§ Lord ROBERT CECILasked the Home Secretary what are the powers exercisable by a parent or guardian in respect of a child until he attains the age of fourteen or, in the case of a girl, sixteen, referred to in Clause 25 of the Mental Deficiency Bill?
§ Mr. McKENNAIt would be impossible to give a full statement of these powers within the limits of an answer to a question, but I may say that the only respect in which parental control of a child under the age of fourteen (or, in the case of a girl, under the age of sixteen) differs from that exercisable in respect to a child over those ages respectively is that under those ages the child is in law deemed incapable of exercising a choice, and therefore the parent, unless his character is such as to prevent the Court from interfering on his behalf, has an absolute right to the custody of the child and to control his training and place of residence.
§ Lord ROBERT CECILalso asked the Home Secretary whether he will lay upon the Table of the House a Paper setting out the Sections of the Statutes referred to in or affected by the provisions of the Mental Deficiency Bill?
§ Mr. McKENNAThe Mental Deficiency Bill contains references to the Lunacy Acts, 1890 to 1911, to the Education Acts, 1870 to 1911, to several of the Poor Law Acts, to the Criminal Lunatics Act, 1884, to various provisions of the Local Government Act, 1888, of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1884, and the Public Health Act, 1875, to the Old Age Pensions Acts, and to the Inebriates Acts. To reprint all these provisions would involve the publication of a bulky and expensive volume. But if the Noble Lord would indicate those particular provisions which he would wish to have reprinted, I will consider whether it is possible to meet his views.