HL Deb 30 April 1885 vol 297 cc1092-4

Amendments reported (according to Order).

Clause 2 (Procuring woman to be a common prostitute or to enter a brothel).

THE EARL OF DALHOUSIE moved an Amendment to the clause, so as to make the offence of procuration punishable under the clause in all cases. As the provision stood, the offence was limited to cases in which the woman or girl, with respect to whom the crime should be committed, was under 21 years of age.

Amendment moved, in page 1, lines 10 and 11, to leave out ("under twenty-one years of age.")—(The Earl of Dalhousie.')

Amendment agreed to; words left out accordingly.

LORD ABERDARE moved to insert the following clause after Clause 5:— Where, in case of any charge under this Act, any girl under 15 years appears to have solicited the offence, such solicitation shall be deemed an offence, and on conviction thereof the Court may require such girl to find securities for good behaviour, or sentence her to be sent to a certified reformatory school or such other certified institution as may hereafter be provided for the reception of such juvenile offenders. It had, he said, as their Lordships knew, been proved before a Select Committee that there had been eases in which girls had been enticed abroad for immoral purposes. It had been also proved that a considerable amount of juvenile im- morality existed in this country, for the cure of which some provision ought to be made. But there were none of their Lordships prepared for the revelations made before the Committee. A short paragraph of their Report stated that the evidence proved beyond doubt that juvenile prostitution, upon an enormous scale, was increasing in England, and especially in London. It also said that the Committee were unable adequately to express their sense of the magnitude, both in a moral and physical point of view, of the evils thus brought to light. The object of his Amendment was to suggest the application to those miserable children of that system of reformatory treatment which had obtained such success in the case of juvenile thieves. He thought the proper way of dealing with this subject would be by a Bill; but he was anxious to take this opportunity of bringing it before the House, if only by way of suggestion. He hoped his noble Friend would give an assurance that the question should be dealt with. Such an assurance would be satisfactory to the House and to the country.

Amendment moved, After Clause 5, insert as a new clause:—"Where, in case of any charge under this Act, or any charge of indecent assault, any girl under the age of fifteen years appears to have solicited an offence under this Act, or an indecent assault, such solicitation shall be deemed an offence, and, on conviction thereof, the court may require such girl to find securities for good behaviour, or sentence her to be sent to a certified home within the meaning of this Act."—(The Lord Aberdare.)

THE EARL OF DALHOUSIE

said, that the noble Lord himself did not consider the clause was drawn in such a shape that the Government could consent to its insertion in the Bill. He need not, therefore, enter into any criticism of its wording. He would only say that his noble Friend had called attention to a most grave subject, with regard to which a very important recommendation had been, made by a Committee of their Lordships' House. There was nothing in this Bill to carry out that recommendation. It was not thought advisable to introduce into so short a Bill a matter for which such elaborate and complicated provisions would be required, as the establishment of those homes would involve. But he would bring to the notice of the Secretary of State what had been said by his noble Friend.

Amendment (by leave of the House) withdrawn.

Bill to be read 3ª To-morrow.