§ Mr. R. C. Morrisonasked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that, in cases of evacuated children charged with petty offences, magistrates are issuing summonses to attend juvenile courts to accused children and also their fathers, thus causing heavy expense of railway fares and possible loss of employment; and will he issue a circular drawing magistrates' attention to these inconveniences if personal attendance in trifling cases, where the child has already returned to its home town, is insisted upon?
§ Mr. PeakeThe case of which the hon. Member has sent my right hon. Friend particulars is one in which a charge of theft in a provincial town has been preferred against a child who, since the date of the occurrence, has returned to London. The charge must be heard in the place where the incident occurred, on which it is based, and when the evidence is available: and while my right hon. Friend appreciates the difficulties to which the hon. Member refers, it would seem that there would be still greater objection if the court were to deal with the charge in the absence of the child or in the absence of the parent who may wish to make representations on his child's behalf. Such cases must be rare, and the Home Office has heard of no other case of the kind.