33 & 34 Vict. c. 75.

(3) That there is no public elementary school open which the child can attend within such distance, not exceeding three miles, measured according to the nearest road from the residence of such child, as the byelaws may prescribe. The school board, not less than one month before submitting any byelaw under this section for the approval of the Education Department, shall deposit a printed copy of the proposed byelaws at their office for inspection by any ratepayer, and supply a printed copy thereof gratis to any ratepayer, and shall publish a notice of such deposit.

The Education Department before approving of any byelaws shall be satisfied that such deposit has been made and notice published, and shall cause such inquiry to be made in the school district as they think requisite.

Any proceeding to enforce any byelaw may be taken, and any penalty for the breach of any byelaw may be recovered, in a summary manner; but no penalty imposed for the breach of any byelaw shall exceed such amount as with the costs will amount to five shillings for each offence (c), and such byelaws shall not come into operation until they have been sanctioned by Her Majesty in Council.

It shall be lawful for Her Majesty, by Order in Council, to sanction the said byelaws, and thereupon the same shall have effect as if they were enacted in this Act.

All byelaws sanctioned by Her Majesty in Council under this section shall be set out in an appendix to the annual report of the Education Department (d).

Declaration

of duty of parent to

educate child.

THE ELEMENTARY EDUCATION ACT, 1876.
39 & 40 VICT. c. 79.

PART I.

Law as to Employment and Education of Children.

4 It shall be the duty of the parent of every child to cause such child to receive efficient elementary instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and if such parent fail to perform such duty, he shall be liable to such orders and penalties as are provided by this Act.

(c) Now twenty shillings, ibid.,

8. 6.

(d) By 43 & 44 Vict. c. 23, subss. 2, 3, further provision is made to secure the making of byelaws

under this section. By 63 & 64 Vict. c. 53, s. 6, the sanction of the Board of Education is substituted.

5 A person shall not, after the commencement of this take into his employment (except as hereinafter in this mentioned) any child—

Act,

Act

(1) Who is under the age of ten (e) years; or
(2) Who, being of the age of ten () years or upwards, has not
obtained such certificate either of his proficiency in reading,
writing, and elementary arithmetic, or of previous due
attendance at a certified efficient school, as is in this Act in
that behalf mentioned, unless such child, being of the age of
ten years or upwards, is employed, and is attending school
in accordance with the provisions of the Factory Acts, or of
any byelaw of the local authority hereinafter mentioned
made under section seventy-four of the Elementary Educa-
tion Act, 1870, as amended by the Elementary Education
Act, 1873, and this Act, and sanctioned by the Education
Department.

6 Every person who takes a child into his employment in contravention of this Act shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings. (f)

9 A person shall not be deemed to have taken any child into his employment contrary to the provisions of this Act, if it is proved to the satisfaction of the Court having cognizance of the case either

39 & 40 Vict. c. 79.

Regulation as to employ

ment of child

under ten, and certificate of education or previous

school attendance being condition of employment

of child

over ten.

Penalty for employing a

child in contravention

of Act. Exception to prohibition of employ

ment of

(1) That during the employment there is not within two miles, children.
measured according to the nearest road, from the residence
of such child any public elementary school open which the
child can attend; or

(2) That such employment, by reason of being during the
school holidays, or during the hours during which the
school is not open, or otherwise, does not interfere with
the efficient elementary instruction of such child, and that
the child obtains such instruction by regular attendance for

(e) Now twelve by virtue of 62 & 63 Vict. c. 13, 8. 1.

(f) 43 & 44 Vict. c. 23, s. 4. Every person who takes into his employment a child of the age of ten and under the age of thirteen years resident in a school district, before that child has obtained a certificate of having reached the standard of education fixed by a byelaw in force in the district for the total or partial exemption of children of the like age from the obligation to attend school, shall be deemed to take such child into his employment in contravention of the

Elementary Education Act, 1876,
and shall be liable to a penalty
accordingly.

Proceedings may, in the discretion
of the local authority or person in-
stituting the same, be taken for
punishing the contravention of a
byelaw, notwithstanding that the
act or neglect or default alleged
as such contravention constitutes
habitual neglect to provide efficient
elementary education for a child
within the meaning of sec. 11 of
the Elementary Education Act,
1876.

39 & 40 Vict. c. 79.

Provision as
to order of
Court for
attendance
at school of
child habitu-
ally neglected
by parent or
habitually
wandering
and consort-
ing with

criminals or
disorderly
persons.

full time at a certified efficient school or in some other equally efficient manner; or

(3) That the employment is exempted by the notice of the local authority hereinafter next mentioned; (that is to say,)

The local authority may, if it thinks fit, issue a notice exempting from the prohibitions and restrictions of this Act the employment of children above the age of eight years, for the necessary operations of husbandry and the ingathering of crops, for the period to be named in such notice Provided that the period or periods so named by any such local authority shall not exceed in the whole six weeks between the first day of January and the thirty-first day of December in any year.

The local authority shall cause a copy of every notice so issued to be sent to the Education Department and to the overseers of every parish within its jurisdiction, and the overseers shall cause such notice to be affixed to the door of all churches and chapels in the parish, and the local authority may further advertise any such notice in such manner (if any) as it may think fit.

