PDF (Whole thesis) - UTas ePrints - University of Tasmania

six and over, was an extravagance;
301
instead he proposed three-quarters
of a pint for the infants , and 10/16ths of a pint for the rest.
doing, the monthly milk supply was reduced from 14,245 1 / 4 pints to
10,791 1 1 2 pints; to make up the deficiency in diet so caused, he
By so
sggested the present scale of vegetab les be increased from six to eight
ounces daily.
making any alteration .
He was advised to consult Hall on the proposition before
I am fully sensible I am touching a delicate subject ,
he wrote to Hall on July 21, 1865,
and therefore hope you will be merciful in any strictures
you may think proper to offer on my daring . l O
As his reason for reducing the milk ration he gave the fact that , since
he had taken steps to have the milk delivered pure a.nd free from the
dilution from which it had previously suffered, cases of gastric derangement
accompanied by vomiting had occurred, especially amongst the infants;
concluded, therefore , that a reduced ration was desirable.
Hall was anything but merciful ;
he
indeed, he was 11sore 1y grieved'1
. '
and passed a sleepless night in consequence of Coverdale's letter.
I did expect that you would joyfully have let well alone,
he wrote in reply to Coverdale on July 24.
was anguished and condemnatory.
His long letter in protest
After the 11glorious11 results which
fo llowed the improved dietary ordered by the 1859 Commission, and the
excellent state of health in which Smart handed over the chi ldren to
Coverdale, Hall considered the alteration in diet a retrograde step,
contrary to the instructions issued by Nairn at the enquiry that no
change was to be made in the diet, based on that of the Military School
at Chelsea, without a scientific calculation as to its nutritive value,
and specially no diminution in its nitrogenous element .
Now , angrily
chastising Coverdale for his irresponsib ility and neglect of modern
scientific dietetic principles , Hall launched into a long irrefutable
argument on the necessity for an ample ration of milk
of the cost . 10
irrespective
Intensely sincere ancl earnest in his endeavours to
maintain a high standard of health in the children, he had little patience
with political argument about expenditure, believing it far more
11statesmanlike11 to feed children properly to develop their minds and bodies
and thus to prevent them from becoming weakly, diseased paupers and
criminals , a burden to the state in the future.
10 H.A.P. 1867/38.