The reference of this Committee made it clear that the Government had no intention of allowing the rates to be utilised for the supply of food. In the matter of feeding, the Committee were merely to enquire into the relief given by the various voluntary agencies, and report "whether relief of this character could be better organised, without any charge upon public funds."[114] The Report was, therefore, mainly concerned with questions of administration. A careful and elaborate account was given of the existing agencies all over England, the methods employed, the sums expended, and the kind of relief given. Evidence was received from representatives of all the more important societies in London and the provinces. It was found that outside London feeding agencies existed in 55 out of the 71 county boroughs, in 38 out of the 137 boroughs and in 22 out of the 55 large urban districts.[115] In addition to these there were numerous efforts of a spasmodic character, school meals being often started hastily during some special emergency. The Committee estimated that the total amount spent on the provision of meals in England and Wales was approximately L33,568, of which L10,299 was spent in London.[116] But these figures were "very far from representing the full amount of money spent out of charitable sources."[117] No account was taken of the innumerable philanthropic agencies existing all over the country, such as Soup Kitchens, District Visiting Societies and the like, who were incidentally spending large sums on the provision of food for school children. Moreover, the impracticability of obtaining returns from all the feeding agencies and the varying methods in which their accounts were made up, made any exact computation impossible. Footnote 114: Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical Inspection and Feeding, 1905, Vol. I., p. vii. Footnote 115: _Ibid._, pp. 54, 55, pars. 182, 186, 189. The total number of these agencies was 140. Of these 71 were permanent (_i.e._, had been in existence over a year), 24 were new, and 45 were intermittent in their operations. Footnote 116: _Ibid._, pp. 78-80, pars. 290-293. Footnote 117: _Ibid._, p. 79, par. 291. In the evidence given before the Committee, we note the same evils prevailing as had been discovered in former years. There is the same diversity in the method of selection and the same inadequate provision. We find still the practice of giving a child a meal two or three days a week only.[118] In the great majority of cases the feeding was confined to the winter months, though many witnesses were of opinion that meals should be obtainable in the summer also.[119] Footnote 118: