12. After the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, for the purpose of this Act and of the Factory Acts, 1833 to 1856, in the case of a factory to which this Act applies, a person of the age of thirteen years and under the age of fourteen years shall be deemed to be a child, and not a young person, unless he has obtained from a person authorised by the authority hereinafter mentioned a certificate of having attained such standard of proficiency in reading, writing, and arithmetic as may be from time to time prescribed for the purposes of this Act by that authority: Provided that any such person who previously to the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six is lawfully employed in any such factory page 57 as a young person, may contine to be so employed in like manner as if this section had not been enacted.

The authority for the purposes of this section shall be—

(a.)	In England the Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council on Education;
(b.)	In Scotland the Lords of any Committee of the Privy Council appointed by Her Majesty on education in Scotland; and—
(c.)	In Ireland the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with the advice of his Privy Council.