competition. The particulars of the scheme are as follows: (1) That, during the coming autumn term, accredited speakers, including Mrs. C. S. Peel, Mrs. Pember Reeves, Miss Elizabeth Robins, and Mrs. Yorke Fausset, shall, at the invitation of those head teachers who desire to take part in the scheme, address pupils between 9 and 14 years of age in the elementary schools. (2) That the children shall afterwards write essays on what they have heard. (3) That the two best essays written by children of each age in each school taking part (one by a boy and one by a girl) shall be selected by the head teacher and forwarded to the Ministry of Food to be read. (4) That the stamp of the Ministry of Food shall be placed on each essay thus sent in, and a few words of appreciation written by the speaker who has addressed the children. (5) That the essays shall be returned to the head teachers, and handed by them to the writers. It is suggested that parents as well as children will become interested, and that, later, a meeting of mothers might be held, followed perhaps by practical demonstrations if desired. Head teachers who desire the children of their departments to take part in the scheme are asked to apply to Mrs. M. S. Reeves, Director of Women's Service, Ministry of Food, Grosvenor House, W.1, by whom arrangements will be made for speakers to be sent to the schools.

PLAY CENTRES.

Play is one of the great natural powers for the prevention of much evil and the development of lasting good. During the dark days of winter play centres should be established in all districts where children dwell. The following are the new Regulations for Evening Play Centres recently issued by the Board of Education [Cd. 8730]: 1. (a) The Board of Education will make grants during each financial year, commencing on April 1, in aid of evening play centres, hereinafter called centres, which provide after school hours and on Saturdays for the recreation and physical welfare under adequate supervision of children attending public elementary schools. (b) The grant payable in a financial year will be based on the work done and the pay

ments made during the previous financial year except that the grant payable in the financial year commencing on April 1, 1918, will be based on the payments made during the eight months from August 1, 1917, to March 31, 1918. 2. (a) Every centre must be under the direction of some body of managers which the Board will regard as responsible for the efficient conduct of the work and for the observance of the regulations and to which they will pay the grant. (b) Where the body of managers is not the local education authority, a person must be appointed to act as correspondent on behalf of the managers with the Board or with the local education authority. (c) Where the body of managers is not the local education authority, the board will not pay grants to the centre if it is not recognized by the authority for the purposes of section 13 of the Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907, and (unless the circumstances are exceptional) if it is not aided by the authority either by placing premises at the disposal of the body of managers free of any charge for rent and for heating, lighting, and cleaning, or in some other manner. 3. Every centre must be suitable in character and financial position to receive aid from the Board and must not be conducted for private profit or farmed out to any member of the staff. 4. The premises of the centre, unless it is conducted in the premises of a public elementary school, must be approved by the Board for the purpose. They must be sanitary, convenient, safe in case of fire, and suitably equipped. In fine weather on Saturdays and during the summer months as much use as possible should be made of playgrounds, parks, recreation grounds, and other available open spaces. 5. (a) There must be a superintendent for every centre who will be responsible for the general conduct, supervision, and discipline. (b) The assistant staff must be adequate and suitable. 6. (a) Admission to the centre must be limited to children attending a public elementary school. (b) No child while excluded from school on account of infectious illness in its home may be permitted to attend the centre. (7) The centre should, as a rule, meet on not less than three evenings in the week and sixty times during the year. Meetings should

