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THE CHILD'S GUARDIAN.
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APRIL, 1930.
access to any part of the building in which the times followed. Well is this known to those who children are accommodated is by stairs, it shall be pleaded for support when it was not popular to ad- the duty of the person who provides the entertain-vocate anything that suggested dealing with home-life. ment to station and keep stationed wherever Now this attitude of mind has gone, but there necessary a sufficient number of adult attendants still lingers one phase that has to be met, viz., the properly instructed as to their duties
fear or the impression that the visit of an Inspector control the movement of the children, etc.
to a home is a reflection upon that home. Often and to take other reasonable precautions for the a visit concerns a child in need of surgical or medical safety of the children." The Act, unfortunately, treatment, or parents may require just that moral gives no hint as to what is a sufficient number fillip and encouragement which comes from contact or even of the standard of knowledge or experience with those who are trained to deal with domestic required to constitute a "properly instructed problems. An Inspector does not represent punish- attendant. The country's immunity from disasters ment, but prevention, and though he has behind through panic may no doubt be regarded as evidence him an Act of Parliament the success of his work that sufficient precautions in both these directions is very largely dependent upon his ability to avoid are already taken, but as vigilance in all matters is setting it in motion. It is still necessary to teach the best guarantee of safety, it will be a distinct that every Inspector is a friend and that, in making advantage to make these requirements more definite, his visits, he goes out to help and not to hinder, to and, if need be, through Parliament itself.
encourage and restore, not to destroy.
A Word to the Public.
"1
A County Medical Officer of Health who recently took part in a Branch annual meeting, availed himself of the oppor- tunity to speak in generous terms of the Society's services to children. The value of his words was enhanced by the fact that they were based upon thirty-six years' knowledge of the Society in various parts of the country, including two contrasts, a great industrial centre and a distinctive county area. These public expressions of opinion from specialists who come in contact with the Society in their official capacity bring encouragement alike to friends of the Society and to those upon whom administrative responsibility rests. County Medical Officers of Health, Borough Medical Officers of Health and School Medical Officers are constantly in touch throughout the country with the Society. The co-operation which so happily exists between these responsible officials and the Society means health and happiness to thousands of children. What the public, generally, does not always appreciate is the existence of this combination of forces and its incalculable value in the doing of good. There is no more illuminating chapter in the Society's history than that which records the result of this phase of its work. Therefore, it follows that the stronger the bonds of co-operation the better for children in need. It is this spirit of co-operation which keeps the ambulances of the Society in the London area alone busy from January to December, and which enabled the record to be made last year, when they covered some thirty-six thousand miles in helping sick and ailing children. In a proportionate degree similar work is being done everywhere, and that is why public officials unhesitatingly give expression to their gratitude for the help the Society is always willing and anxious to render.
Looking Back.
There was one point in the County Medical Officer's remarks which enabled those present to catch a glimpse of the changed attitude towards the Society as compared with years ago. He spoke of the suspicion with which it was viewed in its early days, of the criticism its work evoked, and of the opposition which some-
Magisterial Comments.
Too frequently of late have Magistrates felt called upon to express in public the opinion has that the case before them been the worst they have dealt with." Looking over some of the stories of child suffering which have led to these utterances there is no reason to quarrel with what has been said. Brutality, neglect of children in the worst form, make painful reading. Some people refuse to read them at all and some are induced to believe such things really do not exist. In a recent case an Inspector found a seven-months- old child resembling a living skeleton, huddled up in a bundle of filthy rags. The house was indescrib- able, and other children were running about naked. If such a picture could be transferred to the cinema screen the majority of audiences would declare it to be a gross fabrication. The Society labours under the disadvantage that it cannot put its actual cases before the public. If it could, and if the public only saw the transformations it is able to bring about, there would be little need to press the appeal for subscriptions. A seven-months-old child resembling a living skeleton is a picture of fact. That is why Magistrates have been moved to public protests from the Bench against inhumanity.
*Worst Cases."
It would be an excellent tonic to public opinion if, in towns where these statements are made, something could be done to follow them up. Why not a town's meeting for friends of the Society to take advantage of. on a really large scale? Here is an opportunity The public conscience is always stirred by tales of unnecessary suffering. What is needed so much is the keeping alive of this conscience by enlisting the support of the public at large. Let the people know that other cases of a similar character may take place unless something is done, let them realise they can help to prevent them, and let them be made to understand that these "worst" cases are associated with long-continued suffering and utter helplessness on the part of children to protect themselves. In the direction of a wider knowledge is to be found the means of preventing cruelty--and the hope of children.
APRIL, 1930.
THE CHILD'S GUARDIAN.
THE CANAL BOATS BILL.
