BIG PUBLIC KITCHEN.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 4712, 9 November 1917, Page 2

BIG PUBLIC KITCHEN.

SCHEME FOR. TOE POOR IN KENTISH TOWNS.

A scheme to establish a food kitchen capable of serving from 12,000 to 15,000 poor people daily in the Kentish Town district of St. Pancras Borough is in course of promotion by Mrs Earle of 8, St. Janies’ terrace. Regent’s Park, N.W. (stated the Daily News recently'). “In tills district,” said Mrs Earle, “there is a large class of poor people, many of them wives and children of soldiers, whose earnings during the war have not been increased except to a very limited extent in the ease of a few munition workers and other factory employees who are receiving slight bonuses that do not by any means cover the enhanced cost of living. This district, in my opinion, has claims over many poor districts in London in respect of its need of such a- kitchen, and in a letter to the new Food Committee of St Pancras Borough I am reviving the question of the necessity for establishing a kitchen without delay in view of the near approach of winter. “I would much rather the local committee took up tlie scheme, but as their predecessors have hitherto failed to do so, and the urgency of the question is now very great, j am going ahead with the scheme, with the help of a number of social workers and the financial support cf a few friends and other help I hope to get.” Mrs Earle states that a private kitchen on. a small scale has been in operation in the neighbourhood for some time, and hot, well-cooked meals have been sent out daily in two barrows to the houses of the poor. Each barrow bolds from 250 to 300 portions of food, and is so constructed that the meals are kept hot until they reach the doors of the people. “A largo quantity of the ba'rrows are in course of construction to meet . the needs of the large scheme in preparation, and meals will be served at the cost of 2d to 4d each to suit the spending capacity of the people. The scheme is not a charitable effort. With large turnover it can be made to repay the original outlay of about £BOO in from 18 to 30 months, according to the number of meals served. We shall make provision for all establishment charges and labour costs of running the scheme, and when the initial capital is repaid a committee elected from among the customers of the kitchen will decide in what way the profits shall be spent. It will thus he a co-operative scheme on a business bas-