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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 42
Part I. — Law as to Employment and Education of Children
Part I.
Law as to Employment and Education of Children.
Declaration of duty of parent to educate child.
Regulation as to employment of child under 10, and certificate of education or previous school attendance being condition of employment of child over 10
| (1.) | Who is under the age of ten years: or |
| (2.) | 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
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upwards, is employed, and is attending school in accordance with the provisions of the Factory Acts, or of any byelaw of 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. |
Penalty for employing a child in contravention of Act.
Enforcement of Act by school board or school attendance committee of existing local authority or by inspectors of factories or mines.
| (1.) | In a school district within the jurisdiction of a school board, by that board; and— |
| (2.) | In every other school district by a committee (in this Act referred to as a school attendance committee) appointed annually, if it is a borough, by the council of the borough, and if it is a parish, by the guardians of the union comprising such parish. |
A school attendance committee under this section may consist of not less than six nor more than twelve members of the council or guardians appointing the committee, so, however, that, in the case of a committee appointed by guardians, one third at least shall consist of ex-officio guardians, if there are any and sufficient ex-officio guardians.
Every such school board and school attendance committee (in the Act referred to as the local authority) shall, as soon as may be, publish the provisions of this Act within their jurisdiction in such manner as they think best calculated for making those provisions known.
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 local authority, to enforce the observance by the employers of children in such factories, workshops, and mines of the provisions of this Act respecting the employment of children; but it shall be the duty of the local authority to assist the said inspectors and sub-inspectors in the performance of their duty by information and otherwise.
It shall be the duty of such local authority to report to the Education Department any infraction of the provisions of section seven of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, in any public elementary school within their district which may come to their knowledge, and also to forward to the Education Department any complaint which they may receive of the infraction of those provisions.
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Employment and education of children in factories, etc.
Provided, that section twelve of the Factory Act, 1874, shall not apply to any child so employed who has attained the age of eleven years before the commencement of this Act.
Exception to prohibition of employment of children.
| (1.) |
That during the employment there is not within two miles, measured according to the nearest road from the residence of such child, any public elementary school open which the child can attend; or— |
| (2.) |
That such employment, by reason of being during the school holidays, or during the hours during which the school is not open, or otherwise, does not interfere with the efficient elementary instruction of such child, and that the child obtains such instruction by regular attendance for full time at a certified efficient school or in some other equally efficient manner; or— |
| (3.) |
That the employment is exempted by the notice of the local authority hereinafter next mentioned; (that is to say,) The local authority 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, for the period to be named in such notice: Provided that the period or periods so named by any such local authority 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 local authority shall cause a copy of every notice so issued to be sent to the Education Department and to the overseers of every parish within its jurisdiction, and the
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Payment of school fees for poor parents.
The parent shall not by reason of any payment made under this section be deprived of any franchise, right, or privilege, or be subject to any disability or disqualification.
Payment under this section shall not be made 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.
The twenty-fifth section of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, is hereby repealed.
Provision as to order of court for attendance at school of child habitually neglected by parent or habitually wandering and consorting with criminals or disorderly persons.
| (1.) | The parent of any child above the age of five years who is under this Act prohibited from being taken into full time employment, habitually and without reasonable excuse neglects to provide efficient elementary instruction for his child; or |
| (2.) | Any child is found habitually wandering or not under proper control, or in the company of rogues, vagabonds, disorderly persons, or reputed criminals; it shall be the duty of the local authority, after due warning to the parent of such child, to complain to a court of summary jurisdiction, and such court may, if satisfied of the truth of such complaint, order that the child do attend some certified efficient school willing to receive him and named in the order, being either such as the parent may select, or, if he do not select any, then such public elementary school as the court think expedient, and the child shall attend that school every time that the school is open, or in such other regular manner as is specified in the order. |
An order under this section is in this Act referred to as an attendance order.
| (1.) | That there is not within two miles, measured according to
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the nearest road, from the residence of such child any public elementary school open which the child can attend; or— |
| (2.) | That the absence of the child from school has been caused by sickness or any unavoidable cause. |
Proceedings on disobedience to order of court for attendance at school.
| (1.) | In the first case of non-compliance, if the parent of the child does not appear, or appears and fails to satisfy the court that he has used all reasonable efforts to enforce compliance with the order, the court may impose a penalty not exceeding with the costs five shillings; but if the parent satisfies the court that he has used all reasonable efforts as aforesaid, the court may, without inflicting a penalty, order the child to be sent to a certified day industrial school, or if it appears to the court that there is no such school suitable for the child, then to a certified industrial school; and— |
| (2.) | In the second or any subsequent case of non-compliance with the order, the court may order the child to be sent to a certified day industrial school, or if it appears to the court that there is no such school suitable for the child, then to a certified industrial school, and may further in its discretion inflict any such penalty as aforesaid, or it may for each such noncompliance inflict any such penalty as aforesaid without ordering the child to be sent to an industrial school; |
Provided that a complaint under this section with respect to a continuing non-compliance with any attendance order shall not be repeated by the local authority at any less interval than two weeks.
29 & 30 Vict. c. 118.
Duty of local authority as to taking proceedings under this
the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, to an industrial school, Act, or 29 & 30 Vict. c. 118
Provided, that nothing in this section shall relieve the local authority from the responsibility of performing their duty under the other provisions of this Act.
* See page
† See page 56.