§ MR. COX, in calling attention to the subject of infanticide in England and Wales, said, the question was one which had occupied public attention for a considerable time. In the course of the last year he was very much struck by the constant reports in the newspapers of verdicts given by coroners' juries of the wilful murder of children, and he had in consequence moved for a Return of those verdicts in England and Wales during a period of eighteen months—namely, for 1861 and the first half of 1862. He found from that Return [Parl. P. No. 39, 39-I.] that the total number of children under two years of age, who had met with untimely deaths within that period was 5,547. In 224 cases verdicts of wilful murder were returned; in 697 open Verdicts of "found dead;" and there were 956 cases of suffocation; so that out of 5,547 deaths of children under two years of age in England and Wales, in which it was necessary that inquests should be held, there was a total of 1,887 cases of what might fairly be called "murder." He was sorry to say that the metropolis had a bad pre-eminence in regard to child murder, for during those eighteen months no less than 297 children were murdered in the metropolitan district. Coroners' juries seemed anxious to avoid giving a verdict of "wilful murder" even though against some person or persons unknown; they preferred such a verdict as 1406 "found dead." He submitted, that if in their state of boasted civilization there were upwards of 5,000 violent deaths of infants in the course of eighteen months, it was a matter which ought to engage the attention of the Government. The Secretary for the Home Department might doubt whether a remedy could be found for that state of things; but having had the subject long under his consideration, he (Mr. Cox) was ready to make a few suggestions with that object. From a careful examination of the Returns, he was inclined to think that a number of the child murders did not arise from what suggested itself as the most obvious cause, the desire of a woman to get rid of the evidence of her shame at the earliest opportunity. In a great number of the cases of wilful murder, the children had attained the age of twelve months and upwards. The bastardy laws, he thought, were much to be blamed for these results, the allowance of 2s. 6d. a week for the maintenance of a child being wholly insufficient. In some instances, women brought before the metropolitan police magistrates had confessed the crime with which they were charged, giving, as a reason, that the sum allotted weekly was not sufficient, and that they might as well murder the child at once as see it die of starvation. As the law stood boards of guardians were not entitled to assist or aid a woman in any way, even to recover the 2s. 6d. weekly. If that restriction were removed, they would in many cases be able to procure for a woman the means of supporting her illegitimate child, and would take away from her the temptation of murdering it. He was corroborated by Dr. Lankester, one of the coroners for Middlesex, in the assertion that juries were averse to finding verdicts of wilful murder against mothers, because the punishment for murdering a child was the same as for murdering an adult. During the recess he trusted that the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State for the Home Department would take the subject into his serious consideration, and see whether he could not devise some remedy for a great and crying evil existing in the midst of our civilization.