section, shall be construed as if "school board" included the authority authorised by this Act to make bye-laws :

Provided, that nothing in any bye-law shall authorise the authority making the same in pursuance of this Act to remit or pay any fees.

It shall be the duty of every local authority to enforce the bye-laws made by that authority in pursuance of section seventy-four of the Elementary Education Act, 1870.

For provisions of sec. 74 of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, with regard to bye-laws, see p. 181. See also notes on that section.

With reference to the proviso in this section that "nothing in any byelaw shall authorise the authority making the same in pursuance of this Act to remit or pay any fees," the words "in pursuance of this Act” are to be noted. A school board will make bye-laws in pursuance of the Act of 1870, and not of this Act, and consequently the bye-laws of a school board may provide as to the remission of fees in schools provided by the board. The powers of a school board to pay school fees have ceased. The only local authorities who by this Act are authorised to make byelaws are the school attendance committees (see sec. 21), and they are precluded by the proviso in question from providing for the payment or remission of school fees.

Under the Education Act of 1870 there was no obligation on a school board to enforce the bye-laws made by them; but this section renders it the duty of the school board or other local authority by whom bye-laws are made, to take the necessary proceedings for enforcing them. The duty which devolves on the inspectors or sub-inspectors under sec. 7 refers to "the employment of children in factories, workshops, and mines, in contravention of the Act, and not the enforcement of bye-laws as to school attendance.

As to powers for obtaining from the managers of a public elementary school information with respect to the attendance of children at the school, see sec. 22 of the 36 & 37 Vict., c. 86, ante.

As regards the appointment of officers for the enforcement of bye-laws, see sec. 28 of this Act and arts. 4 and 12 of the Order of the Local Government Board of 14th April, 1877 (Appendix, pp. 648, 650).

ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.

Supplemental Provisions as to Certificates of Proficiency and Previous Attendance at School.

24. The certificates of proficiency of a child in reading, writing, and elementary arithmetic, and of the previous due attendance of a child at a certified efficient school for the purposes of this Act, shall be certificates of proficiency and previous due attendance ascertained according to the standards set forth in the first schedule to this Act, and

such certificate shall be granted to the child entitled to the same free of cost or charge to such child, or to the parent of such child.

The Education Department may from time to time by order make, and when made revoke and vary, regulations with respect to certificates of age for the purposes of this Act and the persons by whom and the form in which certificates of the said proficiency and due attendance are to be granted, and with respect to other matters relating thereto, and with respect to the preservation of registers and other records of such proficiency and attendance, and such regulations shall be observed by the local authority and the managers of certified efficient schools.

All regulations made by the Education Department under this section shall be laid before Parliament in the same manner as minutes of the Education Department, relating to the annual parliamentary grant.

As regards the standards of proficiency in reading, writing, and elementary arithmetic, and previous due attendance at school, which are prescribed in the first schedule, see p. 337.

The regulations which have been issued by the Education Department with regard to certificates of age and of proficiency and previous due attendance will be found in the Appendix, p. 608.

""

For definition of " certified efficient schools see secs. 16 and 48.

Certificates of Birth for purposes of Act.

25. Where the age of any child is required to be ascertained or proved for the purposes of this Act, or for any purpose connected with the elementary education or employment in labour of such child, any person on presenting a written requisition in such form and containing such particulars as may be from time to time prescribed by the Local Government Board, and on payment of such fee, not exceeding one shilling, as the Local Government Board from time to time fix, shall be entitled to obtain

a

certified copy under the hand of the registrar or superintendent registrar of the entry in the register under the Births and Deaths Registration Acts, 1836 to 1874, of the birth of the child named in the requisition.

The Local Government Board, by an order dated the 22nd February, 1877 (see Appendix, p. 615), prescribed the form of requisition, provided for by this section and fixed sixpence as the fee to be paid to the registrar or superintendent registrar for each certified copy furnished by him under the section of the entry in the register of the birth of a child.

It is only upon a requisition in such form and containing such particulars as may be prescribed by the Local Government Board that the registrar is required to give for the fee of sixpence a certified copy of the entry in the register. The form of requisition prescribed by the Local Government Board requires that it shall show "in what year the child was born," and if this information is not given it would appear that a registrar would be justified in declining to act upon the requisition until the form has been properly filled up. A search in the indexes prepared under the Act 6 & 7 Wm. 4, c. 86, would probably enable the applicant to ascertain the precise year of birth for filling up the form, and when a search is requested for this purpose, the registrar is entitled to the usual search fee. It is considered that it is only under these circumstances that a fee can properly be demanded for a search for an entry of a birth of which a certificate is required under the provisions of this section.

