SCHOOL ATTENDANCE COMMITTEES.

ORDER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD AMENDING REGULATIONS AS TO APPOINTMENTS OF SCHOOL ATTENDANCE OFFICERS.

To the Guardians of the Poor of the several Unions in which School Attendance Committees may be appointed by Guardians under the provisions of the Elementary Education Act, 1876;

To all School Attendance Committees so appointed, and to all others whom it may concern.

WHEREAS by a general order bearing date the 14th day of April, 1877, and addressed to the guardians of the poor of the several unions in which school attendance committees may be appointed by guardians under the provisions of the Elementary Education Act, 1876, and to all school attendance committees so appointed, the Local Government Board made regulations with respect to such school attendance committees and their officers;

And whereas it is expedient to make provision for the appointment of school attendance officers for limited periods only:

Now therefore, we, the Local Government Board, in pursuance of the powers given by the several statutes in that behalf, hereby order as follows:

ARTICLE I.-The School Attendance Committee may, if they think fit, with the assent of the guardians and of the Local Government Board, direct one or more of their officers, or appoint a person or persons, to discharge the duties of a school attendance officer prescribed by the said

order for a limited period only, anything in the said order contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

ARTICLE II.In this order

The term " guardians" includes any body of persons
performing the functions of guardians within the
meaning of the Acts relating to the relief of the
poor.
The term "union" means any union or incorporation
of parishes under any general or local Act, and any
single parish having guardians as above defined,
under any general or local Act.

Given under the Seal of Office of the Local Govern-
ment Board, this fourth day of June, in the year
one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.

G. SCLATER-BOOTH, President.
JOHN LAMBERT, Secretary.

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE COMMITTEE: EXPENSES AND ACCOUNTS.

CIRCULAR LETTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD TO BOARDS OF GUARDIANS.

SIR,

Local Government Board, Whitehall, S.W.,

15th September, 1877.

1. I am directed by the Local Government Board to bring under the notice of the guardians the subject of the expenses of the School Attendance Committee appointed by them, both as regards the mode of payment and the keeping of the necessary accounts.

2. By their General Order of 14th April last, the board have directed that the School Attendance Committee shall, "from time to time," certify to the guardians in a prescribed. form the expenses which they have legally incurred. In that form the particulars of the expenditure are to be stated, with the name and address of the person to whom each sum is due. Although the Order requires the committee to send to the guardians the estimate of expenses quarterly, it does not fix any period for sending the certificate of the expenses actually incurred. Such certificate is to be sent from time to time, according to the discretion of the committee; but it will probably be found convenient to send it periodically, whether quarterly or otherwise.

3. On the receipt of this certificate, it will devolve upon the guardians to make the necessary payments; and in doing so, they must follow the course prescribed by the Elementary Education Act, 1876.

4. It is provided by section 31 of that Act, that the expenses of the committee shall be paid "out of a fund to be raised out of the poor rate of the parishes in which the committee act for the purposes of this Act, according to the

rateable value of each parish." Having regard, however, to the provisions of section 49, it is clear that the word "parish" in section 31 will mean that part only which is under the jurisdiction of the committee, in any case in which that jurisdiction does not extend over the entire parish. The expenses, therefore, are to be paid, not out of the common fund of the union, but out of a special common fund, which is to be formed by contributions from the several parishes and parts of parishes which are under the jurisdiction of the committee. Those parishes and parts of parishes, therefore, which are within the jurisdiction of a School Board, or within a Municipal Borough, or within the district of an Urban Sanitary Authority which has been authorised to appoint, and has appointed, a School Attendance Committee under section 33 of the Act, will be exempt from contributing to the fund in question.

5. In assessing contributions to the common fund in question, the rateable value will be readily ascertained from the approved valuation lists, if there be any; and if not, from the current poor rate. In the case of a part of a parish, the calculation of the contribution must be confined to the rateable value of that part.

6. For the purpose of raising this special common fund, the guardians have the same powers as they have for the purpose of obtaining contributions to their common fund under the Acts relating to the relief of the poor. They will accordingly issue orders to the overseers, calling for the required contributions; and the board think that these orders should be distinct from the contribution orders issued by the guardians under the Poor Law Acts, though they may be framed in a similar form, adapted to the circumstances of the case. With respect to a part of a parish, it is provided by section 49, that the guardians shall have "the like power of obtaining payment of a contribution from the said part of a parish as they have of obtaining a contribution from the whole parish;" and as the same section further provides that in such a case "the overseers of the entire parish shall be deemed to be the overseers of such part of a parish," the contribution order relating to such part should accordingly be addressed to those overseers.

7. The Order should require the overseers to pay the money to the treasurer of the guardians, and he will receive it on behalf of the guardians. The board think that he should enter it in the same account in which he enters other moneys received on behalf of the guardians, that is to say, in his ordinary account as treasurer, though it will be advisable that the entries should show distinctly that the receipts relate to the School Attendance Committee. In like manner the board think that he should enter in the same account any sums which may be paid to him under Article 16 of the General Order of 14th April last, as well as all payments which he may make by direction of the guardians in respect of the expenses of the committee. The treasurer need not keep a separate account of these receipts and payments, but he should mark them distinctly in his general account as relating to the committee; and with this view the board think that the cheques drawn by the guardians with reference to such payments should be in some way clearly distinguished.

8. The board further consider that it will not be necessary that the guardians should keep a separate ledger or book of accounts with reference to these transactions. It appears to the board that appropriate accounts may be opened in the general ledger, showing the receipts from the several parishes or otherwise, as well as the payments made by the guardians in respect of the special common fund which is contemplated by the Act.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

JOHN LAMBERT, Secretary.