As indicated in the last issue of THE CHILD'S GUARDIAN, the Canal Boats Bill has been passing through its Committee stage. In pursuance of the bromises made by the promoters of the Bill at the Second Reading, various amendments have been made to the Bill in deference to opinions expressed in different parts of the House. The Bill, as has been explained, is a non-party measure; in the absence, through continued illness, of Mr. Harry Gosling, who introduced it, it has been ably sup ported in its subsequent stages by Sir Donald
Maclean and the Duchess of Atholl. The Bill will be presented to the House for Third Reading in the following form :--
A
BILL
ΤΟ
[AS AMENDED BY STANDING COMMITTEE B]
Amend the Canal Boats Acts, 1877 and 1884, and the Educa- tion Act, 1921, so far as it relates to children on canal boats. BE it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-
1. Subject as hereinafter provided, on and after the first day of January, nineteen hundred and thirty-two, no child over the age of five years and below the age at which, under the law for the time being in force, his parents cease to be under an obligation to cause him to receive efficient elementary instruc- tion, shall reside in a canal boat except-
(i) during the period between the last school hour in any week of the school which the child is attending and the first school hour of that school in the following week; and
(ii) during the period between the end of any school term of the school which he is attending and the beginning of the next school term of that school: Provided that the residence of a child in a canal boat during any period as regards which a registered medical practitioner certifies that in the interests of his own health or the health of other children he ought not to attend school shall not be deemed to be a contravention of the provisions of this section.
2. On and after the first day of October, nineteen hundred and thirty-one, no woman, or child below the age at which under the law for the time being in force his parents cease to be under an obligation to cause him to receive efficient elementary instruc- tion, shall reside in any canal boat while it is being used for the conveyance of manure, night soil, or refuse, or any other foul or offensive cargo.
3(1) For the purposes of the Education Act, 1921, a child who, immediately before the first day of January, nineteen hundred and thirty-two, or the date on which he attains the age of five years, whichever date may be the later, has no home other than a canal boat, shall, until he commences to attend a school within the area of another local education authority, be deemed to be resident in the area of that local education authority whose area includes the place to which the boat is registered as belonging.
(2) "As from the first day of January, nineteen hundred and thirty-two, the foregoing provisions of this section shall have effect in substitution for the provisions of section fifty of the Education Act, 1921 (which relates to the application of that Act to children in canal boats).
4(1) If the parent of a child resides in a canal boat, the principal teacher of any school at which that child attends may and, on being requested so to do, shall issue to the parent at the end of any school term a certificate stating that the child has attended the school during that term and naming the last day of the term and the first day of the next school term; and, in any proceedings under this Act, a document purporting to be
a certificate so issued shall be evidence of the facts stated therein. (2) This section shall come into operation on the first day of December, nineteen hundred and thirty-one.
5. If the master of a canal boat permits any child to reside in that boat in contravention of any provisions of this Act he shall be liable on summary conviction
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6. This Act may be cited as the Canal Boats Act, 1930, and shall be construed as one with the Canal Boats Acts, 1877 and 1884, and those Acts and this Act may be cited together as the Canal Boats Acts, 1877 to 1930.
OBITUARY.
Edward and Lady Henry on the death of their only Very great sympathy will be extended to Sir
son, Mr. Edward Henry, who has just passed away, following a severe attack of pneumonia, at the early age of twenty-two. Sir Edward, who is well remembered as Chief Commissioner of the Metro- politan Police for many years, has been a member of the Society's Central Executive Committee since 1918. His colleagues on the Committee have inti- mated to him the profound sympathy of the Society. Miss England.--The older friends of the Society in the country will regret to learn of the death of Miss England, who was one of the speakers and organisers for the Society in its earlier days. Retiring from that position in 1914, Miss England had lived since at Bromley, Kent, where she con- tinued her interest in the Society's work connected with the local Branch.
Ex-Inspector H. Warlow has died at Westcliff- on-Sea. Mr. Warlow served as an Inspector of the Society for twenty years, during which period he was stationed successively at Leeds, East London, Hackney and Hampstead. Throughout his record was a conspicuously good one and he will be well remembered by friends in most parts of the country where he was employed.
Miss Collison, for many years Hon. Secretary to the Margate Ladies' Committee.
Mrs. Davison, Hon. Secretary to the Ormeau (Belfast) Ladies' Committee.
Mrs. Dowson, a collector in the Coundon district since the formation of the committee.
Mr. J. F. L. Hardy, Hon. Correspondent at Marl- borough.
Mr. J. Dalby Hobson, who was Branch Hon. Secretary for Maidstone from 1916 to 1923.
Mrs. Parson, President of the Haslemere Ladies' Committee.
Dr. Whitaker, Hon. Correspondent at Evershot. Mrs. J. D. Wolff, President of the Harrow Weald Ladies' Committee.
So clean were the children the second time he called, that an Inspector failed to recognize them, and had to ask the parents whose they were. Before his first visit the bedrooms had not been cleaned for weeks. The house is now clean from top to bottom, and six children are the happier for it.
After a woman's conviction and sentence for child neglect, she let it be known that she had left her three young children alone in one room ill in bed. The Inspector at once proceeded a distance of fifteen miles to the home, and there found a girl of eight ill in bed, and her younger brother and sister, aged three
(a) in the case of a first offence, to a fine not exceeding forty and five, running about the streets in a dirty condition.
shillings; and
(b) in the case of a second or subsequent offence, to a fine
not exceeding five pounds or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month.
No one in the locality knew that the woman had been summoned, and even the husband was ignorant. Steps were at once taken to help the children,
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