§ *THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. RITCHIE, Croydon)I have to ask leave to introduce a Bill to amend the law relating to youthful offenders and for other purposes connected therewith. The object of the Bill is, as far as possible, to protect young people from being contaminated by the influences of prisons and workhouses. The House will remember that a similar Bill came down from the House of Lords last session, but, while the provisions of the Bill as a whole were generally acceptable, there was one provision, that relating to the whipping of young prisoners, which met with a considerable amount of opposition, and the Bill in consequence did not proceed any further. I do not desire that the other extremely useful provisions of a measure of that kind should be shipwrecked upon that rock again, and therefore I have from the present Bill omitted that clause, but retain in the Bill all those provisions which would have a very considerable indirect influence in preventing young persons going to prison. I need not detain the House at any length by describing the provisions of the present Bill. There is a provision that children and young persons who are on remand, or waiting trial, instead of being sent to prison or to the workhouse, should be committed to the charge of some reliable person, who will be responsible for the production of the individual whenever necessary. The children will be committed to houses set apart for that purpose, and I believe that already in various parts of the Metropolis houses are available for carrying out this provision. According to last year's Bill, if a parent or guardian had conduced to the child's offence by neglect he was made liable to a fine of £5. In the present Bill the parent or guardian is made individually responsible for the whole of the fine and costs which may be inflicted on the child if he is shown to have contributed to the offence by neglect. We also amend the machinery for the recovery of parental contributions towards the maintenance of a child or young person who 928 has been sent to a reformatory or industrial school. At present the law is found in practice to be very inefficient, and it is very hard in a great number of cases to recover these contributions completely or even at all. The indirect effect of this and the former provision will be to induce parents and guardians to make every effort to prevent children from coming within the meshes of the law. There is another provision in the Bill which has been asked for many times by the representatives of Ireland. It deals with the unsatisfactory state of the law in Ireland with regard to the committal of young persons to reformatories. The law is not clear, but it seems to have been held that young persons in Ireland cannot be committed to reformatories unless they have previously been sent to prison. By altering this the Bill will assimilate the law in Ireland be the law in England in this respect. I hope and believe that these provisions will receive the general assent of the House, and that with the assistance of the House we shall be enabled to pass the Bill into law in the present session.
§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT (Monmouthshire, W.)This is a subject in which I have always taken a great deal of interest, and I would ask the right hon. Gentleman whether this Bill will deal with the most serious part of the matter. In the case of a trifling offence, where a small fine of 1s. or 2s. 6d. is imposed, costs of £1, and sometimes of £2 or £3, follow upon the certificate of the magistrate, and only too frequently the parent, who is ready to pay the fine, may be utterly unable to pay the costs. I hope the right hon. Gentleman in his Bill will deal with that. The costs cannot be imposed under Lord Cross's Act unless there is a certificate given by the magistrate, but my observation leads me to believe that, unfortunately, the certificate is given almost as a matter of course.
Bill to amend the Law relating to Youthful Offenders, and for other purposes connected therewith, ordered to be brought in by Mr. Secretary Ritchie, Mr. Solicitor General, and Mr. Jesse Collings.