The figures for Birmingham are taken from _The Public Feeding of Elementary School Children_, by Phyllis D. Winder, 1913, pp. 47-55; those for St. George's-in-the-East, from "The Story of a Children's Care Committee," by Rev. H. Iselin, in _Economic Review_, January, 1912, p. 47; those for Stoke, Bradford, St. Pancras and Bermondsey from case papers that we have analysed. These figures must not be taken as more than a somewhat rough indication of the state of affairs, for it is not always easy to determine precisely into which category a particular case should be put. Probably the proportion of casually employed is somewhat understated; of the twenty-six, for instance, who are classed as unemployed at Birmingham, roughly one-third belonged to the class of permanent casuals, but were totally unemployed at the date of the enquiry. (_The Public Feeding of Elementary School Children_, p. 48.) Causes of Stoke. Bradford. Birmingham. School School in distress in St. Bermondsey Pancras. Unemployment 16 11 26 9 13 Casual 3 26 54 8 18 employment Short time 5 3 8 -- -- Regular work -- 16 6 1 2 but low wages Illness or 15 19 47 5 9 disablement of father Widows 16 41 40 10 9 Desertion or 3 32 19 2 2 absence of father It will be seen that the four largest classes of families consist of those in which the father is casually employed, is disabled by illness or accident, is dead or is unemployed. If one adds to these 605 families the 41 in which the father is paid low wages or is working short time, there is a total of 646 out of 718 families in which distress is due either to industrial causes or to a misfortune. Since men do not usually contract illness or die in order that their children may be fed at school, there is no question of the responsibility of the father being weakened in the 285 cases in which death or ill-health was the cause which led to the provision of school meals.