§ MR. BOND (Dorset, E.)asked the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education, Whether it is correct that a boy named Alfred Middleton, aged eight years, was attending the Old Nichol Street, Bethnal Green, Board School, on Wednesday 13th July, without having had any breakfast, and without having had anything whatever to eat the whole of the preceding day; and, whether there is any agency by which such terrible destitution can be temporarily relieved?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT (Sir WILLIAM HART DYKE) (Kent, Dartford)The facts as stated by my hon. Friend are, I regret to say, correct; and from the inquiries I have been able to make it is not, I fear, by any means a solitary case in certain parts of London. The only thing that the officers of the School Board can do is to exercise great caution in enforcing compulsory attendance; and I think it would also be well for them to report all cases of this kind that come to their knowledge to the Poor Law Authorities. Of course, any other measure of relief, such as the extension of the excellent system of penny dinners, must come from voluntary sources.