§ MR. BOORDasked the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education, Whether his attention has been directed to the following case, which was heard at the Greenwich Police Court on the 8th instant:—
John Speer was summoned for neglecting to pay a School Board tine of 6d. and 2s. costs, imposed for not sending his son to school. The defendant, who was nearly blind, in a very feeble state of health, and unable to work,481stated that it was quite out of his power to pay the amount. His wife, who assisted to support the family, had just been confined. He had two other children, and that morning the whole family had only a pound of bread and a pennyworth of tea and sugar for breakfast between them. He was committed for five days to Horsemonger Lane Gaol;and, whether, in view of the frequent occurrence of cases involving great hardship, he is prepared to make any suggestion whereby the operation of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, may be rendered less oppressive to the poor?
§ VISCOUNT SANDONI am, of course, aware of the statement to which my hon. Friend calls my attention. But as I mentioned to my hon. Friend last week, I have no means of investigating the circumstances of the cases occurring under the compulsory bye-laws of the school boards; nor have I any authority to interfere with the school boards or magistrates in the execution of the difficult duties imposed upon them by Parliament under the Act of 1870, when they have passed compulsory bye-laws. Sir Charles Reed, however, has written to offer me all the information which he possesses on the subject, and I must say that the statement which he has sent appears to me, as far as it goes, to alter considerably the aspect of this case from that which appears in the paragraph to which my hon. Friend alludes; and he has also sent a letter from the magistrate who tried the case. The statement, however, is necessarily so long that it would be impossible for me to trouble the House with it in answer to a Question. I will, therefore, show it to my hon. Friend, and if he desires, I shall be happy to place it upon the Table of the House. I hope my hon. Friend will not think that I do not share his most natural feelings of pain at the hardships which must, I fear, necessarily arise in dealing with the great evils which the Act of 1870 endeavours to meet; but I am bound to say that, as far as my information goes, I think there has been a great deal of exaggeration in these matters.
§ MR. W. E. FORSTERsaid, he thought it would be well that the statement should be laid on the Table.