This section shall be deemed to be in addition to and not in derogation of any other power or means which the Postmaster General may have of recovering damages in respect of any such destruction or injury as in this section mentioned under any other Act of Parliament or at common law or otherwise, provided that he shall not proceed under this Act and under any other Act or law in respect of the same destruction or injury.

9. PENALTY FOR OBSTRUCTION.-Where any undertakers, body, or person, or their agents obstruct the Postmaster General or his agents in placing, maintaining, altering, examining or repairing any telegraphic line in pursuance of this Act, or of any consent given in pursuance of this Act, or in supervising or directing any alteration in any telegraphic line made by any undertakers or their agents in pursuance of this Act, such undertakers, bodies, or persons and agents respectively, shall for every act of obstruction be liable to a fine not exceeding ten pounds, or in case such obstruction continues, ten pounds for every day during which the same continues.

10. PROSECUTION OF OFFENCES.-All fines and penalties under any of the Telegraph Acts may be recovered by the Postmaster General in manner provided by the Summary Jurisdiction Acts before a court of summary jurisdiction, and for the purposes of

this Act

(2.) The expression "court of summary jurisdiction" means—

As respects England, any justice of the peace or other magistrate or officer to whom jurisdiction is given by the Summary Jurisdiction Acts, so, however, that any case arising under any of the Telegraph Acts shall be heard and determined either by two or more justices of the peace in petty sessions sitting at a court or other place appointed for holding petty sessions, or by some magistrate or officer sitting alone or with others at some court or other place appointed for the administration of justice, and for the time being empowered by law to do alone any act authorised to be done by more than one justice of the peace; and

As respects Scotland, means any sheriff or sheriff substitute; and

As respects Ireland, means any justice or justices or other magistrate, by whatever name called, having jurisdiction under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts. All fines and penalties recovered in pursuance of any of the Telegraph Acts shall be paid into the Exchequer.

S. 10 in part rep. 57 & 58 Vict. c. 56 (S. L.R.).

11. PROVISION AS TO POSTMASTER GENERAL. Any legal proceedings may be instituted by the Postmaster General for any of the purposes of any of the Telegraph Acts in the name of Her Majesty's Postmaster General, and shall not abate or be discontinued by reason of any change in the person who is Postmaster General, but may be carried on as if Her Majesty's Postmaster General were a body corporate; and where any sum is due or payable to the Postmaster General under any of the Telegraph Acts, or any contract, agreement, or regulations made in pursuance or for any of the purposes of those Acts or any of them, the Postmaster General may recover the same as a debt in any court and in any manner in which it might be recovered if it were a debt due to a private person.

S. 11 in part rep. 57 & 58 Vict. c. 56 (S.L.R.).

12. PRINTING, AUTHENTICATION, AND SERVICE OF NOTICES, AND OTHER DOCUMENTS.A notice under this Act may be in writing or print, or partly in writing and partly in print.

Any notice, appointment, direction, or document given, issued, or made for the purposes of this Act by the Postmaster General shall be sufficiently authenticated if purporting to be signed by a secretary or assistant secretary of the Post Office, or by a superintending engineer of the Postmaster General, or by an officer appointed for the purpose by the Postmaster General, and when so authenticated shall be deemed to be given, issued, or made by the Postmaster General.

Where a notice is given by any undertakers, body, or person, the notice shall be sufficiently authenticated if purporting to be signed by the chairman, secretary, clerk, or other officer of such undertakers, body, or person.

A notice required to be given under this Act to the Postmaster General may be given by leaving the same at or by forwarding the same by post to the General Post Office in a letter addressed to the Postmaster General or to the secretary of the Post Office, or to an assistant secretary of the Post Office, or by delivering the same to or forwarding the same by post in a letter addressed to the superintending engineer of the Postmaster General for the district in which is the work, telegraphic line, or other matter referred to in the notice and addressed to him at his office or usual place of abode.