be of not less than 1 hours in duration. 8. All returns called for by the Board must be duly made. 9. A record must be kept of the number of children in attendance at each meeting. 10. The centre must be open at all reasonable times to inspection by the Board and by the local education authority. At least a full week's notice of any alteration in the time of meeting of the centre or of its temporary closure must be given to the Board's inspector. 11. Application for recognition or for continuance of recognition of the centre must be made to the Board annually, through the local education authority, on the prescribed form, and should ordinarily reach the Board not less than a month before the date on which the centre opens. 12. (a) Where, in the Board's opinion, the centre is conducted efficiently and with due regard to economy, grant may be paid at a rate not exceeding one half of the approved expenditure on maintenance. (b) In fixing the rate of grant the Board will take into consideration the scope, character, and efficiency of the work. In particular the Board will have regard to: (i) the period of the year during which the centre was open; (ii) the number and length of the meetings held during the period; (iii) the number of attendances made by the children during the period. 13. The Board may disregard any items of expenditure which, in their opinion, should not be taken into account for the purpose of the grant. If it is proposed to make a claim for grant in respect of expenditure on rent or special equipment, the Board should be informed before the expenditure is incurred. 14. When the work of a centre has been completed in any year, a statement in a prescribed form of the work done during the year should be forwarded to the Board, together with a statement of the receipts and expenditure for the year. 15. Payment of grant is subject to the fulfilment of the conditions laid down in these regulations, but if any of the conditions have not been fulfilled the Board may nevertheless, when there are special circumstances which would justify it, pay such grant as they may think fit. 16. Grants under these regulations must be applied solely for the purposes of play centres

recognized by the Board. If the grant payable is found to exceed the outstanding liabilities, an instalment not exceeding the outstanding liabilities may be paid, but payment will not be completed until the work has been resumed in the next session. 17. If any question arises as to the interpretation of these regulations, the decision of the Board shall be final. 18. The regulations will take effect from August 1, 1917.

MEMORANDA.

The National War Savings Committee, Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, E.C.4, have issued notes for use with their "War Saving Lectures."

The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, 3, St. James's Square, S. W. 1, continue to issue valuable special leaflets. No. 78 is devoted to "The Profitable Utilization of Surplus Milk."

Kindergarten Legislation," by Louise Schofield, Editor of the National Kindergarten Association and Special Collaborator of the Bureau of Education, issued as Bulletin No. 45 of the Bureau of Education of the Department of the Interior, Washington, gives in concise and tabular form a summary of legislation in regard to the establishment and maintenance of kindergartens in the United States of America, with suggestions for obtaining new legislation on the subject.

A special series of preparations has just been placed on exhibition at the Horniman Museum, Forest Hill, S. E., to illustrate the stages in the life-histories of numerous insects which damage the food plants grown in gardens and allotments. Specimens and models showing the damage done are also exhibited, and means of cmbating the pests are indicated. Copies of the leaflets of the Board of Agriculture dealing with the insects shown may be obtained on personal application at the Museum. The late Lord Kitchener's collection of Eastern arms is still on view at this Museum.

The Bureau of the Census of the Department of Commerce, Washington, has issued, as Bulletin 121, a set of informing general tables regarding "Prisoners and Juvenile Delinquents."

QUEEN VICTORIA'S JUBILEE

INSTITUTE FOR NURSES.

was

This body was incorporated by Royal Charter in September, 1889, and endowed by Her late Majesty Queen Victoria with £70,000, the offering of the women of Great Britain and Ireland, on the occasion of the celebration of the fiftieth year of her reign. The objects to which the annual income of the fund is to be applied are stated in the Charter to be "the training, support and maintenance of women to act as nurses for the sick poor." The Queen's Institute is governed by a Council nominated by Her Majesty Queen Alexandra. Twenty-four members of this Council are appointed directly by Her Majesty; the remainder are recommended by the Council and bodies representative of nursing interests throughout the country. There is a President and four Trustees nominated by Her Majesty, a Chairman of the Council, an Hon. Treasurer, and three Hon. Secretaries. The staff includes a General Superintendent, Superintendents for Ireland and Wales, a Nursing Superintendent, and eight Inspectors in England, one Inspector in Wales, one in Ireland, a Treasurer and a Secretary with the necessary assistants. The Scottish Council undertakes the management of the work of the Institute in Scotland. Queen's nurses must hold an approved certificate for three years' hospital training, and in addition they receive six months' experience in district nursing in an approved home, and if they are employed as midwives they must be certified under the Midwives Act. A hospital-trained nurse engaged by the Institute for district training enters one of the affiliated homes for six months, during which time she works in

