THE ELEMENTARY EDUCATION (ORDERS)

ACT, 1874.

(37 & 38 VICT., C. 90.)

AN ACT TO DECLARE THE VALIDITY OF ORDERS OF THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT WITH RESPECT TO UNITED SCHOOL DISTRICTS, AND TO MAKE BETTER PROVISION WITH RESPECT TO SUCH ORDERS.

[7th August, 1874.]

WHEREAS the Education Department, in pursuance of the Elementary Education Acts, 1870 and 1873, have made the orders mentioned in the schedule to this Act with respect to the united school districts mentioned in those orders:

And whereas, upon the application of a school board of one of the said united districts for a loan from the Public Works Loan Commissioners, doubts have been raised as to the validity of the said orders, or some of them, and the right of persons acting as members of a school board to act as such :

Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Short Title.

1. This Act may be cited as the "Elementary Education (Orders) Act, 1874."

Construction of Act.

2. This Act shall be construed as one with the Elementary Education Acts, 1870 and 1873, which are in this Act referred to as the principal Acts.

Validity of Orders in Schedule.

3. The orders made in pursuance of the principal Acts by the Education Department, which are mentioned in the schedule to this Act, shall be deemed to have been

authorised by those Acts, and to have been duly made, and shall have full effect accordingly; and as respects each of the said orders the school district formed thereby shall be deemed to have been and to be legally formed; and any school board which has been or is acting as such in any such district shall be deemed to have been and to be a legally constituted school board; and any persons who have been or are acting as members of a school board in any such district shall be deemed to have been legally chosen, and to have formed and to form a legal school board; and, on the retirement of all or any members of a school board in any such district, the vacancies may be filled up in the same manner in all respects as if such retiring members or member had been and were in all respects legally chosen members of a legally constituted school board.

Validity of future Orders.

4. From and after the passing of this Act the Education Department may, if they think fit, make orders directing that any school board, which at the date of any order for forming a united school district exists in any of the school districts constituting such united school district, shall either with or without any change in the existing members, or in the number of the members thereof, be the school board for the united school district.

THE ELEMENTARY EDUCATION ACT, 1876.

(39 & 40 VICT., C. 79.)

AN ACT TO MAKE FURTHER PROVISION FOR

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION.

[15th August, 1876.]

WHEREAS it is expedient to make further provision for the education of children, and for securing the fulfilment of parental responsibility in relation thereto, and otherwise to amend and to extend the Elementary Education Acts :

Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

PRELIMINARY.

Short Title.

1. This Act may be cited as the "Elementary Education Act, 1876."

This Act, and the Elementary Education Acts, 1870 and 1873, and the Elementary Education (Industrial Schools) Act, 1879, may be cited together as the Elementary Education Acts, 1870 to 1879 (42 & 43 Vict., c. 48, sec. 1). The Act is to be construed as one with the Elementary Education Act, 1880 (see 43 & 44 Vict., c 23, sec. 1).

Extent of Act.

2. This Act shall not, save as otherwise expressly provided, apply to Scotland or Ireland.

By sec. 53 it is provided that the provisions in this Act with respect to the conditions to be fulfilled by schools in order to obtain an annual parliamentary grant shall apply to Scotland.

Commencement of Act.

3. This Act shall, save as otherwise expressly provided, come into operation on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven (which day is in this Act referred to as the commencement of this Act).

The only provision which came into operation immediately was that contained in sec. 44, with regard to elections to fill casual vacancies in school boards.

PART I.

LAW AS TO EMPLOYMENT AND EDUCATION OF

CHILDREN.

Declaration of Duty of Parent to educate Child.

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.

Prior to the passing of the present Act there was no express statutory declaration as to the duty of a parent to cause his child to receive efficient elementary instruction. The word "child" is defined by sec. 48 as meaning a child between the ages of five and fourteen years.

66

Terms in this Act are, so far as is consistent with the tenor thereof, to have the same meaning as in the Elementary Education Acts, 1870 and 1873. The term parent," therefore, "includes guardian and every person who is liable to maintain or has the actual custody of any child" (see 33 & 34 Vict., c. 75, sec. 3, ante). This definition includes the father and grandfather, and the mother and grandmother of a child, as by the 43 Eliz., c. 2, sec. 7, they are liable to maintain the child. See also Hance v. Burnett, in note to sec. 11 of this Act, and Hance v. Fairhurst, and School Board for London v. Jackson, in note to sec. 12. For provisions as to orders and penalties, see secs. 11, 12, and 37.

Regulation as to Employment of Child under 10, and Certificate of Education or previous School Attendance being Condition of Employment of Child over 10.

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

(1.) Who is under the age of ten years; or

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 bye-law of the

The

local authority (hereinafter mentioned) made under section seventy-four of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, as amended by the Elementary Education Act, 1873, and this Act, and sanctioned by the Education Department.

commencement of this Act" was the 1st of January, 1877. Certain temporary modifications as to the application of the Act were made by sec. 51, but they have now ceased to be operative, and that section is repealed.

Sec. 25 affords facilities for obtaining certified copies of the entries in the register of births for the purpose of this section. See also Regulations of the Education Department as to certificates of age in Appendix, p. 608.

As to the standards of proficiency in reading, writing, and elementary arithmetic, and of previous due attendance at a certified efficient school, for certificates under this Act, see sec. 24 and Rules 1 and 2, in the first schedule. The Regulations which have been issued by the Education Department with reference to these certificates will be found in the Appendix, pp. 608-614. These Regulations also provide for the local authorities granting "Labour Certificates" in the cases of children qualified for total or partial exemption from school attendance under the bye-laws of the district, or for employment under this section.

The term "certified efficient school" is defined by sec. 48.

As to the definition of the term "Factory Acts," see sec. 48. The definition does not include the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887, 50 & 51 Vict., c. 58. For provisions of the Factory and Workshop Acts, 1878 and 1891, and the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887, as to the employment of children and their attendance at school, see pp. 462-473.

It is to be observed, however, that as regards children between the ages of ten and thirteen years the question of the legality of the employment of a child now depends on whether the child is or is not wholly or partially exempt under the bye-laws in force in the district from attendance at school, as sec. 4 of the Elementary Education Act, 1880 (43 & 44 Vict., c. 23, post), provides to the effect that any person who takes into his employment a child of the age of ten and under the age of thirteen years before that child has obtained a certificate of having reached the standard of education fixed by a bye-law 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.

This Act applies to children up to the age of fourteen years, whilst bye-laws can only apply to children under the age of thirteen years. The question as to the legality of the employment of a child between thirteen and fourteen will therefore depend on this Act and not on the bye-laws.

After the 1st January, 1893, the provision in sec. 18 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1891, post, as to the prohibition of the employment in a factory or workshop of a child under the age of eleven years, will apply.

A parent who employs his child in any labour exercised by way of trade, or for the purposes of gain, is to be deemed for the purposes of this Act to take the child into his employment (sec. 47). For exceptions to the prohibition of the employment of children, see sec. 9. The