A notice required to be given under this Act to any undertakers or body may be given by leaving the same at or by forwarding the same by post to the office, or where there is more than one office the principal office of such undertakers or body in a letter addressed to such undertakers or body, or to their chairman, secretary, clerk, or other officer.

A notice required to be given under this Act to any person may be given by delivering the same to such person or by leaving the same at or forwarding the same by post in a letter addressed to such person at his usual or last known place of abode.

Where a notice is forwarded by post it shall be deemed to have been given at the time when the letter containing the same would be delivered in the ordinary course of post, and in proving the giving thereof it shall be sufficient to prove that the same was properly addressed and put into the post.

The expression "notice" in this section shall be deemed to include a counter-notice. 13. SAVING EXISTING RIGHTS.-Nothing in this Act contained shall vary or prejudicially affect the rights or obligations subsisting at the time of the passing of this Act, of any Railway or Canal Company, or of the Postmaster General respectively, under the provisions of the Telegraph Acts, 1868 and 1869, or under any deed, agreement, or award made between any Railway or Canal Company and the Postmaster General, whether confirmed by or made in pursuance of the Telegraph Acts; and in regard to all railways and canals now existing or authorised, the provisions of the Telegraph Acts, 1868 and 1869, shall not be affected by this Act except that the arbitrators on any difference between the companies and the Postmaster General shall be those provided by this Act: Provided always, that, notwithstanding the incorporation of the Telegraph Act, 1863, with the Telegraph Act, 1868, the provisions of the Telegraph Act, 1863, shall not be deemed to be provisions of the Telegraph Acts, 1868 and 1869, or either of those Acts, within the meaning of this section, or any part thereof.

14. SAVING RIGHTS OF TRUSTEES OF BRIDGEWATER CANAL.-Nothing in this Act shall affect the rights of the trustees or proprietors of the Bridgewater Canal under section eleven of the Telegraph Act, 1868.

[Schedule applies to England and Ireland exclusively.]

CHAPTER LXXVIII.

THE EDUCATION (SCOTLAND) ACT, 1878. (Sect. 1.)

AN ACT to further amend the provisions of the Law of Scotland on the subject of Education; and for other purposes connected therewith.

[16th August 1878.]

1. SHORT TITLE.-This Act may be cited as the Education (Scotland) Act, 1878; and this Act and the Education (Scotland) Act, 1872, (in this Act referred to as the principal Act,) may be cited together as the Education (Scotland) Acts, 1872 and 1878. 2, EXTENT. This Act shall extend to Scotland only.

[S. 3 rep. 57 & 58 Vict. c. 56 (S.L.R.).]

4. CONSTRUCTION.-This Act shall be construed as one with the principal Act, and the expression "this Act" in the principal Act shall be construed to include this Act.

5. REGULATION AS TO EMPLOYMENT OF CHILD UNDER 10.-A person shall not take into his employment (except as herein-after in this Act mentioned) any child

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

S. 5 in part rep. 57 & 58 Vict. c. 56 (S.L.R.).

6. RESTRICTION ON CASUAL EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN.-No child under the age of ten years shall, save as herein-after mentioned, be employed in any casual employment, and no child who is above the age of ten years but under the age of fourteen years, shall, save as aforesaid, unless he has obtained a certificate of ability to read and write, and of a knowledge of elementary arithmetic in terms of section seventy-three of the principal Act, be employed in any casual employment after nine o'clock at night, from the first day of April to the first day of October, and after seven o'clock at night from the first day of October to the first day of April.

Casual employment shall mean employment for purposes of gain in streets or other places in vending or exposing for sale any article whatsoever, and also employment of any other kind, outside the child's own home, not being employment the lawful period whereof is regulated by any Act of Parliament.

A school board may, by writing under the hand of the clerk, exempt from the prohibitions of this section any child for a period or periods named in such writing, and not exceeding in the whole six weeks, between the first day of January and the thirty-first day of December in any year.

