MR. STANLEY LEIGETONasked the Vice President of the Council, "Whether it is true that the jury at a coroner's inquest just held at Cheltenham on the body of Elizabeth Rowley aged eight, who it was alleged had died from overwork at a Board School, found by their verdict, given in accordance with the medical evidence, that the primary cause of death was inflammation of the membranes of the brain; that the lessons coupled with the time devoted to study were too great a mental strain for a healthy child of seven or eight years to bear, and that the mental strain she underwent hastened her death; and, whether he will maintain the new Code in its present severity?
§ MR. MUNDELLAI know nothing of this case, except that I saw a paragraph in The Times yesterday, on which this Question appears to be founded. I telegraphed at once to Her Majesty's Inspector to make an inquiry and report upon it. He is inspecting in a remote part of his district, and telegraphs that he will report on Monday. There must be some error in the paragraph, as there is no School Board, and consequently no Board school, in Cheltenham. So far from the New Code being more severe for children of eight years of age than former Codes, the direct intention and, I believe, the effect of it is to relieve children of tender years from pressure. It empowers teachers and managers to withdraw delicate children from examination; but we think this is insufficient, and we are considering how we can best protect such children from being overworked during the year previous to the examination.