§ THE EARL OF DONOUGHMORE rose to ask His Majesty's Government how many children at present in Irish workhouses can be boarded out under existing regulations, and how many are so boarded out. The noble Earl said: I would ask your Lordships' permission to make one or two remarks in the hope that the Government may see their way to encourage a little more than they do the system of boarding out children from Irish workhouses. I do not suggest that it is discouraged, but I would like to see the system more encouraged than it is at present. By the Acts of 1898 and 1902 orphans and deserted children can be boarded out, and there are definitions which, as far as I know, quite satisfactorily define who are to be considered orphans and who are to be considered deserted children. If parents desire and are able to bring up their own children, they are amply safeguarded. I need not go into these definitions or into the regulations issued years ago by the Irish Department, which are wise and on the right lines, but I believe the facilities which exist are not as much used as they ought to be. There are 158 or 159 Poor-law unions in Ireland, and as far as I know these regulations are used in a few more than 120. There are, therefore, certainly thirty unions in which they are not used at all, and I am informed that in many cases where they are in force they are not used to anything like the extent they might be. I know that this matter will probably come up for consideration when your Lordships are considering the subject of Poor-law Reform, but there seems to be very little prospect of any progress being made in that direction at any rate for a year or two; and I think it will be agreed on all hands that every child saved from the workhouse in the meantime is a gain to society. For this reason I have ventured to put down this Question. I would urge upon the Government that wherever the boarding-out system has been used it has had a very good effect, and I hope they will see their way to instruct the Local Government Board to encourage Guardians to make greater use than they have done of the boarding-out system, without prejudice, of course, to any action they may subsequently take in the reform of the Poor-law.
§ THE PAYMASTER-GENERAL (LORD ASHBY ST. LEDGERS)My Lords, in answer to the noble Earl I have to say that, 809 according to the Returns of the Local Government Board, there were on the 18th instant 2,552 children boarded out in 126 unions. The Board have no information as to whether there were in those or the remaining thirty-two unions other children who might be so boarded out. In England the class of children that may be boarded out are regulated by Order of the Local Government Board, but in Ireland they are governed by the Pauper Children Act of 1898; and the Pauper Children (Ireland) Act of 1902 further defines the expression "orphan or deserted child." I may remind the noble Earl that in reply to a Question on February 31 last the Chief Secretary stated that the matter would he taken into consideration when the whole question of Poor-law Reform for Ireland was being taken. I do not think that the saving of children from the workhouses will be lost sight of, and the noble Earl may rest assured that the Chief Secretary will give the matter his consideration when opportunity arises.