7. EXCEPTION TO PROHIBITION OF EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN.-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 sheriff either

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

(2.) That such employment is during the school holidays, or during the hours during which the school is not open, not being hours during which casual employment is herein-before prohibited; or

(3.) That the employment is exempted by the notice of the school board hereinafter next mentioned; (that is to say,)

The school board 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 or to give assistance in the fisheries for the period to be named in such notice: Provided, that the period or periods so named by any such school board 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 school board shall cause a copy of every notice so issued to be affixed to the door of all churches and schools in the district.

8. PENALTY FOR EMPLOYING A CHILD IN CONTRAVENTION OF ACT.-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.

9. DEFINITION OF EMPLOYMENT IN CASE OF PARENT.-A parent of a child who employs such child in any labour exercised by way of trade or for the purposes of gain, or who permits such child to be engaged in any such labour on its own behalf, shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to take such child into his employment.

10. ENFORCEMENT OF ACT BY SCHOOL BOARD OR BY INSPECTORS OF FACTORIES, &c.— The provisions of this Act respecting the employment of children shall be enforced in the district of every school board by that board, provided that it shall be the duty of the inspectors and sub-inspectors acting under the Acts regulating factories, workshops, and mines respectively, and not of the school board, to enforce the observance by the employers of children of the provisions of this Act respecting the employment of children in such factories, workshops, and mines; but it shall be the duty of the school board to assist the said inspectors and sub-inspectors in the performance of their duty by information and otherwise.

11. CERTIFICATES OF BIRTH FOR PURPOSES OF ACTS.-Where the age of any child is required to be ascertained or proved for the purposes of this Act, any person, on presenting a written requisition in such form, and containing such particulars as may be from time to time prescribed by a Secretary of State, and on payment of such fee, not

exceeding one shilling, as a Secretary of State from time to time fixes, shall be entitled to obtain an extract under the hand of the registrar, under the Registration of Births, Deaths, and Marriages Act, 1854, and any Acts amending the same, of the entry in the registry kept under those Acts.

12. POWER OF OFFICER OF SCHOOL BOARD TO ENTER PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT.—If it appears to any sheriff, on the complaint of an officer of a school board acting under this Act, that there is reasonable cause to believe that a child is employed in contravention of this Act in any place, whether a building or not, such sheriff may by order under his hand empower an officer of the school board to enter such place at any reasonable time within forty-eight hours from the date of the order, and examine such place, and any person found therein touching the employment of any child therein.

Any person refusing admission to an officer authorised by an order under this section, or obstructing him in the discharge of his duty, shall for each offence be liable on summary conviction before the sheriff to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds.

13. EXEMPTION OF EMPLOYER ON PROOF OF GUILT OF SOME OTHER PERSON.-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 school board, 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 school board, or person, shall institute proceedings against such agent, workman, or parent, and not against the employer.

[S. 14 rep. 46 & 47 Vict. c. 39 (S.L.R.).]

15. RESIGNATION OF MEMBER OF SCHOOL BOARD, AND SUPPLYING VACANCY.-A member of a school board may resign on giving to the board one month's previous notice in writing of his intention so to do. The vacancy so caused shall, where a quorum remains, be supplied by the school board in the manner provided in section thirteen of the principal Act; and if the school board fail for eight weeks to fill up the vacancy, the Scotch Education Department may nominate a person to fill such vacancy or may issue an order for an election of a person to fill such vacancy at such time and place and in such manner as the said department shall determine.

16. DISQUALIFICATION OF MEMBER OF SCHOOL BOARD FOR NON-ATTENDANCE.--If a member of a school board absents himself during six successive months from all meetings of the board, except from temporary illness or other cause to be approved by the board, such person shall cease to be a member of the school board, and his office shall thereupon be vacant.

17. PROCEEDINGS WHERE QUORUM FAILS BY DEATH, &c.-If by the death, resignation, or disqualification of any member or members of a school board there shall cease to be a quorum, the Scotch Education Department may nominate as many persons as shall be necessary to make up the full number of members, or may issue an order for an election of such number of members at such time and place and in such manner as the said department shall determine.

