§ Mr. BOTTOMLEYasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the sentence of three months' imprisonment recently passed upon a boy named Walter Davis for absconding from a reformatory school; whether he is aware that Davis stated that his object was to see his dying father, whom he found already dead on arrival at his home; and whether he proposes taking any steps in the matter?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLFrom inquiries which I have made it appears that the facts are as follows: Davis and another lad absconded on 20th February. On that date neither the school authorities nor the boy knew that the boy's father was seriously ill, and had it been known the boy would have promptly been allowed to go home; but on the following day a letter arrived from Davis's home stating that the father had died and had been buried. That Davis did not run away because of his father's illness is evident from the fact that he remained in Leeds a week before he went home. In these circumstances, I see no ground for action on my part.