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Colonial Secretary and to warn the Public on August 11 that the ch ildren
were once again being deprived of their milk by the Government 's action
to defeat a combination of contractors who were extorting an undue price
for milk required at other pub lic institutions .
Although the Asylum
farm in 1867 supplied only 120,913 1 /2 pints frc-m about thirty cows , an
amount 5,000 pints less than the children were entitled to l.ave by the
ration scale adopted by the Royal Commission in 1859 and confirmed by the
Gleadow Commission in 1867, milk was now being supplied also to the General
Hospital , the Cascades and the Brickfields , with the result that the
children were being deprived of about 33% of their previous allowance,
with no other article of nutriment being supplied as a substitute for the
reduction.
What was promised to be a temporary measure to defeat
extortion had become a permanent practice;
even the reduced allowance
was frequently not all supplied, and its quality often diluted by water.
Alone of all the citizens in Hobart Town , he pleaded with the Parliament
and the Pub lic not to tolerate such wantonly cruel economy . l 9
'
Again, in the Mercury on April 19, 1871, he argued strongly
against Coverdale's suggestion that twice the numb er of chi ldren at present
in the Asylum could be accommodated, if the Government wished to increas e
indoor-relief to the children of the poor.
He insisted that one ward now
contained sixty-nine beds , in four rows , so close together that they almost
touched one another at the sides with the result that the occupants scarcely
had one half the breathing space of five hundred cubic feet recommended by
Boards of 1859 and 1867.
Eventua lly , this rather heated dispute between
Coverdale and Hall over space and ventilation in the Orphan School was
referred for a decision to the Builder which decided in favour of Hall's
contentions . 2 0
By early 1871 Hall was feeling thoroughly disillusioned at the
turn of events in Hobart Town:
large numb ers of vagrant, neglected
chi ldren were still roaming the streets ;
the 11Deserted Wives and Fami lies
Act" , and the 11Compulso ry Education Act11 were not being put into force;
out-door relief to the poor was increasing, though there was no sign of
any improvement in their phys ical and moral state, and there was still no
adequate supervision and protection of apprentices from the Asylum .
Furthermore, after struggling for so many years to improve the condition
B
20
Mercury, Aug . 11, 1868 .
Mercury Apri l 19, 1871 ; April 24, 1871; Nov . 27, 1871.