§ Mr. JOWETTI ask leave to introduce a Bill "To amend the Education (Provision of Meals) Act, 1906."
This Bill is a very simple and a very short one. Its object is to remedy what is commonly regarded as a defect in the Provision of Meals Act, 1906. It is well known that under that Act of Parliament the children in attendance at the elementary schools of the country who are fed on school days have to go hungry when the holidays occur and the school is not 882 actually being conducted. I believe the reason why my hon. Friends have asked me to introduce this measure is because the constituency which I represent is situated in a town which has carried out the Provision of Meals Act in its entirety and in the spirit of the Act itself. It has been found by the Education Authority at Bradford that whilst the Provision of Meals Act is of great benefit to the children concerned during the school period, there is a remarkable deterioration during school holidays. In every industrial community—and Bradford is no exception to the rule—a large section of the population sinks into poverty, and owing to that poverty in the City of Bradford no less than 2,746 children were, on an average, on the free food list of the Bradford Education Authority during the year ending March, 1909. The condition of the families from which those children come leaves no doubt whatever as to the need for the provision of meals not only during the school period but during the holidays as well. The families represented by the 2,746 children I have mentioned were so poor that they failed to pass the test applied by the Committee in order to find out whether the children should be fed or not. That test was that in the case of all families in receipt of more than three shillings per head, exclusive of rent, the children were not given free meals. There are certain very exceptional circumstances which the Committee on occasions take into consideration. For instance, when a family is labouring under the disadvantage of some death or sickness in the home. Speaking generally, however, in the case of all the families dealt with the income was not more than three shillings per head, exclusive of rent. For a family of five persons that means 15s. per week income after the rent has been paid. Putting the rent at 4s., it means that the families dealt with are only in possession of 19s. per week. A further circumstance which, I think, ought to impress the House is that in the case of no loss than 30 per cent. of the families dealt with the father was cither dead or missing. It is clear, therefore, those families are in a particularly helpless condition, and, holidays or no holidays, those children ought to have food. I have not even said the worst. The figures I have given apply to the whole of the families dealt with under the Provision of Meals Act, but no less than 966 families are so excessively poor that, after the rent has been paid, there only remains 1s. 9¾d. 883 per head per week. Seven days in the week, three meals per day, all the household requirements to be met, and all to be done out of 1s. 9¾d. per head per week! I hope, in face of facts such as I have mentioned, there will be a general agreement in this House to remedy this defect in the Provision of Meals Act. If anything more were needed I hold in my hand a chart which will show to the House very clearly what happens during school holidays. This black line shows the effect of school meals. After the meals have been given for a short period the weight increases rapidly, and is shown by this almost vertical line. When the Whitsuntide holidays begin the line goes down, showing the weight decreases continuously right through the holidays. When the school meals start to be given again the weight goes up, and then it goes down again in the midsummer holidays. I shall be very glad to show this chart and explain it in detail to any Member of the House who cares to see it, and, in face of so powerful a representation of the facts as that, I do not see how this Rill can be resisted. The circumstances of the people throughout the country are at least equally as bad as those obtaining in my own town, and, if that be so, it means there are no less than 250,000 children of our urban population in similar conditions. If it be good, as it is shown by experience to be, to give free meals to those children during the school period, then it must be continued during the school holidays, and that is the reason I ask leave to introduce this Bill.
Bill to amend the Education (Provision of Meals) Act, 1906, ordered to be brought in by Mr. Jowett, Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, Mr. Arthur Henderson, Mr. Barnes, Mr. Clynes, Mr. Charles Duncan, Mr. Keir Hardie, Mr. Lansbury, Mr. Crooks, Mr. Enoch Edwards, Mr. George Roberts, and Mr. Parker. Presented accordingly, and read the first time; to be read a second time upon Wednesday next.