and is resident in any parish shall be charged by the guardians having jurisdiction in such parish to that parish with other parochial charges.

As to the powers of guardians with reference to the payment of the school fees of non-pauper children, see sec. 10.

For regulations issued by the Local Government Board with regard to the proceedings of guardians and their officers in respect to the payment of the school fees, see Appendix, p. 617.

Effect of Subsequent Appointment of School Board,

36. Where a school board is appointed after the commencement of this Act for any school district, the authority acting at the time of such appointment as the local authority under this Act shall continue so to act until the expiration of two months after the election of such board, and shall then cease so to act for such district; nevertheless, all byelaws previously made by the local authority shall continue in force, subject to being revoked or altered in respect of that district by the school board in pursuance of section seventy-four of the Elementary Education Act, 1870.

For the provisions of sec. 74 of the Education Act, 1870, see p. 181.

LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.

Application of 36 & 37 Vict., c. 86, ss. 23-5, to Penalties and Punishment for fraudulently obtaining Payment of Fees.

37. Sections twenty-three, twenty-four, and twenty-five of the Elementary Education Act, 1873 (which provisions relate to legal proceedings, and the forgery of certificates), shall so far as applicable apply in the case of offences and penalties under this Act, and proceedings for such offences and penalties and of certificates for the purposes of this Act, in like manner as if those sections were enacted in this Act and in terms made applicable thereto. (1)

And every person who shall fraudulently obtain or enable or procure any other person to obtain from any school board or local authority payment, or remission of payment, or an order for payment, or remission of payment of any school fees, shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a period not exceeding fourteen days. (2)

An order which a court of summary jurisdiction have

authority to make in pursuance of this Act may be made in manner provided by the Summary Jurisdiction Acts. (3)

(1) For secs. referred to in the Elementary Education Act, 1873, see PP. 251-253, ante. See also secs. 38 and 39 of this Act, post.

As to the service by the police of summonses, the application for warrant of distress on non-payment of penalty, and the costs of proceedings and of distress warrant, see note on sec. 74 of the 33 & 34 Vict., c. 75, and as to the jurisdiction of justices when union extends into more than one county, and proceedings before justices who are ex-officio guardians, see sec. 34, p. 321.

(2) This provision, it will be observed, provides for cases where payment or remission of payment, or an order for payment or remission of payment of any school fees is fraudulently obtained from a school board or "local authority." A "local authority" for the purposes of the Act is the school attendance committee provided for by secs. 7 and 33, but the school attendance committee are not empowered to pay or remit the payment of school fees. The guardians alone are authorised by the Act to pay the fees, whether of pauper or non-pauper children, and the guardians, it would seem, are not a "local authority" within the meaning of the statute. It will also be borne in mind that sec. 25 of the Education Act of 1870 having been repealed by this Act, the power of a school board to pay school fees has ceased. This provision, therefore, can only apply to cases where the remission of payment or an order for the remission of payment is fraudulently obtained from a school board.

(3) The Summary Jurisdiction Acts are defined as meaning the 11 & 12 Vict., c. 43, and any Acts amending the same.

No Prosecutions except with the Authority of two Members of a School Board, or Local Authority.

38. No legal proceedings for non-attendance or irregular attendance at school shall be commenced in a court of summary jurisdiction, by any person appointed to carry out the compulsory bye-laws of a school board or local authority, except by the direction of not less than two members of a school board or school attendance committee.

As to the appointment of officers for this purpose by a school attendance committee, see secs. 28 and 31.

Exemption of Employer on Proof of Guilt of some
other Person.

39. Where the offence of taking a child into employment in contravention of this Act is in fact committed by an agent or workman of the employer, such agent or workman shall be liable to a penalty as if he were the employer.

Where a child is taken into employment in contravention of this Act on the production by or with the privity of the parent of a false or forged certificate, or on the false representation of his parent that the child is of an age at which such employment is not in contravention of this Act, that parent shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings.

Where an employer charged with taking a child into his employment in contravention of this Act proves that he has used due diligence to enforce the observance of this Act, and either that some agent or workman of his employed the child without his knowledge or consent, or that the child was employed either on the production of a forged or false certificate and under the belief in good faith in the genuineness and truth of such certificate, or on the representation by his parent that the child was of an age at which his employment would not be in contravention of this Act and under the belief in good faith in such representation, the employer shall be exempt from any penalty.

Where an employer satisfies the local authority, inspector, or other person about to institute a prosecution that he is exempt under this section by reason of some agent, workman, or parent being guilty, and gives all facilities in his power for proceeding against and convicting such agent, workman, or parent, such authority, inspector, or person shall institute proceedings against such agent, workman, or parent, and not against the employer.

The provisions in this Act regulating the employment of children are those contained in secs. 5 and 9. See also sec. 4 of the 43 & 44 Vict., c. 23, post, which is to be read as one with this Act.

