78 Environment and Efficiency 



life of boys who have had outdoor relief, nor does it try to help 

 them to any technical training. . . . For a boy, out-door relief 

 stops at 14, and he turns to the first job at which he can earn. 

 Most likely this will be one which will lead to nothing ; it may 

 be street-selling of some kind, it may be an errand or van boy's 

 job. When it is over, he finds or tries to find another, pro- 

 bably also leading to nothing ; and so he drifts on. I have no 

 numbers or figures for these statements, but in the cases I 

 visited personally I saw many lads in this process of being 

 manufactured into casual labourers." l 



To sum up, I have quoted freely from Miss Williams' 

 report, to illustrate four of the principal drawbacks of the out- 

 relief system as it affects children : 



1. Unsatisfactory character of many mothers. 



2. Insufficient food. 



3. Employment of children of school age. 



4. Want of after-care. 



There are others besides these, such as 



5. Over-crowding. 



6. Unsanitary surroundings. 



7. Want of proper medical supervision. 



It seems plain that the six and a half thousand children 

 estimated as suffering from drawback No. I, i.e. the possession 

 of Class IV., mothers (bad, neglectful, drunken, and often 

 immoral women, described as unfit to have the charge of 

 children) will inevitably suffer also from drawbacks 2, 3, 4, 5, 

 6, and 7. The 10,000 odd children of Class III. mothers (the 

 slovenly and slipshod, the comforts of whose homes fall even 

 below their means) will also most probably suffer from in- 

 sufficient food, over-crowding, unsanitary surroundings, want 

 of proper medical attendance, and may be employed under 

 14 years. 



It is possible that the Class II. children may suffer from 

 one or any of these disadvantages. 



1 Report on Children in Receipt of Poor Relief , p. 87. 



