In most of the Belgian towns in the last decade of the nineteenth century voluntary organisations were to be found whose object was to provide food and clothing for poor school children. This provision was made to enable them to attend school instead of begging in the streets, since education was not compulsory.[[626]] In Brussels the chief society was "Le Progrès" Club, which in 1888 commenced the provision of soup dinners in the schools. The Town Council assisted by providing tables and undertaking the carriage of the food to the different centres, and in 1891 by granting a subsidy of 5,000 frs. An application was very soon made for an increase of this subsidy, whereupon the municipality undertook a detailed enquiry into the whole question of the food, clothing, lodging, cleanliness and health of the children in the communal schools. It was found as a result that 16·89 per cent. were badly shod, 25·04 per cent. badly clothed, and 25·55 per cent. insufficiently fed.[[627]] The work of medical inspection and treatment was very early undertaken by the local authority. At the date of this report (1894), a doctor and dentist were attached to each school; frequent inspections were made by the doctor, and preventive medicine, e.g., codliver oil, was provided from public funds.[[628]] The provision of meals continued to be undertaken by voluntary organisations, aided by a municipal subsidy. In 1903-04, this subsidy amounted to 10,000 frs. for the communal schools, and 5,000 frs. for the clerical schools. In addition large quantities of clothing were supplied from public funds.[[629]]
At Liège, as early as 1883, the municipality organised the provision of soup for all children in the kindergartens who wished to receive it.[[630]] The dinner was only given on condition that the children were clean and tidy. Each child was expected to have clean linen twice a week and also to have a pocket handkerchief. A teacher was present to supervise the children, and share the meal with them. Each child brought a basket of bread and fruit to supplement the food provided, and at the end any bread that remained was packed in the baskets by the children, to prevent waste and to inculcate habits of thrift.[[631]] The whole cost was borne out of municipal funds. In 1901 a voluntary committee was formed for providing soup in the communal primary schools. This committee placed at the disposal of the municipality a sum of 10,000 frs., in order that general provision might be made for the first year's scholars in the primary schools, on the same lines as in the kindergartens. In other classes in the primary schools soup was given only to necessitous children, or to those whose parents were at work all day; this provision was at first limited to three months during the winter, but in 1905 the municipality voted a grant of 7,000 frs. in order that it might be extended to six months.[[632]]
(g) Holland
Holland was the first country to enact national legislation for the provision of school meals. The law of 1900 enforcing compulsory education authorised municipal authorities to provide food and clothing for all school children, whether in public or private schools, who, owing to lack of these necessaries, were unable to attend school regularly. This provision might be undertaken directly by the municipality, or by means of subsidies to voluntary organisations.[[633]]
(h) Denmark
In some of the cities of Denmark meals were provided by voluntary agencies in the 'seventies. In 1902 a law was passed allowing municipal authorities to subsidise these organisations. This system, however, proved unsatisfactory and, in 1907, a campaign was set on foot for compulsory national legislation.[[634]]
In Copenhagen the municipality from 1902 made a grant of 25,000 kr. (about £1,400) to the "Society for Providing Meals to Free School Children," the voluntary contributions to which were rapidly diminishing. This society, though a voluntary organisation, was directly connected with the municipality, its Executive Board consisting of the seven municipal school inspectors and four private gentlemen, while the municipal school director was ex officio president. More than half the total expenditure was met out of the municipal subsidy, the balance being made up by voluntary contributions. Dinners were given three days a week to all the children in the free schools who wished to attend. No charge was made and no question raised as to the economic circumstances of the parents. About 33 per cent. of the total number of free school children availed themselves of this provision.[[635]]
(i) Norway
Christiania was the first town in Norway to make municipal provision for underfed school children. The system was started in 1897. A proposal was made to distribute food free to all elementary school children, but this was, at the time, rejected. In the winter of 1897-8, applications were made on behalf of 25.92 per cent. of the pupils in the school, the great majority of the meals being given free.[[636]] The children made such marked progress as a result of this experiment that the system was extended and in Christiania and several other towns a good dinner was provided by the school authorities for all school children who cared to attend, the entire cost of the system being met by taxation.[[637]] It was soon found that the advantages of this free provision outweighed the expense. At Trondhjem, when the proposal was first made by the Socialists, it was bitterly opposed, but by 1906 the system was unanimously supported by all sections.[[638]]