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"Employment was obtained for 1,338 boys and girls.
"An important development of the work of After-Care has taken
place during the year. The Juvenile Employment Committee, with
the co-operation of the Juvenile Organisations Committee, has
started an evening club at the Bureau known as the Young People's
Institute or Welfare Club. To this club the Juvenile Employment
Officer invites those boys and girls who have left school and who,
owing to family circumstances, health or physical defect, would
not be able to join any other club for boys and girls. This has been
a great success. About 60 boys and 40 girls have attended very
regularly on two evenings each week (two for boys and two for
girls). A Billiards Table has been provided by a generous townsman
who also gave some valuable oil paintings to the club.
"The Welfare Committee which controls the club from funds
received from voluntary sources, provide various games—ping-pong,
chess, draughts, darts, bagatelle, and sundry books and papers of
interest to young people.
"The supervision is in the hands of the Juvenile Employment
Officer who has obtained valuable assistance from a number of
young men and women who are keenly interested in the welfare of
boys and girls, and who have given their spare time very generously
to this work. The first year of the club has been somewhat experimental,
but it is anticipated that it will develop into a very
valuable system for supervising and guiding those difficult boys
and girls who, having left school, are often in a hopeless position
on account of their surroundings, their health or other reasons."
(iii.) Employment of Children (Street Trading Byelaws).—Two
hundred children were examined by the Medical Staff under the Employment
of Children Byelaws, and all were passed as fit for employment
chiefly in milk and newspaper delivery. Alterations of these
Bye-laws in the direction of raising the minimum age for employment
to 13 years and of prohibiting employment of children during the
early mornings when schools are in session have been approved
by the Education Committee and confirmed by the Borough Council.