all Unions is now to pay more attention to the feeding of the inmates than to any other matter. The following appeared in a paper the other day: "Ample food supply at ——." The Guardians had asked the Local Government Board to sanction an addition of half a pint of milk a day to the present dietary. The Local Government Board reply that they will do so, "provided that some readjustment be made in the present dietary." The Clerk pointed out that at present the inmates had a breakfast, lunch, a dinner, an early cup of tea and three ounces of cake, tea again with bread and butter and more cake, and then a supper. One of the Guardians, "What a day's feeding!"
Again, an inquest was held last year upon an inmate who had died suddenly in a London workhouse. The doctor certified that the cause of death was syncope, produced by an overloaded stomach acting upon a diseased heart.
The Coroner.—"One may say that he was killed by kindness. It may or may not be kindness to overload a man's stomach. Well, it shows that he did not go short of food."
The Doctor.—"Short! By no means. They have nothing to do but eat, drink, and sleep. And this is the third case from the same workhouse where death has been due to an overloaded stomach."
A Juror.—"When I am out of work, I shall want to go there!"
The question, however, is no new one. In the year 1835 a document, of which the following is an extract, was posted on the walls of a certain workhouse in Kent. It contained the terms of the contract between the Guardians and contractors for the catering for that workhouse. The contractors were to furnish "warm, wholesome, sweet, comfortable beds; servants to cook and serve the