The employer will be exempt from the penalty when he employs a child on the representation by the parent that the child is of an age at which he may be lawfully employed, and under the belief in good faith in the representation; but he will have no such exemption if he acts on the representation of the child. The parent is liable to a penalty for making a false representation, but no penalty attaches to a child who falsely represents his age. It is clear that it was intended that an employer should only accept the representation as to the age of a child from some responsible person, and that if he should dispense with this it should be at his own risk.

As to the definition of the term "parent," see note to sec. 11, ante.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Adaptation of 36 & 37 Vict., c. 86, s. 3, respecting
Pauper Children, to this Act.

40. Whereas by section three of the Elementary Education Act, 1873, provision is made respecting the payment by guardians of the fees of pauper children, and with the view to adapt the said section to the provisions of this Act, it is expedient to substitute for the said section the enactment following: Be it therefore enacted as follows:

Where relief out of the workhouse is given by the guardians or their order, by way of weekly or other continuing allowance to the parent of any child above the age of five years who has not reached the standard in reading, writing, and arithmetic prescribed by standard three of the Code of one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, or who for the time being either is prohibited by this Act from being taken into full time employment, or is required by any bye-law under section seventy-four of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, as amended by this Act, to attend school, or to any such child, it shall be a condition for the continuance of such relief that elementary education in reading, writing, and arithmetic shall be provided for such child, and the guardians shall give such further relief (if any) as may be necessary for that purpose. (1)

Any such relief to a parent as above mentioned shall not be granted on condition of the child attending any public elementary school other than such as may be selected by the parent, nor refused because the child attends or does not attend any particular public elementary school. (2)

The guardians shall not have power under this section to give any relief to a parent in order to enable such parent to pay more than the ordinary fee payable at the school which he selects, or more than the fee which under this Act they can enable a parent to pay in any other case. (3)

All relief given by guardians under this section shall be deemed to be relief within the meaning of the Acts relating to the relief of the poor, and shall be paid out of their common fund, and where given by the guardians of any union in the metropolis as defined by the Metropolitan Poor Act, 1867, shall be deemed to be expenses payable from the Metropolitan Common Poor Fund within the

meaning of section sixty-nine of that Act, and shall be repaid to such guardians accordingly. (4)

(1) This section is not repealed by the 54 & 55 Vict., c. 56 post, which provides for the payment of "fee grants," and with regard to the question as to the duties of guardians under this enactment in reference to the granting of "further relief" to enable children to attend school, the Local Government Board, in a circular letter, state that although where a child attends a free school, or is not required to pay a fee at any feecharging school which he attends, the duty of the guardians under this section will cease with respect to him so far as regards such further relief, their duty will remain as before the passing of the new Act with respect to any child who can only attend the school on payment of a fee.

The section, it will be noticed, only brings within its provisions cases where relief "is given by the guardians or their order," and will not therefore apply to cases of "sickness or accident requiring relief by medical attendance," or cases "of sudden or urgent necessity" where the relieving officer on his own discretion, between the meetings of the guardians, grants the relief that is required. Neither will it apply to cases where the relief is administered by the overseers. The relief, to bring the case within the terms of the section, must also be given " by way of weekly or other continuing allowance." The Local Government Board have stated that "where relief is given by or on the order of the guardians by weekly allowances, or where relief is given by them or on their order for a period exceeding the interval between the ordinary meetings of the board of guardians, it appears to the board to be within the meaning of the Act."

For definition of the term "parent," see note to sec. II.

The effect of this clause appears to be that in order to justify the guardians in giving out-door relief to the parent of any child over five and under fourteen years of age, or to any such child, for whom elementary education in reading, writing, and arithmetic is not provided, it is necessary that such child shall have reached the Third Standard of the Code of 1876, that there shall be no prohibition under this Act against his being taken into full time employment, and that he shall not be required by any byelaw under the Education Acts to attend school. This clause is, however, materially altered by sec. 5 of the 43 & 44 Vict., c. 23, post. The effect of that section in a district in which there are bye-laws is that the clause will only apply to children who under the bye-laws are required to attend school, and in respect of whom there is no "reasonable excuse" within the meaning of the bye-laws for non-attendance at school. Bye-laws cannot be made with respect to children above the age of thirteen years, and consequently any child between the ages of thirteen and fourteen years will be exempt from the operation of the clause. In districts where there are bye-laws, out relief on the order of the guardians by way of weekly or other continuing allowance will be conditional, in the case of any child to whom the bye-laws apply, on the child attending school to the extent required by the bye-laws. This is the only condition now imposed.

Relief given in contravention of this enactment will be illegal and will therefore be liable to be disallowed by the district auditor.

For provisions of sec. 74 of the Education Act, 1870, see p. 181, and for amendments by this Act, see secs. 21 and 23.

The guardians generally prefer paying the school fees direct to the school teacher instead of to the parent, in consequence of their fear that the amount may not unfrequently be misapplied. On this subject the