§ DR. MACNAMARA (Camberwell, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Board of Education whether, on the occasion of his visit to the Johanna Street Council School, North Lambeth, he found any children unfit to take advantage of the instruction offered in the school as a result of being hungry and ill-fed; if so, what immediate steps he proposes to take in connection with the condition of such children, if any.
§ SIR WILLIAM ANSONI cannot say that on the occasion of my visit any children were unfit to receive instruction owing to hunger, though I formed an opinion that, owing to long continued unhealthy conditions of life, some of the children were backward in development and needed a simpler and, in some respects, a different course of instruction. I have every hope that the Report of the Committee now sitting will enable us to decide whether these cases can be dealt with by the action of the Department concurrently with organised voluntary effort.