§ MR. HUNT (Shropshire, Ludlow)To ask the Secretary to the Board of Education whether, in view of the fact that complaints have been made by workmen and others in Shropshire of the distances which small children have to walk to the nearest school, and of the injury to the children caused thereby, he can issue regulations to county councils showing whether the county council can render school attendance not compulsory for children between the ages of five and seven if the school is more than one mile from their home.
(Answered by Sir William Anson.) A local education authority has powers under Section 74 of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, to make by-laws limiting compulsory attendance in the case of children between five and seven to those children who reside not more than one mile from the nearest school.