§ 18. Mr. Llewellynasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why four children between the ages of eight and 12, deserted by their parents, were charged at Hull Juvenile Court with stealing dinner tickets from school; and how it came about that a mentally defective brother of 13 lived with them unknown to the officials of the Children's Committee.
§ Mr. EdeWhen the four children were charged it came to light that their father, a trawler engineer whose wife had deserted him, had arranged with the children's grandparents, who live a mile away, to provide meals for the children and to look after them during his absence at sea. The fifth child, who is not mentally deficient but educationally subnormal, was received into care by the Hull City Council when the other children were placed in the remand home on 19th April. The case against the four children is still sub judice.