THE WORLD CRISIS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 272, 29 August 1933, Page 8

THE WORLD CRISIS

EFFECT ON CHILDREN. A WORLD-WIDE INQUIRY. . An inquiry lias been made by the Save the Children Fund into the effects of unemployment on the children of the unemployed and on unemployed young workers in Great Britain. This is part of a world-wide inquiry undertaken by the Save the Children International Union. The report of the inquiry in Britain is based on the replies to a lengthy questionaire dividing the subject into the two main divisions«of the effects on children of school age and under due to; the unemployment of parents and the effect's on 1 children and young persons oyer school age due to their own unemployment. But the report is something more than a bare summary of ascertained effects, and makes a number of suggestions, writes the Labour correspondent of “The Times.”

In .a.general survey of the conditions induced by unemployment the report notes the loss of morale and the "effects on "children in the houses so affected. Reference is made to the value of occupational centres and to the emergency open-air nurseries for the children of the unemployed which the Save the Children Fund is establishing and there are comments on the better effects on morale of the more useful kinds of occupation, and of the possibility of the means test being a discouragement to the search for supplementary source of income. Ini areas where unemployment is on a large scale there is a sense of hopelessness among the workless, but “this attitude is far from general.” It is stated also that there are many who prefer to suffer rather than apply for relief from the piTblic assistance authority. Causes of Hardship. (So much for the general conditions. With regard to the particular circumstances of the unemployed the provisions of the law in respect of benefit and relief are quoted and the report says that hardship to children must he due in the main to one of the following causes: (1) Bedrock inadequacy of the scale of payments authorised by the State either generally or for particular classes of families; (2) failure, for reasons w'hich may or may not be adequate, on the part of the local authority to do what it is authorised to do by Parliament; (3) failure on the part of parents to make the most of W'hat is or can he done for them. This failure may be due to the individual characteristics of the parents or to the effect produced on them by lack of opportunity to obtain occupation suitable for maintaining their morale durixig, unemployment. In a chapter of summary and conclusions the report says there w r as naturally great variety in the answers to the questions ,as to how thp children of today compare with those of 1925, “but it can be definitely stated that there has been no general detei’ioration.” In a large number of answers clothing is said to he worse. In the majority of answers it is stated that discipline and manners- have improved. The indications as to nutrition are much less definite even where apparently clear comparative figures are given.

Crewing Risk. From the report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education it appeared that in 1925, the proportion of undernourished children, in the schools was '9.5 per .1000 and in 1931 it was 11.2 per 1000. As the committee of inquiry has information of improvement in this respect in some places it assumes that where there has been deterioration it must have been on a scale higher than that indicated for the country as a whole. “We feel that while the amount of actual deterioration has not been great there is an increasing risk of malnutrition. It is the risk of malnutrition rather than the fact with which we are most impressed.” From 1927 to 1931 there was an increase in umemployment but the general fall in the cost of living and the increase in the provision of school meals appear to have large counteracted the effect ol increased unemployment. In 1932 not only did the amount of unemployment continue to increase, but there was a reduction in the anidunt of benefit allowed. Ibis may not have had a serious effect on these whose unemployment was temporary, but must have increased the risk of malnutrition for families subject to prolonged unemployment and it is certain that there aue classes where this risk is very great.” Three Factors. Three factors are mentioned as constituting, either singly or in combination, a risk that children will suffer when a. family has no means beyond unemployment benefit or irelef. They are—rent beyond a figure of ss, which if. is generally considered can be paid from unemployment benefit; a large number of children; unci children whose ages involve the need of food approximating to the adult scale. “Ihe factoi whicli most frequently brings unemployed families into the danger zone is clearly high uent.” There is a possibility of help if application is made for a supplementary allowance in the form of public assistance. When the rent is considerably in excess of 5s airplications are generally granted in London. The committee had little evidence as to the practice elsewhere and refrains from drawing general conclusions from certain family budgets which suggest that grants oyer the unemployment scale may be unusual. The report suggests that when the Government takes over responsibility for unemployment, supplementary grants should bo made wherever a high rent, in itself not unreasonable brings the family into the danger zone. When the number of children brings a family into the danger zone then

the report suggests that school meals provide the correct remedy. For children below the school age the danger time is between two and five, years, and provision for these children at maternity and child welfare centres “is an urgent- matter.”

The committee of inquiry obtained little information concerning the juveniles who have left school and have not yet found employment. This class is at a stage of development where adequate /nourishment is essential but there seemed to lie no special means by which they could ho helped. To some extent the problem could lie solved by retaining them at school (as is done at Cardiff) when they would remain eligible for school meals. Otherwiso the solution would seem to be in an extension of juvenile training centres and arrangements for the provision of meals at those centres.