the district under the instruction and close supervision of the superintendent. She learns how to adapt the knowledge and skill she has gained in hospital to the circumstances of her district patients, and how to make the best of the unfavourable conditions and limited appliances available in a poor home. The course of district training includes lectures, with special application to district work, on hygiene and domestic sanitation, sick room cookery, gynæcological nursing, social subjects, tuberculosis, and instruction in health work. A nurse engaged by the Institute for training has at the end of the first, the trial month, to sign an agreement to serve the Institute where it requires her to do so for a certain period, varying with the training received, after the completion of her training. At the end of six months' training, before enrolment, the nurse is required to do a simple final examination in practical nursing. On the completion of her district training the nurse under agreement to the Institute is sent to work in an affiliated association. In addition to the nurses under agreement to the Institute, suitable nurses trained by and working under affiliated associations, who fulfil the required qualifications, are enrolled as Queen's nurses. Before the nurses' names are entered on the roll of Queen's nurses they are submitted to the Patron. They receive the badge and brassard of the Institute on appointment. In rural areas many nurses are under the supervision of a county. superintendent who is a Queen's nurse. In rural country districts there is neither work nor funds to justify the engagement of a Queen's nurse, and yet there exists a great want of care for ordinary ailments and chronic cases. Above all, there is the crying need of trained nurses

for maternity cases, both as midwives and monthly nurses. County nursing associations in affiliation with the Queen's Institute are therefore organized to provide an improved system of nursing in rural districts, with a view to co-operating with associations already existing. The number of Queen's nurses who have gone to nurse the wounded has continually increased until, at the end of the year 1916, 589 Queen's nurses were away from their districts for work in connection with the War. In the military hospitals abroad and at home, in the clearing stations, on the hospital ships and ambulance trains, in fact wherever the call for trained nurses is heard, there the Queen's nurses are to be found giving of their best to help those who have been injured in the great conflict. The Committee of the Institute have permitted those Queen's nurses who have volunteered for military duty, but intend to return to district nursing, to retain their badges and brassards. Those Queen's nurses who have remained at home are being called upon to take an important part in connection with the schemes for maternal and child welfare work, which have received a great impetus from the grants promised by the Local Government Board and the Board of Education. In many districts the Queen's nurses are assisting with the maternity centres and schools for mothers, their special training and experience making them particularly suited for this work. There is also a constant demand for their services to fill posts as health visitors in connection with the affiliated associations, or as whole-time officials under the health authorities. On January 1 of this year there were 2,143 Queen's nurses at work in the United Kingdom, and 1,108 village nurses employed by associations affiliated to the county nursing associations. The total number of nurses on December 31, 1916, in connection with the Institute, including Queen's nurses and those in training, village nurses, and midwives, was 4,106. This total includes the Queen's nurses who are undertaking duty in connection with the War. Further particulars may be obtained on application to the General Superintendent, 58, Victoria Street, S.W.1 (Telephone : Victoria 685).

THE LONDON JUVENILE
ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

We are indebted to Mr. R. A. Bray, the Chairman of the London Juvenile Advisory Committee, for the following statement regarding the aims and work of his Committee. The London Juvenile Advisory is a Committee appointed by the Ministry of Labour to assist that Department in the management of the juvenile side of the Employment Exchanges. This Committee has formed twenty local committees to deal with the twenty different Employment Exchanges. The committees consist of representatives nominated by the education committee, of employers, trade unionists, teachers and others interested in the well-being of juveniles. The school doctor for the district is a member of the local committee. The committees work in close touch with the education committee. Taking the work of the two together the following are the objects aimed at: (1) To advise the child about to leave school as to suitable employment. The committees have before them the school record of the child (including the report of the school doctor). (2) To find the child, on leaving school, suitable employment. Efforts are made for the officers to visit systematically the employers of the district. There are arrangements whereby vacancies in one district are made available for a boy or girl living in another district. (3) To keep in touch with the children after they are placed, and render them such assistance as boys and girls require when first entering the ranks of industry. The committees deal with juveniles up to the age of 17, and a great part of the work is connected with the placing and supervision of juveniles who have already been in employment. During the last twelve months the number of cases dealt with in London was about 100,000.