11 If either

(1) The parent of any child above the age of five years who is under
this Act prohibited from being taken into full time employ-
ment, habitually and without reasonable excuse neglects to
provide efficient elementary instruction for his child; or
(2) Any child is found habitually wandering or not under proper
control, or in the company of rogues, vagabonds, disorderly
persons, or reputed criminals;

it shall be the duty of the local authority, after due warning to the
parent of such child, to complain to a Court of Summary Jurisdiction,
and such Court may, if satisfied of the truth of such complaint,
order that the child do attend some certified efficient school willing
to receive him and named in the order, being either such as the
parent may select, or, if he do not select any, then such public
elementary school as the Court think expedient, and the child shall
attend that school every time that the school is open, or in such
other regular manner as is specified in the order.

An order under this section is in this Act referred to as an attendance order.

Any of the following reasons shall be a reasonable excuse:
(1) That there is not within two miles, measured according to
the nearest road, from the residence of such child any public
elementary school open which the child can attend; or

(2) That the absence of the child from school has been caused by
sickness or any unavoidable cause.

12 Where an attendance order is not complied with, without 39 & 40 Vict. any reasonable excuse within the meaning of this Act, a Court of c. 79. Summary Jurisdiction, on complaint made by the local authority, may, if it think fit, order as follows:

Proceedings

on disobedience to order of

Court for

attendance at

(1) In the first case of non-compliance, if the parent of the child
does not appear, or appears and fails to satisfy the Court
that he has used all reasonable efforts to enforce compliance school.
with the order, the Court may impose a penalty not exceeding
with the costs five shillings,(y) but if the parent satisfies the
Court that he has used all reasonable efforts as aforesaid, the
Court may, without inflicting a penalty, order the child to
be sent to a certified day industrial school, or if it appears to
the Court that there is no such school suitable for the child,
then to a certified industrial school; and

(2) In the second or any subsequent case of non-compliance
with the order, the Court may order the child to be sent to
a certified day industrial school, or if it appears to the Court
that there is no such school suitable for the child then to a
certified industrial school,() and may further in its dis-
cretion inflict any such penalty as aforesaid, or it may for
each such non-compliance inflict any such penalty as afore-
said without ordering the child to be sent to an industrial
school;

Provided that a complaint under this section with respect to a continuing non-compliance with any attendance order shall not be repeated by the local authority at any less interval than two weeks.

A child shall be sent to a certified industrial school or certified day industrial school in pursuance of this section in like manner as if sent in pursuance of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, and when so sent shall be deemed to have been sent in pursuance of that Act and the Acts amending the same;() and the parent, if liable under the said Acts to contribute to the maintenance and training of his child when sent to an industrial school, shall be liable so to contribute when his child is sent in pursuance of this

section.

13 Where the local authority are informed by any person of any child in their jurisdiction who is stated by that person to be liable to be ordered by a Court under this Act to attend school, or

Duty of local authority as to taking proceedings under this Act or

29 & 30 Vict.

(i) 63 & 64 Vict. c. 53, s. 4,
provides power to pay expenses of c. 118.
conveyance of child, and to con-
tribute to the ultimate disposal of
child.

39 & 40 Vict. c. 79.

Licence to

child sent to industrial school to live out while attending school.

Establishment, &c., of day industrial schools.

to be sent under this Act, or the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, to an industrial school, it shall be the duty of the local authority to take proceedings under this Act or the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, accordingly, unless the local authority think that it is inexpedient to take such proceedings.

Provided that nothing in this section shall relieve the local authority from the responsibility of performing their duty under the other provisions of this Act.

Industrial School.

14 Where a child is sent to a certified industrial school under this Act or the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, upon the complaint or representation of the local authority under this Act, the managers of such school may, if they think fit, at any time after the expiration of one month after the child is so sent give him a licence under section twenty-seven of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, to live out of the school, but the licence shall be conditional upon the child attending as a day scholar, in such regular manner as is specified in the licence, some school willing to receive him and named in the licence, and being a certified efficient school.

Day Industrial School.

16 If a Secretary of State is satisfied that, owing to the circumstances of any class of population in any school district, a school in which industrial training, elementary education, and one or more meals a day, but not lodging, are provided for the children, is necessary or expedient for the proper training and control of the children of such class, he may, in like manner as under the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, certify any such school (in this Act referred to as a day industrial school) in the neighbourhood of the said population to be a certified day industrial school.

Any child authorised by the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, to be sent to a certified industrial school, may, if the Court before whom the child is brought think it expedient, be sent to a certified day industrial school; any child sent to a certified day industrial school by an order of a Court (other than an attendance order under this Act) may during the period specified in the order be there detained during such hours as may be authorised by the rules of the school approved by the said Secretary of State.

A certified day industrial school shall be deemed to be a certified efficient school within the meaning of this Act.

In the case of a certified day industrial school-
(1) A prison authority within the meaning of the Industrial
Schools Act, 1866, and a school board shall respectively
have the same powers in relation to a certified day industrial