HALFPENNY DINNERS.
[To TEE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SLR,—In your comments of the 4th inst. on the Conferencerecently held in London, on the subject of self-supporting cheap meals for school children, I notice that you say it is hard to believe the statement—at the same time alluded to—that the charge of a halfpenny had been found sufficient to cover the cost of food. Perhaps you will allow me, as probably the first—certainly in Birmingham—to test the power of the halfpenny in the children's dinner movement, to give to your readers a few facts.
Finding that the charge of a penny excluded the class of children for whose sake the work originated, the underfeds, I resolved to lower the price to the means of at least some of the children of that description. I must frankly admit that thesuccess has been greater than I dared to expect ; and in more-. ways than one. First, it was found that class distinctions exist even to the lower strata of society. With but few exceptions,. the "penny children " abstain from association, at our meals,. with " halfpenny children ;" and our customers now mainly consist of those who are only able more or less regularly to obtain the requisite halfpenny wherewith to purchase a really good meal composed of a rich stew, made of the best quality of potatoes, carrots, onions, oatmeal, and fresh-meat bones stewed together for about twenty hours. Also cold boiled bacon sandwiches, rice-pudding made with skim-milk, bread and milk, and bread and jam.
With this menu we give each child a chance of obtainingsomething which it finds palatable, and consequently nourish
ing. Each child has two courses, the second being a good slice of bread and jam, which it receives as it leaves the room.
Now, as to cost. At the penny charge it was found—say, with one hundred children per day—fairly easy to pay for the food only. At the charge of a halfpenny, we can do more than this. When, as occasionally is the case, we can sell four to five hundred meals per day, we can secure a profit on the cost of food—bought at wholesale prices—of sufficient to pay the cook's wages, leaving rent and fuel .to be subscribed for, and the -management to be, as it is, gratuitously given.—I am, Sir, &c., Moseley, Birmingham. W. H. FRANCE,
Hon. Secretary to Central Committee for Sale of Cheap Meals to School Children.
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