Each _Caisse_ is allowed a free hand in the actual details of administration, hence the arrangements vary in the different _arrondissements_. The want of uniformity has obvious disadvantages, and a proposal was recently made that the system should be centralised, but this would have necessitated the appointment of a large and expensive staff, and it was felt desirable to leave the initiative and responsibility to voluntary workers.[591] Everywhere the meal is served on the school premises, a kitchen being established for each school or group of schools. The meal is cooked by the _cantinieres_, and is sometimes provided by them at a fixed price per head; more often the _Caisse_ prefers to purchase the materials itself, a more economical method, and one which ensures a better quality of food.[592] The dinner may consist of one, two or three courses. The food is plentiful and good, well-cooked and well-served, and the menu sufficiently varied. The meals are made as attractive as possible to encourage the better-class parents to make use of them. The price charged varies from 1d. to 2d.; in almost all the _arrondissements_ the charge appears to be below the cost price. No difference is made between the children who pay and those who are on the free list. The teachers do not assist in serving the food, as in England, but are always present to supervise the children, and, in some schools at any rate, they eat their dinner with them. At first the supervision was undertaken voluntarily, but since 1910 the teachers have received an extra remuneration of 1.50 francs a day for this duty.[593] This sharing in a common meal by all classes alike, together with the presence of the teacher, has had a marked influence on the children's manners. Besides the mid-day meal, which is given by all the _Caisses_, breakfasts of soup are sometimes supplied to the children who are receiving free dinners, while in some _arrondissements_, _e.g._, the eighteenth, a small meal is also given at four o'clock to these children if they remain at school for the "classe de garde."[594] A further extension has recently been made in the seventeenth _arrondissement_, where it was decided in 1912 to try the experiment of a "classe de garde" till eight o'clock in the evening, with a supper, for children of widows or widowers who were at work till late, or for other especially poor children, or children with bad homes, the object being both to secure them adequate nourishment and to remove them from the temptations of the streets. For this purpose the Municipal Council voted a sum of 10,000 francs.[595] Weakly children have codliver oil given to them in winter and syrup of iodide of iron or phosphate of lime in the summer. Footnote 591: "Organisation des Cantines Scolaires a Paris," report by Direction de l'Enseignement primaire, 3me bureau, 1912. Footnote 592: _Ibid._ Footnote 593: _Ibid._ Footnote 594: