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215
together. Joints of meat to be brought to table and
the children served according to their wants. No
official to have it in his power to treat as an act
of criminality a request to be helped a second or even
a third time at meals. During the intervals of meals,
any chi ld that asks for it ought to be promptly supplied
with a slice of dry bread.
Ha ll believed that no child, unless diseased, if treated this way,
would either eat too little or too much of simple, nutritious , palatable
foods.
This was the practice he had adopted with great success many
years ago in Liverpool -
overseas .
it was now being used in almost all orphanages
To assist in the planning of the chi ldren 's dietary, he
enclosed a daily scale of the foods required, together with a lengthy
discussion of the merits and defects of certain kinds of foodstuffs .
The starch principle in the old New Town allowance
preponderates greatly too much - even in the carbonaceous
portion - over the saccharine , oleaginous and acidulous .
For healthy assimilation they must bear a due proportion -
A person fed on bread alone can suffer from scurv'l and other
such like diseases of innutrition.
Hall b_egged the Executive not to allow the matter to fall into oblivion
again, nor the evils at the Orphans Schools to continue.
I have taken great pains to lay this matter before you
in a clear and comprehensive manner, because I am certain
that the official authority you wield would enable you,
were it efficiently exercised, to save about 14 out of
the 16 lives that have been annually sacrificed, on an
average for the last 18 years in the Orphan School .
·' ·
In its length , in the force of the comparisons it instituted, and in
the wide know ledge of modern dietary principles which it propounded,
Ha ll's letter was very convincing, revealing the intensity of his
fee1ings for the welfare of the orphan ch ildren. On April 25, the
Governor responded according ly, saying he had read the letter with very
great interest and wished to thank Hal l for his suggestions ; he
recommended the letter with its enclosed documents , including a copy
of the report of the Army Sanitary Commission, to the Commissioners who
were advised to invite Hall to give evidence at the enquiry.
For a few, short moments it seemed that the old tide of
convictism had turned at last . But it was not to be so easy. en
the composition of the Board of Enquiry was announced, Hal l's elation
was sadly dampened: contrary to his expre ssed wish for a competent and
impartial body, the Board cons isted of seven members , W. Henty, J. Agnew,
F. Innes , W. Nairn, W. Benson and E.S.P. Bedford, of wh om five were
GOvernment officers , two of their numb er, Nairn and Bedford, being
implicated in Hall's charges of mismanagement .