NEW YORK ASSOCIATION FOR IMPROVING THE CONDITION OF THE POOR.

This body, under the general direction of Mr. Bailey B. Burritt, has two departments that of Social Welfare, and that of Family Welfare. The latter is under

the direction of Mr. William H. Matthews, who is also a member of the Board of Child Welfare for New York City. Care and instruction in cases of tuberculosis, and general work in the interests of child welfare are prominent features of the work done by the Association. All field workers strive to raise the standard of living, and widows are pensioned so that they may remain at home to properly care for the children. About seventy

families, in which there is at least one tuberculous patient, are housed under one roof called a Home Hospital. Each of these families has its own home with medical attention and instruction in feeding and sanitation, but many other families in which there is tuberculosis are visited in their respective homes outside the hospital. Where children are malnourished a trained dietitian has been sent to the homes to give instruction with regard to proper feeding. During the summer the children most in need of good food and fresh air are sent to the country and to fresh-air camps when possible. The Department of Social Welfare has been instrumental in getting nutrition clinics into effective operation in connection with some of the hospitals. It also maintains "school lunches" in many of the public schools where good nourishing food is provided at a minimum cost. The particular function of the Bureau of Home Economics is to co-operate with all the various activities in which there are food and nutrition problems. It bases advice on a scientific study of needs and the way in which these may be met by food for the least expenditure of money. It seeks to develop food habits consistent with low incomes, but which will at the same time be adapted to the needs of growing children. Further particulars may be obtained on application to Miss Lucy H. Gillett, Supervisor of the Bureau of Home Economics of the Department of Family Welfare, 105, East 22nd Street, New York City, U.S.A.

THE KING ALFRED SCHOOL

SOCIETY.

The headquarters of this Society are situated at 24, Ellerdale Road, Hampstead, N.W.1. The Society was formed

to promote the advancement of educational science and to establish schools in which certain modern theories of education might be given practical expression. Some of the distinguishing features of the propaganda are as follows: (1) Coeducation, in the belief that by living and learning together boys and girls best prepare for their common life in later years, and most surely develop in each other the characteristic virtues of manliness and womanliness. (2) Discouragement of Competition by the abolition of class marks and prizes, and by the encouragement of the habit of working for its own sake. (3) Discipline based on (a) an ideal of self-discipline, (b) a belief in the educational value of personal liberty, and (c) a disbelief in the efficacy of artificial penalties (corporal punishment, lines, &c.); exemplified by giving the children an active share in the government of the school and the classroom, and imposing only such rules as can be justified to the child's own reason. (4) Preparation for a Full and Complete Life rather than for the study or the counting-house alone. With this object special attention is given to (a) Healthy conditions of work: Short periods, much open air, little or no home-work. The formation of habits which shall fit the children to become efficient members of an enlightened and humane society. (c) The cultivation of the powers of observation, the acquirement of vital ideas and the encouragement of selfexpression in art and craft, and in the spoken and written word. (d) The coordination of study, so that literature and the other arts, history and the sciences shall be regarded as interdependent, and of equal value in the material from which the equipment of life is to be drawn. (e) The strengthening of the child's mind by self-activity rather than the mere filling of it with cut and dried information. (f) The development of the child's individuality and latent abilities by means of small classes (seldom more than 15), and by encouraging questions and the expression of opinion upon the subjects in hand. Further particulars may be obtained on application to the Hon. Secretary, Miss N. Spiller, at the above address.

(b)