CHILDREN OF THE UNEMPLOYED

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21506, 22 June 1935, Page 13

CHILDREN OF THE UNEMPLOYED

DISTRESS IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS MALNUTRITION AND LACK OF CLOTHING EDUCATION BOARD'S ACTION The alleviation of distress and incapacity for proper education caused among primary school children in Christchurch by unemployment was accepted as a definite responsibility by the Canterbury Education Board at a meeting yesterday. On the motion of the chairman, Mr C. S. Thompson, seconded by Mr G. F. Benstead, it was decided that a letter be sent to the Acting-Prime Minister (the Hon. E, A. Ransom) and the Minister for Employment (the Hon. S. G. Smith), urging the Government to place in hand extensive public works, the works to be of such magnitude as to employ all the employable unemployed at standard rates of pay. Summarising information gained in a personal investigation of conditions in five schools in the city, Mr Thompson said that of the total number of children in these schools 883 were children of unemployed men, 255 were suffering from malnutrition, and 618 were insufficiently clad. Eight and a half per cent, of the total number were under-fed, and 21 per cent, were insufficiently clad. The need for immediate relief was emphasised by Mr W. A. Banks, on whose motion, seconded by Mr Benstead, the chairman, and the town members of the board were instructed to draft a letter to the Hon. S. G. Smith, Minister for Employment, and the Acting-Minister for Education, asking that means be found to alleviate the position of children in the board's primary schools.

I "Not in Fit Condition" "We as a board are responsible for some 35,000 children in the primary schools," said Mr Thompson, "and it is cause for great concern when we know that so many of these children are not in. a fit physical condition to lake advantage of the education provided by the State. I would not like my remarks to be construed as political. I have been actuated by a desire to do my fluty as chairman of the board, in bringing to its notice a set of conditions in Christchurch and perI haps in other towns under the board's jurisdiction. In the last month the board has had letters from the Mayor asking that representatives be sent to conferences held to devise a method of dealing with unemployment. What I heard at those meetings caused me some concern at the probable effect of unemployment in the schools. One could not help thinking that if this was the general condition in the city, it was the duty of the board to find out the effect of such a condition in the j schools. ! "i. made it my business to visit five | schools in the city," he said. "I interI viewed the headmasters, asking them j to be very careful to be accurate in the information and the figures which '..hey supplied. Naturally, I went to schools which I thought would be affected in the greatest degree. Individual Figures "At one school there were 320 children whose fathers were unemployed; at the same school 73 children were suffering from malnutrition, and 215 were insufficiently clad. At another school 175 children had unemployed fathers, 56 were under-fed and 11Q insufficiently clad; at a third school the figures were 136, 42 and 107, and at a fourth 200, 81 and 91. At a school in a district where conditions are generaly better there were 55 children of unemployed—the headmasler could give no definite information about malnutrition—and 60 children were insufficiently clad. "These facts reveal a very distressing condition," said Mr Thompson. "I hold that the lowered vitality of the child through insufficient food means that the child cannot absorb knowledge as it should. The physical condition of the child must be good before it can benefit by education. What can we do to induce the authorities to take action to remedy this distressing

state of affairs? Some may say that it is the work of the charitable institutions." A member: No. Chairman ' Congratulated Mr Thompson moved the resolution quoted above, remarking that if the five schools he had mentioned were the only ones; affected in Christchurch it was the duty of the board to take action. Seconding the motion, Mr Benstead congratulated the chairman on his work, heartily endorsing his statement. Mr W. T. Langley agreed completely with the chairman's remarks. He said 1 that he had known cases of young men, from 16 to 20 years of age, attending gymnasium classes at the Young Men's Christian Association. : who had been ashamed to strip before others. They had no underclothing. Mr G. W. Armitage said that if the board could obtain a grant of £IO,OOO from the Government it could begin valuable works which were now beling put off till better times. Every year the building committee had to turn down work worth £4OO. Mr Banks said that in the meantime the children were starving. He would like the finance committee to try to And a way of providing them with extra nourishment. The chairman said that the £IO,OOO mentioned would go nowhere, only touching the problem. The board was concerned with the greater question of enabling the parents to send the children to school in a proper physical condition. Party politics were not to be connected in the remotest way with the remarks made. The only thing which concerned the board was the condition of the children in its schools.