The enactments in this section will, however, from and after the 1st January, 1892, be practically superseded by sec. 20 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1891 (54 & 55 Vict., c. 75). That section is as follows:

"Where the age of any child or young person under the age of sixteen years is required to be ascertained or proved for the purposes of this Act, or for any purpose connected with the elementary education or employment in labour of such child or young person, any person shall, on presenting a written requisition in such form, and containing such particulars as may be from time to time prescribed by the Local Government Board, and on payment of a fee of sixpence, be entitled to obtain a certified copy under the hand of a registrar or superintendent registrar of the entry in the register under the Births and Deaths Registration Acts, 1836 to 1874, of the birth of that child or young person; and such form of requisition shall on request be supplied without charge by every superintendent registrar and registrar of births, deaths and marriages."

A penny inland revenue stamp is not required to be affixed to these certificates, as they are issued pursuant to and for the purposes of an Act of Parliament, and are therefore exempt from stamp duty. (33 & 34 Vict., c. 97, Sched.)

Returns of Registrars of Births and Deaths to

School Boards.

26. Every registrar of births and deaths, when and as required by a local authority, shall transmit, by post or otherwise, a return of such of the particulars registered by him concerning deaths and births of children as may be specified in the requisition of the local authority.

The local authority may supply a form, approved by the Local Government Board, for the purpose of the return, and in that case the return shall be made in the form so supplied.

The local authority may pay, as part of their expenses under this Act, to the registrar making such return such fee as may be agreed upon between them and the registrar,

not exceeding twopence for every birth and death entered in such return.

The "local authority" for the purposes of this section are school boards, and school attendance committees, as defined by secs. 7 and 33. This section appears intended to provide for those cases where the local authority deem it desirable that they should be regularly supplied with particulars of the several births and deaths registered by the registrar for the district; whilst sec. 25 meets the case where information is required as to the age of a particular child. It will be observed that the section only refers to the registrar and not to the superintendent registrar also.

The Local Government Board have approved of a form of return for the purpose of this section. The form is published by Messrs. Knight & Co., 90 Fleet Street, E.C.

Where a local authority under the powers given by this section have obtained a return of the births of children in their district, which will enable them to grant age certificates to individual children, they are, on the application of any parent or other person interested in the education or employment of a child, to grant a certificate under the hand of their clerk or other officer deputed for this purpose, for a fee not exceeding fourpence for each child. See Regulations of the Education Department in Appendix, p. 608.

A certificate from a local authority to the effect that it appears from the returns transmitted to them in pursuance of this Act by the Registrar of Births and Deaths that the child was born at the date named in the certificate, will be sufficient for the purposes of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1878 (41 Vict., c. 16). See sec. 30 of that Act in Appendix.

Provision in case of Failure of Local Authority to
perform their Duty under this Act.

27. If the Education Department are satisfied, after such inquiry and such notice to any local authority as they think expedient, that such authority have failed to fulfil their duty under this Act, the Education Department (without prejudice to any other remedy) (1)—

(a.) If the authority are a school board, may proceed as if such board were a school board in default within the meaning of the Elementary Education Act, 1870 (2); and

(b) If the authority are not a school board, may by order appoint any persons for a specified period not exceeding two years to perform the duty of the defaulting school attendance committee under this Act, and from time to time change such persons. (3)

During the said specified period the persons so appointed shall perform the duty of the defaulting school attendance committee under this Act, to the exclusion of that com

mittee, and shall in the performance and for the purposes of such duty be invested with all the powers of the school attendance committee, but shall not be subject to any control on the part of the council or guardians who appointed the defaulting committee; but after the expiration of such period a school attendance committee shall forthwith be appointed by the council or guardians, as the case may require, and shall resume the duty of the local authority under this Act, subject nevertheless to any further proceeding under this section in the case of a new default.

All expenses incurred by persons appointed under this section by the Education Department to act in lieu of a defaulting school attendance committee, including such remuneration (if any) as the Education Department may assign to such persons, shall, to the amount certified by the Education Department to be due, be a debt to Her Majesty from the council or guardians by whom the defaulting committee were appointed, and may be recovered accordingly; and the certificate of the Education Department shall be conclusive evidence that the sum named in the certificate is due under this section.

The Education Department shall annually report to Parliament the cases in which any proceedings have been taken by them in pursuance of this section.

(1) This section applies only to the default of a school board or of a school attendance committee as defined by secs. 7 and 33. Boards of guardians are not "local authorities" for the purposes of the Act, and consequently a default on their part would not be within the terms of this section.

The Education Department may, if they think fit, proceed under this section when "a local authority" make default with regard to making bye-laws respecting the attendance of children at school. (See sec. 2 of the 43 & 44 Vict., c. 23, post.)

(2) As to the proceedings of the Education Department when a school board are in default under the Education Act, 1870, see secs. 63, 64 and 66 of that Act.

(3) It will be observed that when the Education Department appoint persons to discharge the duties of a defaulting school attendance committee, they may assign to them remuneration for their services.

Officers of Local Authority.

28. Every local authority, but subject in the case of a school attendance committee to the approval hereinafter mentioned, shall direct one or more of their officers, or the officers of the council or guardians by whom the committee