§ MR. HOWARD VINCENTI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the 1617 Home Department if he proposes to re-introduce and press forward the Bills dealing with reformatory and industrial schools, in accordance with the wishes of the great majority of Managing Authorities; and, in the contrary case, if, having regard to the considerable proportion of the inmates of such institutions whose parents have forfeited all moral right to further control over them, and least of all to profit by their education and maintenance from public funds, he will re-introduce in a short Bill the clauses empowering the managers to provide for well-conducted boys, with their consent, as if they were their parents?
§ MR. MATTHEWSThe Managing Authorities were the most energetic opponents of the Bills dealing with the reformatory and industrial schools, and the chief cause of their withdrawal. I think it is doubtful whether time can be found for discussing them this year. If they are introduced they will contain provisions for the ultimate disposal of children, and for retaining control over them after their discharge. But I would remind my hon. Friend that the existing practice of the Home Office, founded upon Section 28 of the Act of 1866, goes nearly as far in the direction of clothing managers with parental functions as Parliament is likely to allow, and it would not be worth while to introduce a Bill dealing with this specific subject apart from the other provisions of the Bills.