Circular, 1st January, 1907. a period of years. They will deal in each case with the particular emergency, and their sanction will, as a rule, be limited to the raising of a definite sum from the rates. Should such sum prove to be insufficient, it will be open to the authority to apply for, and to the Board to sanction, the raising of an additional sum, and so on from time to time as occasion may require, subject always to the condition that the amounts raised from the rates for this purpose in the area of the authority in any single year shall never exceed the produce of a halfpenny rate. 7. In London and in the areas under local education authorities for county boroughs, boroughs and urban districts the limit will be found by ascertaining the produce of a halfpenny rate for the whole area, but for areas under county councils the mode of calculation will be different; here the halfpenny rate will be calculated over the area of the parish or parishes which, in the opinion of the council, are served by the school (section 3). It should be noted however that, though this calculation will give the limit of the money which may be raised, the money will not be actually raised over the area mentioned. Thus, where a halfpenny rate over the parish or parishes served by the school in connection with which a meal is to be provided produces, say, £20, that amount will be actually raised on the whole elementary education area of the county council and not solely from the particular parish or parishes (section 5 (1)). 8. For the general working of the provisions of the Act by the local authorities and the school canteen committees, the Board of Education do not propose to issue any regulations, but to leave them full discretion, within the statutory conditions, for dealing with the necessarily varied circumstances of the different areas, or of different schools within any one area, in the manner best suited thereto. There remain, however, a few points, in addition to those named above, to which the Board think it right to call attention in this circular. 9. First, it has been found that there has been a tendency in some of the places where the work of providing school meals has already been in operation, to require teachers to take part in the management and supervision of school meals as part of their ordinary duties. The Board, like the committees which have reported on this matter, recognise fully the admirable work which has been done in this direction by teachers all through the country. They consider, however, that there is a danger that too much of the teacher's time and energy may be taken up in this serving of tables, and they hold that, while teachers should not be forbidden to take part in work which is to them of absorbing interest, their help should be used as sparingly as possible and that in no part should they be required to take any part at all. The Act accordingly contains, the following special provision on this matter: No teacher seeking employment or employed in a public elementary school shall be required as part of his duties to supervise or assist, or to abstain from supervising or assisting, in the provision of meals, or in the collection of the cost thereof. (Section 6). 10. Next, the Board concur also with the various Committees in holding that it is undesirable that meals should be served in rooms habitually used for teaching purposes. The first use for school-rooms and class-rooms is for teaching. Nothing therefore should be done in them to interfere with their proper ventilation before and after school meetings, or to cause disorder and uncleanliness. At the same time, the Board recognise that in some cases meals can be served in rooms used for teaching without detriment to such use, and that circumstances may arise where these are the only rooms available. II. It will be observed that the Act does not in any way prescribe the time at which the meal should be served. Evidence is in the possession of the Board showing that while, perhaps, a midday dinner is the meal which usually meets with most favour from the existing voluntary agencies, there are many which for good reasons consider that breakfast is preferable. Again, there is an opinion prevalent in many quarters that a school meal may in certain schools advan- Circular, tageously take the form of milk, which may be served either at the opening of morning school or in the course of the morning at the recreation interval. 12. The Act contains no specific reference to the boards of guardians, but in a well-organized system which attempts to provide free or cheap meals for destitute children, it is obvious that touch must be kept with the guardians, and information in their possession or at their disposal must be used. As a rule it would be desirable that there should be one or more Guardians on the school canteen committee. Where there is in the locality a branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the help of that society may also be enlisted with great advantage, and the same remark applies to other persons and agencies whose work brings them into intimate relation with the life and needs of the children at our elementary schools and their parents, such as district visitors, health visitors and the like. 13. Lastly, when a system of medical inspection of school children such as already exists under several local education authorities has been established, the school canteen committee, so far as its operations are concerned with underfed, ill-nourished or destitute children, should work in intimate connection with the school medical officer. I have the honour to be, Ist January, 1907. To the Local Education Authority. Sir, Your obedient Servant, ROBERT L. MORANT. EXPIRING LAWS CONTINUANCE ACT, 1906. [6 EDW. 7, CH. 51.] An Act to continue various Expiring Laws. [21st December, 1906.] WHEREAS the Acts mentioned in the schedule to this Act are, in so far as they are in force and are temporary in their duration, limited to expire on the thirty-first day of December nineteen hundred and six: And whereas it is expedient to provide for the continuance as in this Act mentioned of those Acts, and of the enactments amending or affecting the same: Be it therefore enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: Sect. 1.—(1) The Acts mentioned in the schedule to this Continuance of Act shall, to the extent specified in column three of that E Acts in Schedule. Sec. 1 (1). schedule, be continued until the thirty-first day of December nineteen hundred and seven, and shall then expire, unless further continued. Short title. (2) Any unrepealed enactments amending or affecting the enactments continued by this Act shall, in so far as they are temporary in their duration, be continued in like manner, whether they are mentioned in the schedule to this Act or not. Sect. 2. This Act may be cited as the Expiring Laws Continuance Act, 1906. Note. The profits of stock-in-trade are exempted from poor rate by this Act. Note.-Orders for payment of expenses are made by courts of quarter sessions under the Act, upon county and borough treasurers. Note.-Requisitions for expenses of inquiries under the Act into Corrupt Practices are made by the Treasury upon county treasurers, and local officers of cities and boroughs. Note. This and the two following Acts apply to elections of local authorities. |