Mr. MONTAGUE BARLOWasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that the boy Charles D. Cooper is compelled to associate at the Heaton Mersey Industrial School with boys convicted of criminal offences and of the sons of vicious parents; whether, seeing that under these circumstances any discipline that the boy will be subjected to will be of an unsatisfactory character, he will take steps to have the boy Cooper removed to some other home or entirely segregated from the society of thieves and criminals; and whether steps will be taken for placing boys who have merely played truant in an industrial home by themselves?
§ Mr. McKENNABoys sent to industrial schools are not "convicted," and, though some of them have no doubt committed petty offences, they must not be regarded as necessarily criminal or vicious, or of such a character as to be likely to do harm to Charles Cooper. Cooper was a persistent truant, and had been committed to a day industrial school, but he continued to play truant, and was addicted to sleeping out, which almost inevitably leads to criminal courses. Two of his brothers have been committed to a day industrial school, and it is clear that the parents have failed to exercise proper control. I do not think he will suffer from associating with the other boys at the school, and I 1097W believe there is good reason to hope that the discipline of the school will be beneficial to him.