§ Mr. RAWLINSONasked the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that about 150 Church of England children in the scattered homes of the West Ham Board of Guardians are in homes under Nonconformist and Roman Catholic foster mothers and are compelled to attend Nonconformist chapels and Sunday schools; whether he has previously had to call the attention of the board to the same matter; and whether he will take steps to see that the children receive their religious teaching in accordance with their description in the creed register?
§ Mr. BURNSOn the previous occasion referred to, I communicated with the guardians, and was informed that the circum-236W stance complained of arose owing to a mistake, but that arrangements had been made which would prevent a similar instance occurring in the future. I have not since received any complaint on the subject; but I will again communicate with the guardians with respect to it.
§ Mr. RAWLINSONasked the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that the West Ham Board of Guardians have applied to him for permission to send out to Canada 27 children; that 26 of these children are members of the Church of England; and that it is proposed to hand them over to a Nonconformist society called the Annie Macpherson Society; and, seeing that last year the Local Government Board received from the Canadian Government Reports as to certain children, sent out through that society, which were unsatisfactory as to the families in which the children were placed, whether he will withhold his consent to the emigration until he has made full inquiry into the matter through the Canadian Government?
§ Mr. BURNSIt is the case that the guardians have applied to me for sanction to the emigration to Canada of a number of orphan or deserted children through the agency of the Annie Macpherson Home of Industry. I do not know to what religious denomination the children belong, nor have I any information to show that the society referred to is a Nonconformist society. I may mention that the guardians have obtained from them a written undertaking that each child if a Protestant shall be placed with a family of the Protestant faith. I understand that, in the large majority of cases, the homes in Canada in which the society place pauper children are reported by the inspectors of the Dominion Government to be satisfactory, and I am not aware of any sufficient reason for the adoption of the course suggested in the last part of the question.