Fourth Annual Report of the Joint Committee on Underfed Children, 1904, p. 2. Evidence was given before the Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical Inspection and Feeding in 1905, which showed that difficulty was experienced in collecting sufficient funds. The London Schools Dinner Association found that people would contribute at Christmas time, but in the early spring, when the work was heaviest, the subscriptions ceased. (Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical Inspection and Feeding, 1905, Qs. 2074, 2081-2083.) See also evidence of Mr. Marshall Jackman before the Select Committee on the Education (Provision of Meals) Bills (England and Scotland), 1906, Qs. 780, 788-790. Footnote 382: Report of Inter-Departmental Committee on Physical Deterioration, 1904, Q. 477. Footnote 383: Minutes of the London County Council, April 11, 1905, p. 1381. Footnote 384: _Ibid._, July 11, 1905, p. 297. Footnote 385: _Ibid._, p. 298. The experiment was accordingly tried at five[386] selected schools. In three of these schools, which were situated in poor districts, dinners were supplied at 1-1/2d each. In the other two schools, situated in better-class neighbourhoods, the cost was 2d. and 3d., the parents preferring the more expensive dinner.[387] The Council having no power to spend the rates on the provision of food, the meals had to be paid for by the parents or by charitable agencies. The teachers were instructed not to choose only necessitous children, but to distribute the tickets fairly between the children in the schools, the object being to try the experiment of a common dinner.[388] From an educational point of view the dinners were very successful. The children were taught to eat properly,[389] and the girls attending the cookery class benefited by the practical training. It appeared, too, that there was a demand, in certain districts at any rate, for the provision of cheap dinners at school.[390] But the experiment was on too small a scale to have much practical bearing on the question of feeding necessitous children. For large numbers the cookery centres were quite inadequate and any attempt to use them primarily for the object of providing children's meals would interfere with the instruction given. Footnote 386: The experiment was later extended to fifteen schools. Footnote 387: Report of the Select Committee on the Education (Provision of Meals) Bills, 1906, Qs. 451, 500, evidence of Mr. A. J. Shepheard. Footnote 388: _Ibid._, Q. 327. Footnote 389: The tables were "nicely laid and with tablecloths, with all the ordinary appliances and requirements of a table put there, such as salt cellars, knives and forks, and everything of that kind. The tables were laid out with flowers ... I think I may quite certainly say that some of these children had never sat down to a meal of that description in their lives." (_Ibid._, Q. 331.) Footnote 390: