852 REPORT — 1887. 



resist disease, and to take food : boys who were If years behindhand in height and 

 weight seem to have grown faster than the normal rate. 



Educationax. — Chiefly improved attendance, amounting to at least six per 

 cent, at poor schools, and making winter attendance equal to summer. As to power 

 to work, evidence is conflicting 



Moral. — The beneficial effect on ill-disposed children is very rapid. Moreover, 

 there is less casual begging and pilfering by children who might pick up their own 

 living if not compeUed to attend school. 



The cost of dinners sufficient to meet the needs of average poor-school 

 children is, at the kitchens luider my control, less than a halfpenny each, including 

 all expenses except management. If the scheme stood quite alone the cost might 

 be three farthings per meal, or 6s. 5d. per 100. At 225 meals a year the cost of 

 feeding each child would therefore be 14s. There are rather more than eight 

 millions of children between 5 and 15 in the United Kingdom. Of these about 4 

 per cent., or 330,000, would appear to need free meals, more in winter, le.ss in 

 summer. At 14s. a year each the cost would be 230,000/. A quarter of a million 

 a year would feed all underfed children. 



Compulsorj^ education precludes these children from picking up or earning their 

 own living, and a scheme for compensating this loss and for meeting the additional 

 .strain of school work seems a natural complement of our Education Acts. 



It would be far better that this should be done through private charity, but it 

 would seem desirable to enquire whether private charity is sufficient, and, if not, 

 whether other means might not be taken. 



2. Phthisis Centres in Manchester and Salford. 

 By Arthur Ransome. 



Tubercular disease has been shown to be closely associated with the presence 

 of a micro-orgamsm, derived from the atmosphere, but the spread of the disease in 

 a community is conditioned by many circumstances, the chief of which are : 



a. Hereditary predisposition of the inhabitants. 



b. The frequency of other respiratory affections. 



c. Bad ventilation of workshops, living-rooms, &c. 



d. Damp subsoils. 



In Manchester and Salford all these circumstances are to be found in certain 

 districts, but more distinct in some parts than in others. Statistics of the preva- 

 lence of phthisis in a certain district (No. 1) of Ancoats, Manchester, and other 

 districts of Greengate and Regent Road, Salford, were supplied to the author by 

 the health authorities of the two boroughs. Descriptions of these districts are 

 given, and the distribution of phthisis is shown to be determined by the nature of 

 the dwellings and the subsoil, and by the nature of the ventilation of the streets 

 in these districts. 



3. On some important Statistics relating to the Silk Industry. 

 By Thomas Wakdle. 



4. On Bimetallism. By J. Nicholson. 



5. On the Position of Economics in Holland. By Professor Greven. 



6. Socialism. By Professor W. Graham. 



7. On the Increase of Wealth and Population in Lancashire. 

 By William E. A. Axox. , 



The growth of the wealth and population of Lancashire within the last century 

 aud a half has been exceedingly rapid. When the British Association visited 