SLIGHT INCREASE DISCLOSED DOMINION FIGURES ANALYSED POSITION IN RURAL AREAS (pazsa tssocuTioß teleqium.l WELLINGTON, June 21. Malnutrition among school children in New Zealand last year showed a slight increase—s.64 per cent, as against 5.48 per cent, in 1933. That position 13 disclosed by figures compiled by tho Director of the Division of School Hygiene. It is explained that the slight rise very largely results frcm the proportion of children included from the primer classes '(which as a general rule show a slightly higher percentage of malnutrition) being greater than in "While, taking the Dominion as a v/hole, the percentage of children found to be suffering from malnutrition shows no noteworthy increase, special groups of the community demand further consideration," states the director. "Children inhabiting the poorer, crowded quarters of the cities show a lack of vitality and an absence of resistance to disease necessitating remedial measures. In rural districts, constant outdoor toil is often demanded from all members of a household, including the mother, and as a result meals are irregularly prepared and hours of sleep inadequate. Where there have been years of struggle and anxiety, the psychological factor has to be considered, especially in those families v/hose scale of living is monotonous and restricted to the barely adequate. "The school medical officers report that a gradual and steady lowering of the standard of clothing and personal care is in evidence among certain sections cf the people in some areas. Records kept over a period of years show | that in 1928 the percentage of malnuI trition noted in a routine examination lof school children throughout New I Zealand was 6.84; in 1929, 7.06; in 1930, 6.30; in 1931, 6.R8; in 1932, 5.81; in 1933, 5.48; and in 1934, 5.64."

DUNEDIN POSITION HEADMASTERS OF SCHOOLS INTERVIEWED (PBESS ASSOCI4TIOH TELEO&AK.> DUNEDIN, June 21. While there Is some little evidence in Dunedin schools of lack of sufficient food and clothing for children of the unemployed, the position is not nearly so bad as that reported from Christchurch. This information was gained 10-night from the headmasters of three schools in the city, two of which are attended by a relatively large proportion of children of the unemployed, and the third not to such an extent.

"Conditions are not nearly so bad as tnose in Christchurch," said the headmaster of a school in the south end of the city. "There is evidence that some parents are having difficulty in giving children suitable clothes and footwear, and to a certain extent there is evidence of malnutrition. Cases of this kind, however, are the exception rather than the rule, and on the whole the children of the unemployed are being clothed Bnd fed remarkably well, reflecting great credit on their mothers, who, I think, are meeting the position wonderfully." At some schools, including his own, the children were provided with cocoa at midday, and a good r.any schools were taking part in a milk distribution scheme. Another headmaster in the nortnern portion of the city, where there is a fairly large proportion of unemployed, said definitely that there was no noticeable evidence of either lack of food or clothing among the children. "It quite often happens," he said, "that cases of malnutrition occur in families which are by no means destitute; but this is due either to the wrong type of food bein;* used, or to some physical defect in the child." Lack of suitable footwear was more noticeable than anything else, he said, but if a child came to school insufficiently clothed or shod, an effort was made to find something that would fit him. "I cannot think of one Instance in my school where a child has been insufficiently fed or clothed," said the headmaster of a school in an area where there are comparatively few unemployed men.

STATEMENTS SUPPORTED VIEWS OF MR A. C. MAXWELL Full agreement with the statement!; made by Mr C. S. Thompson, chairman of the Canterbury Education Board, in his report to the board on" the condition of the children of unem-. ployed men in the primary schools was expressed yesterday by Mr A. C.; Maxwell, formerly headmaster of the; Phillipstown School. Mr Maxwell, who is active in welfare work for unemployed boys, through the Young Men's-: Christian Association, said that his' own experience, both at Phillipstown' and on recent' visits to the homes of distressed families, confirmed Mr Thompson's statement about the extent of malnutrition among the children. "That there is malnutrition among many of the children at the schools, especially in the poorer districts, ia, beyond question," said Mr Maxwell, - "There is no doubt that the position i 8 very serious, and has been so every winter for the last three or four years. The Mayor's scheme to provide milk fo* the children was very beneficial last winter and the previous winter; but tb"' !* "o in operation. "Personally J think that giving the chiiorui uie rishc iood is n'mont i«or«' important than the quality of theip: clothing," he said. "The reason is Uiaf£: many of the children in the schools; have never been really wamly clad since the day they were born, and they: are in some way hardened to cold weather. They do not feel the cold as much as we think they do, provided, that they are properly fed. *> "If the children have enough, warmth-giving food, such as milk and butter, they do not feel the cold so keenly. In country districts I have seen, children come through the snow ia. school, not at all warmly clad, but nojfe feeling the cold because they have had; the right food at home I should like to see something done to provide thf • town children with milk and cocoa in; the middle of the morning." '•<■