18. EXPENSES OF HIGHER CLASS SCHOOL BUILDINGS MAY BE PAID OUT OF SCHOOL FUND AND CHARGED ON RATES.-A school board having the management of any school

which is a higher class public school within the meaning of the principal Act shall maintain the buildings thereof out of the school fund in the same manner in which it is bound to maintain the buildings of any other school under its management, and shall be empowered to pay from the school fund such other expenses for the promotion of efficient education in the said school as are not provided for by the revenues stated in section sixty-two of the principal Act: Provided, that no expenditure under this section shall be incurred without the consent of the Scotch Education Department; and provided, that nothing contained in this section shall in any way affect the powers of borrowing from the Public Works Loan Commissioners conferred on school boards by the principal Act.

19. EXAMINATION OF HIGHER CLASS SCHOOLS.-When an authority other than a school board having under its management a public or other school in which the education given does not consist chiefly of elementary instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic, but of instruction in Latin, Greek, modern languages, mathematics, natural science, and generally in the higher branches of knowledge, shall apply to the Scotch Education Department for the examination of such school with a view to ascertain its general efficiency, and with reference to the higher branches of knowledge taught therein, and shall undertake to pay towards the expenses incident to such examination such sum as the Scotch Education Department may fix, it shall be lawful for the Scotch Education Department to make provision for such examination either by one or more of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools or by such other person or persons as the Scotch Education Department may appoint for the purpose.

20. EXAMINATION OF HIGHER CLASS SCHOOLS UNDER MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOL Boards. When a school board having under its management a public or other school in which the education given does not consist chiefly of elementary instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic, but of instruction in Latin, Greek, modern languages, mathematics, natural science, and generally in the higher branches of knowledge, shall apply to the Scotch Education Department for the examination of such school, with a view to ascertain its general efficiency, and with reference to the higher branches of knowledge taught therein, it shall be lawful for the Scotch Education Department to make provision for such examination either by one or more of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, or by such other person or persons as the Scotch Education Department may appoint for the purpose. When a higher class public school shall have been examined under the provisions of this section, such examination shall come in place of an examination under section sixty-two of the principal Act.

21. OFFICE UNDER BOARD TO DISQUALIFY FROM BEING MEMBER OF SCHOOL BOARD.No person holding an office of profit under a school board in any parish or burgh shall be eligible or shall be capable of acting as a member of such school board or as a manager under section twenty-two of the principal Act.

[S. 22 rep. 52 & 53 Vict. c. 50, s. 88. S. 23 rep. 46 § 47 Vict. c. 56, s. 14.]

24. REMOVAL Of Doubt as to right of certaiN SCHOOL-MASTERS TO THE FRANCHISE. -Whereas doubts have arisen as to the right of a teacher of a public school under a school board, who holds office at the pleasure of the board, and who occupies as part of the emoluments of his office, lands, and heritages under the school board, to be registered as a voter and to vote at elections for a member or members to serve in Parliament in respect of the qualification afforded by such lands and heritages: And whereas it is expedient that such doubts should be removed, be it enacted, that it shall be no objection to the name of any such teacher being placed on the register of voters for the burgh or county within which such lands and heritages are situate, that the lands and heritages occupied by him, and on which his claim to the franchise rests, are held as part of the emoluments of his office, and at the pleasure of the school board: Provided, that the rental of such lands and heritages, according to the valuation roll, shall be of sufficient annual value to qualify a voter.

25. SCHOOL BOARD TO HAVE ACCESS TO VALUATION ROLL FREE OF CHARGE.-The clerk of supply of a county or town clerk of a burgh or other officer who shall have in his possession or under his control any valuation roll shall at all times give, free of charge, reasonable access to such roll, either in his official chambers or where no such chambers are provided in such public place as the sheriff shall appoint, to the clerk or