[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR." J
Sin,—Your correspondent whose letter is signed "R. W. Harris" (Spectator, September 9th), and who has such a satisfactory account to give of the working of the C.C.H.F. in London and the North-country village which receives children from the Fund, has, I venture to think, been exceptionally fortunate in his or her experience. I have worked the Fund in a large South London school, and I endorse every word of Miss Loane's article. Especially would I lay stress on the point she makes with respect to the parents' contributions. It is my firm belief that hardly one of the children who went from my school could not have provided the whcle 10s. I have constantly begged C.C.H.F. visitors to consider the desirability of beginning to collect the money in October. If this were systematically done there would be an end of the troubles which always arise at the end. The child who could not save 10s. in nine months may be safely considered as unsuitable for the benefit. Either he will be found to belong to a family so destitute that no holiday could better his condition, and where the problem of the family to which he belongs could only be satisfactorily handled by the Poor Law, or he will be found to be so dirty, or vicious, or diseased, as not to be a fit subject. My experi- ence is—and my school was in a very poor neighbourhood— that the Fund was grossly abused, and that had a strict rule been made that no child would be considered for a holiday who had not deposited 10s. between October and July all the money would have been found without difficulty. As to the country quarters, I have seen C.C.H.F. children in a village in one of the home counties taken into cottages where the overcrowding in normal times was a crying disgrace to health and decency. Many of the children no doubt enjoy them- selves hugely, and many find kind and honest hosts who do not " make " by them—and not all London children are un- suitable guests—but many are highly undesirable, and in my opinion not nearly enough care is taken as to the characters of the children selected for holidays. Miss Loane's point as to country relations is one that should much more frequently be pressed. Working people have often simply not thought about it, but when the suggestion is made in many instances relations can be hunted up. It is, however, more trouble than just letting the "holiday lady" undertake the whole affair. The modern tendency in all directions is to relieve parents of their natural responsibilities. I consider that a working man should be expected to provide for his child's holiday, and I believe that very few would fail to do so if the question were put fairly to them. From what other of your correspondents say the rules of the C.C.H.F. are most stringent, and thorough investigation of cases is required. It might be well that the governing body of the Fund should look closely to the working of their local committees. The deciding of "each case on its merits " sounds excellent, but unless those who investigate the circumstances of the families are both experienced and painstaking, and the members of the local committees are certain in their own minds as to what whey mean by a case being suitable for charitable assistance.. nothing is easier than for the charity to be abused—abused not because either the local committees or the visitors wish to encourage thriftlessness or deceits but because they have not before them sufficient facts to decide justly or indeed any principles of decision in their own minds to guide them.—I am,
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