aid to the poorest classes of the population,
and the children fed were those who attended school
in an ill-nourished, ragged and neglected condition.
The first official reference to the subject of Feeding of
School Children is to be found in the report of the Royal
Commission on Physical Training (Scotland), which was
appointed in 1902, and reported in the following year. This
Committee represented the need for the Medical Inspection
and Feeding of School Children. The following extract
from the report relates to the subject of feeding :—
"We consider that the question of the proper and
sufficient feeding of children is one which has the closest
possible connection with any scheme which may be adopted
for their physical, and equally for their mental, work. It
is evident that among the causes which tell against the
physical welfare of the population, the lack of proper
nourishment is one of the most serious. The subject
demands special notice, not only as regards the existing
state of affairs, but still more in view of any increase of
physical training throughout the State-aided schools which
may commend itself."
In September, 1903, the Physical Deterioration Committee
was appointed, and presented its report in 1904.
This Committee likewise recommended both the Medical
Inspction and Feeding of School Children.
In March, 1905, the Marquis of Londonderry, then
President of the Board of Education, appointed a Committee,
whose terms of reference were as follows :—
“(1) To ascertain and report on what is now being
done and with what result in respect of Medical Inspection
of Children in Public Elementary Schools.
“(2) And, further, to inquire into the methods employed,
the sums expended, and the relief given by various