[58]. Ibid., p. iii. Even when the dinners were paid for, the payment rarely covered the cost. The same want of success was reported in the provinces. At Birmingham the experiment of giving penny dinners failed completely, and the meals had to be given free. (Report of Inter-Departmental Committee on Physical Deterioration, 1904, Qs. 13238, 13240, evidence of Dr. Airy.) "The experience of all workers in this movement testifies," says Canon Moore Ede, "that the poorest of all—those who are least well nourished—are scarcely touched by the penny dinners." ("Cheap Meals for Poor School Children," by Rev. W. Moore Ede, in Report of Conference on Education under Healthy Conditions at Manchester, 1885, p. 81.)
[59]. London School Board, Report of Special Committee on Underfed Children, 1895, pp. iv., v. "Under the penny dinner system, we had to provide something to attract the children, as they would not come to the same meal every day and pay a penny for it; puddings and meat pies were provided and varied from day to day. Now they get soup." (Ibid., Appendix I., p. 39, evidence of Rev. R. Leach.) "The soup ... supplied by the National Food Association varies so very little from day to day that it is natural for the children to grow tired of it," (Ibid., p. 22, evidence of Mr. C. H. Heller.)
[60]. Ibid., pp. v., viii.
[61]. Ibid., p. vi.
[62]. Economic Enquiries and Studies, by Sir Robert Giffen, 1904, Vol. I., pp. 398-9.
[63]. Ibid., p. 419.
[64]. Ibid., p. 408.
[65]. A Philosophy of Social Progress, by E. J. Urwick, 1912, pp. 88, 89.
[66]. London School Board, Report of General Purposes Committee on Underfed Children, 1899, p. ii., par. 1.
[67]. Ibid., p. vi., par. 29.